Do you see what you’re creating?

This article addresses one of the core tenets of Rebellious Leadership for women. Over three months, my flagship program brings a group of women together to step into this paradigm so they can feel more freedom and regain agency over their own experience.

Rebellious Leader core tenet: A Rebellious Leader acknowledges her journey and sees her impact on the world. 

The women I work with want to transform the way they approach their careers and lives. They want to satisfy a longing that feels out of touch if they keep approaching things the same way.

When they get a glimpse of what's possible, even from small shifts, grief surfaces. Grief of how hard they've worked up until that point. With very little results that excite or energize them. The felt deficiencies of the past create a stark contrast to the longings of the future.

Giving into the temptation to focus on what hasn’t worked kills movement and change. If this is you right now, you need to appreciate your journey instead.
 

Why appreciate your journey

Think about a problem at work. If you approach the problem with a mind cluttered with unsolved problems, you'll get stuck. It'll be hard to be creative or effective in solving the problem in front of you.

The problem in front of you will shrink when you take a different inventory. One filled with all the problems you've solved. And the outcomes that were greater than what you’d anticipated. Whatever's in front of you will feel possible.

Creating change in your life works the same way. Appreciating what has worked and what feels good is the fuel that’ll support you in making changes. This practice of tracking what has worked right-sizes the problem. And makes it approachable.

The simplest way of knowing what inventory you're taking is noticing it's impact on you. Does it make you feel larger and more capable? Or not? If you're feeling smaller or less capable, there are parts of your journey to bring forward.
 

The 3 parts of your journey to acknowledge

One: The journey itself.
Acknowledging the journey is about seeing the fullness of your experience. Not just the pitfalls and unanticipated pivot points. But the successes and creations as well. It’s the bravery required to own what you've done that makes you proud. It's recalling and delighting in them. 

It also means claiming the parts of your journey that felt good and worked for you. Even the pieces in present day that sit alongside the changes you are wanting to make. It means giving voice to what is working and savoring those pieces you’ve played a part in creating.

Two: Who you are being on your journey.
Behind the tactical things you've done and accomplished is a person. Who you are, uniquely. Who were you being in each of those moments? The being side of leadership is often forgotten. Yet it's the greatest anchor point for instilling confidence in anything ahead of you.

For example, you might say “I launched our first product leveraging a new technology.” That’s an impressive accomplishment and it is likely not repeatable. Or directly transferable to the next challenge. Leadership, your way, begins to emerge when you look at who you were being in launching that product. And that unique way of being looks different for each individual.

You might have leveraged your astounding ability to identify patterns in technology. Or that you possess a unique ability to discern what risks are present in new endeavors. And to prioritize what’s most needed. Whatever it is, see it as a part of you that led to the accomplishment you are marking. These are the strengths you’ve developed in the doing that you can apply in many facets of your life and career. 

Even in the opportunities that seemingly came out of the blue, you played a part. Who were you being that allowed you to be in the mind of the person who offered you the opportunity? You weren’t invisible. So who were you?

Three: The impact you’re creating on your journey
In what you’ve done and how you’ve done it, you’ve also created impact. In your navigating your world, you are evoking things in other people’s hearts, minds, and spirits. Rebellious Leaders acknowledge their impact on the people and places around them. If you're the person who brilliantly discerns which risks to solve for, what's the impact of that? On you? On the people around you? Your team? Your company? Your users?

But you have to acknowledge that constructive feedback is only part of the truth. Learning to hear your positive impact is the rebellious part. This is hard for many women because there's no to-do on the other side of hearing it. The only thing to do with it is to receive it. That's vulnerable for women because we've learned that anything selfish is dangerous.
 

Build a practice of appreciation

It's hard to catch the opportunity to acknowledge any of these in the moment. You're accustomed to seeing what isn't working or what needs to change. To support this shift, consider taking an inventory on a regular basis. Then when you are next stuck, you'll have a reference of things to unstick yourself. And to unleash your creativity on whatever is challenging you.

 

Call for reflection:

What part of your journey do you need to appreciate to gain momentum?


Shine On, 

Alicia

(Image by Ron Lach via Pexels)