This week my podcasting partner Joy Schwartz and I posted the 12th and final episode of The Collective Voice for 2016. If you are new to the podcast, you can learn more here. Joy and I reflect on insights from a recent coach training program we attended together and a successful first year of podcasting. CLICK HERE to be taken directly to the podcast episode.
Winding down a long weekend of coach training!
Here are the top items we discussed and action steps you can take based on our insights:
- Identify your values and assess whether you are living according to those values. A key learning for me was that we experience guilt when we are living out of alignment with our values. I discuss how this has shown up for me when my top two values – family and leadership – are at odds with one another. When I am at work or pursuing my ventures like speaking, blogging or podcasting, I feel guilty about being away from my family. And when I’m with my family, I feel guilty that I’m not as focused on my leadership and vocation that I think I should be. Understanding why I am feeling pulled has helped me recognize when a feeling of guilt surfaces and to remind myself that I can fully live all of my values.
- Revisit old rules and establish new rules to guide our thoughts and behaviors. What old rules are holding you back? Do you have a belief from when you were younger or that you learned early in your career that isn’t serving you anymore? For me, some of my old rules are: don’t make mistakes, always ask for permission, solve all the problems. By flipping these rules, I can give myself room to fail and room for others to grow. My new rules are: mistakes are OK, beg for forgiveness if needed, help, don’t solve. Do this for yourself – think of some of your old rules and flip them so they work for you today. In the podcast, Joy talks about her new rule – “Trust her gut and follow her energy” and I talk about mine, which is “Just try”.
- Engage in a mindset shift focused on the long game. I brought back what I wrote about in an earlier blog about my AH-HA Moment of the year. If you haven’t read this post, now is the time as you ponder New Year’s Resolutions. This is a reminder that everything in life is a continuous process and a journey. Just because you reached a finish line in 2016 doesn’t mean there aren’t more milestones to reach in 2017. January 1st is not a magic day – take action today to start making progress toward your goals.
- Find like-minded friends as sources of extrinsic motivation. Joy and I use ourselves as examples of how we both motivate and hold one another accountable. We also give each other a swift kick you know where when it makes sense. I reveal in the episode that Joy’s original goal was to have our first episode (which we recorded last December) posted by August. I told her we could do better than that, and by August we had nine episodes published. Who are your sources of inspiration and encouragement? Be sure to thank them for what they do for you!
Special thanks to all of our friends, family, interview guests and loyal listeners for supporting us in this new venture. We look forward to learning from and sharing with you in 2017. While this is our last podcast of 2016, this isn’t my last blog post of 2016. Stay tuned for a few more posts this year. Perhaps I’ll bring back some small town Christmas classics!
Sources in our podcast include: iPEC Coaching, my AH HA Moment” Blog post and Career Values Online Card Sort. Connect with Joy at http://www.joyschwartz.com
Please submit a review of our podcast on iTunes to help us build our following! Haven’t submitted a review before? Check out this awesome video we had created using Fiverr.
