EE 024: Self-Leadership, EXECUpreneur’s EDGE Style
First and foremost, declare it is time for you to take care of you. Time to focus on obtaining that E.D.G.E. you desire both in business and in life.
The EXECUpreneur’s E.D.G.E. doesn’t manifest in a vacuum. Nor does it unfold while you sit on your duff in the seats of the arena. Chiseling out your personalized E.D.G.E. strategy takes concerted effort, continual practice, and the obstinate nature of a two-year old fighting a nap.
Remember the “act as if” principle I introduced you to? Have you been putting this principle into practice?
What would your evolved EXECUpreneur do? What would she say?
Embrace the “act as if” principle through to your evolving EXECUpreneur core.
While you’re at it, are you testing your tenacity? Have you given concerted mental focus to uncovering your passion? Have you jumped in head-first despite some trepidation?
Remember, believing in yourself is critical to your success. Stop looking for approval from others.
Take the reins in your own life. You are in charge of how you react and respond to everything in life. Forget seeking approval from others, they’re slaying their own dragons and fighting their own battles.
You do you. You’re the best person for that job anyway.
The following quote sums it up perfectly. It came to my attention years ago as I watched someone I’ve grown to truly admire deliver a pertinent message. You may know her. Does the name Brené Brown ring a bell? If not, no worries. She’s on your radar now. Please do yourself a favor and watch this TED Talk, you can hug me later for introducing her to you!
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
I know where you are mentally and physically…I’ve been in the arena. Right alongside you. I still am…working every single day toward a better future for myself, my family and the world at large. I specialize in helping entrepreneurs and corporate executives who are frustrated with where they are in their professional life. Either they’re burned out, have hit that proverbial “glass ceiling” or they’re spinning their wheels wondering if this is all they’ve got to look forward to for another decade or several.
The underlying factor at work when a client seeks my advice is they can no longer ignore the fact that they are unable to break through the barrier between where they are now, and where they deeply desire to be.
These are my people; for they are where I once was. They’re trying to do the right thing, but they’re continually caught in this revolving door of failure. Just when they think they’ve busted through to the other side, something else rears its ugly mug, and they’re swooped back into the door’s centrifugal force…revolution after revolution. Dramamine anyone?
I liken it to a visual one of my business coaches brought to my attention a few years back. He brought to mind the fact that when we are stuck “in the bottle” we cannot read the label. That visual has stuck with me to this day. It beautifully illustrates the common thread among my private clients, from the wildly successful to the woefully struggling. No matter their level of success, one thing remains. We cannot see the label whilst in the bottle. We all need an outside assist from time to time.
When we dial down the chaos of a client’s business to a more manageable level, every person was able to realize that label was affixed to their “bottle” but they just couldn’t read it.
The concepts I bring to your attention through the EXECUpreneur’s E.D.G.E. are built upon the steps I have developed from working with hundreds of private clients over the years. Each and every one contributed some unique thread to the richly colored tapestry that is the EXECUpreneur’s E.D.G.E.
Another common thread was their ability to embrace something new. They were willing to step out of the “expert consensus box” as I did so many years ago. You know, the “experts” who sit around and blabber science or law speak as if they’re smarter than everyone else in the room, or on the planet for that matter. Yet they’ve never been in the arena, nor have they stepped down from their soapbox long enough to actually help anyone else in the EXECUpreneur arena.
My clients also understood that to continue to “go it alone” was to set themselves up for yet another failure. They wholeheartedly embrace Step #12 of the Proper Care and Feeding of the EXECUpreneur while applying it far beyond their physical body.
Working with hundreds of clients over the past decade gave rise to the premise of the EXECUpreneur’s E.D.G.E. My love for all things entrepreneur and wellness is where I cut my teeth as you may recall. In addition to that frontline experience, I have consumed hundreds of business books, sat through months’ worth of seminars, and have watched countless hours of YouTube videos related to these themes.
I’ve advised thousands of clients over my 25 years in active practice.
It is this experience that I bring full circle through this blog, along with my podcast of the same name. The EXECUpreneur’s E.D.G.E. is your quintessential guide for tapping into boundless Energy, unleashing your inner Drive and cultivating the Grit of an Evolved EXECUpreneur. The concepts brought to life through this book are a work in progress, as am I. I will continue to mold and shape this body of knowledge as I continue to breathe life into this world every step I take.
Applying what you’ve learned in this introduction to the EXECUpreneur’s EDGE is an excellent place to start. Resist your natural instinct to procrastinate. You may recall that procrastination is the default setting for the modern human. It’s built into the operating system.
We “research”, which is code for hoping we actually find something valid to support why we don’t just get out of our own way already and do whatever “it” is. Then we continue the madness by mulling over our findings. So we can yap ad nauseum about whatever we found out as a result of all our “research”, when we should be putting our newfound knowledge to good use by taking immediate action a la Step #1 (circle back to my post titled “The Proper Care and Feeding of the EXECUpreneur: Steps 1/2/8” to review Step #1).
Seriously now…it takes more energy to procrastinate than to just do whatever it is you are so desperately trying to put off until another day.
I can be this blunt because I do it too. And I’ve perfected said protocol over decades.
”Hello. I’m Samantha and I am a recovering procrastinator.”
I will go out on a limb and proclaim some version of this same statement will be uttered from your pursed lips should you embrace the fact that you too are in recovery.
It’s cool, we’re in this together! I’ve got your back.
And when you put what I’ve laid out for you in the EXECUpreneur’s EDGE to use, you’ll be stacking the deck in favor of success for yourself.
There is no better ally in life than your own self. Befriend her. Cultivate this relationship above all others. It has the best R.O.I. on the market. And only appreciates in value.
When I am present, I catch myself in the act of procrastinating and can pivot to get back to progress rather easily, for I have given myself many opportunities to do so. But when I’m letting my drunken monkey take the wheel, I’m ever-so-close to my sequin straightjacket fitting. Seriously. I am and will always be a work in progress.
Same goes for you.
It’s up to you now, my EXECUpreneur’s EDGE-seeking friend…time to pony up. Or continue to spin your wheels wondering why your business is stagnant, or why you can’t get past whatever issue it is that keeps sucking you back into that revolving door of failure. Keep this one important fact in mind…you can’t lead a team until you successfully lead yourself.
I’d love to hear from you. Tell me how you’re chiseling out your own EDGE strategy…send me an email at hello@drsamgraber.com to share with me your biggest take away from this blog thus far. I want to hear how you plan to put the principles of Energy, Drive, Grit and Evolve to work!