How Your Weird Little Process Leads You to Your Success

You have a funky little process. Oh yeah! Check it out.

Even though parts of your process may be a little "funky," it takes you down the path toward clarity and action. Becoming aware of how you operate is vital to your success, particularly the parts of your process that you judge, over-think or worry about.

Here’s a story to illustrate:

Years ago, I was sitting in a circle in a leadership program, and one of my close friends was sharing how frustrated she was with her apathy. She was feeling sad and useless. Our mentor turned to her and said, “What if apathy is part of your process?”

A lightbulb went off. Instead of her apathy being a problem, it was actually a vital stopping place on her road to clarity and action. She could stop feeling bad about her apathy and instead, celebrate it!

I took a close look at my own unique little process. Every so often, I make a stop in Freak Out Land. Years ago when the self-doubt and general panic cropped up, I’d freak out even more with the fear that I would be stuck there forever and that something was WRONG with me.

Not only was something not wrong with me or my freak out or your (fill in the blank),there was something very right!

Now, I see clearly that FREAK OUT is an energetic stopping place for me. It’s like I have to rev my engine with some panic before I move to courage and action. The freak out springs me forward to clarity and determination. Without that weird little stop on the road, my creativity and forward motion would stall.

Some of my clients stop in indifference, or boredom, or crying, or worry about the future or doubt that their idea could ever work or fear that this is the time they’re really gonna blow it. What's your weird little stop on the road to clarity and movement?

You have an amazing, weird little process, and now you can stop worrying about it. It’s vital to your success.

Hit reply to this email and tell me how weird you are.

Oh yeah. We’re all weird.

Christina

P.S. If you'd like to chat live, grab a 30-minute spot on my calendar here.

Having an Intense Week? 3 Things to Help You Survive (And Maybe Thrive)

While you are reading this newsletter, I am at the Deepak Chopra Center for a week-long meditation and yoga retreat that I gave my husband for his 50th birthday. (Oh, how convenient. It's a present for me, too!) If you take your vacation time (and if you don't, we need to talk), you know that the week prior to said vacation can be particularly intense while you make sure everyone has what they need in your absence and to set yourself up for an easy re-entry.

Other times can be intense, too, like when you launch a new product or implement a system change or any number of special corporate fire drills. Weeks like this can be frustrating and hard to get through, but they don't have to be.

Here are three tips to dealing with a particularly intense week:

1. Be conscious and acknowledge that you are entering an intense week.That way, your body and mind know what you're dealing with, and you don't grunt through the week resisting and being annoyed at how busy you are. Being conscious enables you to focus, do what you have to do, and move efficiently to the next thing with clean and clear energy.
    
2. Find small moments to refresh. In an intense week, your spinning class might go out the window or you don't have time to cook. And, you can absolutely find 5 minutes to be quiet at your desk, step outside for a bit of sunshine, relish your morning shower, or grab quick cup of coffee with a colleague. Eat lunch! Take care of the physical and mental machine so it can work for you.
    
3. Keep the end in sight. Imagine the beach, picture the martini in your hand, anticipate the celebration at the end of the big project, or hold onto the plan for a lovely dinner with friends over the weekend. When you can see the end and it's soooo pretty (even if it's a tiny bit pretty), you are more motivated to do that next thing. And the next one. And the next one.

Of course, if all your weeks are intense and stressful, that's a different conversation. (Say hello to saying no, self care, and prioritizing). That much intensity is not sustainable over the long-term.

Here's to thriving during an intense week!

OM!

Christina
 

Two Simple Words That Guarantee Results

Many people believe that a crappy workplace will become better with some huge change that happens out there (with “out there” looking an awful lot like the CEO’s office). It’s important for you to know what actually makes your workplace the kind of place you want to be every day.

Story time!

One of my clients (let's call her, Susan) finally got the once-in-a-lifetime leadership job she had worked toward for years. Aaaand, the promotion came with a team of unpleasant (and to use her words) "back-stabbing" colleagues as a result of an acquisition. To say the situation has been draining would be an understatement.

At first, our conversations revolved around "those people" and the things they did or the ways they sucked and how the combination of two conflicting departments was to blame. Over time, Susan's focus has shifted to her responsibility for the dynamic and to claiming her own self care and boundaries.

She has applied herself diligently to addressing her relationships with these colleagues and to making her workplace the happier and more supportive environment she wants. It's been a journey of baby steps, and things are starting to change.

Which brings me to the wisdom for you.

The path to change is always a journey of baby steps. If you think the road to change in your workplace is going to come from a new CEO or a culture initiative from the HR Department or as some big lightning strike, shazaam!, flash moment, your hair will be turning grey as you wait. 

The road to change is more subtle and smaller than you might think. Your progress will be one foot in front of the other, the result of your commitment and consistent action.

Susan reminds me daily of her favorite words from our coaching (these are the two powerful words I promised you):

Keep going!

When you are trying on new behaviors or making a change, your main job is to keep going. Keep trying the new thing. Keep showing up. Keeping experimenting and watching your impact. Don't allow setbacks or fears to derail you. Just keep going.

The Everyday Rebel Challenge is one way to keep going with small, actionable steps you can take every day for 21 days to bring you more joy and more calm at work. An amazing community is gathering for the challenge who are so done with stress and conformity and so ready to be more fully themselves at the office and claim time for the things they love. We start on March 27 and would love to have you join us.Grab your spot here.

Here's to baby steps!

Christina

P.S. Sign up for the Everyday Rebel Challenge for free here. Share it with your friends and colleagues. You might even form a little Everyday Rebel Challenge team for added fun!

Before you sink into your new year's resolution, read this...

It's 2017, Christina! You've eaten all the eats, slept in for a few days, and are now back at the office. Thank goodness 2016 is in the rearview mirror.

Now what?

This process will help you create your now what. I've used this process myself and with my clients for 6 years, and it has created powerful intentions and results each time. It's easy and at the end, you'll have a guiding theme to launch your success for 2017.

Instructions:

Take 3 pieces of paper.

1. On the first page, write down all your disappointments, failures, losses, and breakdowns.
2. On the second page, write all your successes, celebrations, accomplishments and breakthroughs.
3. On the third page, write everything you learned about life and yourself in 2016.
4. When your lists are complete, sit down and analyze them for themes. Look at the big picture. What do you see?
5. While looking at the big picture of your year, use what you see to create the theme/words/intentions that will guide your new year.

Here are some examples to help you:

• One of my clients saw that she spent the year doing what everyone else wanted for her. Her theme for the new year became "Trust myself."
• One year, I noticed that my failures and disappointments list was too short. I hadn't taken enough risk. My theme for the new year was, "Go big or go home."
• Another client had dealt with a significant loss and through that recovery had set a beautiful foundation for a new year of Live! Love! Fly! Laugh!
• One year I spent a great deal of time traveling away from home. My theme for the next year was, "Compassion, Creativity, Come Home."

It can help to talk about your lists with a friend or coach who may be able to illuminate patterns in your successes and failures and help uncover where you are being pointed for 2017. When you're done, hit reply to this email and tell me your theme!

I wish you health, prosperity and happiness!

Happy New Year.

Christina

This newsletter is embarrassing.

Estimated read/view time: 2.5 minutes. (There are videos in this newsletter. You need to watch, like, 4 seconds of each video to get the point.)

This is what TRYING to do the right thing looks like. Horrible!

As most of you know, I hosted an interview series this summer. In fact, those of you who have followed me for a while know that the interview series dominated my life for months.

I learned a number of valuable lessons, and today I want to peel back the curtain to share the most valuable lesson with you.

Which brings us to show and tell. Some embarrassing show and tell.

The hardest, most vulnerable, most painful part of producing this series was the #$!#!& opt-in video. That’s the little video that appears on the sign-up page.

This was the first time I had created a video, let alone one that was going to be public! I had all kinds of advice from my coach. I had prepped like crazy – wrote a script, set up a “studio,” practiced, planned my outfit, did my hair, and did around 50 takes.

You know the drill. You probably do some version of this ritual every day for meetings, presentations, and clients.

Within minutes of the video going live, I got feedback from my friend Anne that my video sucked. (Love ya, Anne!)

After a momentary freak out, Anne came over to help me reshoot the video. I threw on my favorite dress, ran my fingers through my hair (that I hadn't washed), and stood against a wall in our bedroom with no script. Anne and I danced around like crazy people for a moment, then we shot the video which is the one most of you saw. We did 3 takes.

The point is this. You are compelling as you. Being you doesn't take effort or stress or trying. Of course you need to prep and maybe do a little planning. Then you simply need to show up with your wonderful self, quirks and all.

Here's a challenge: Stop TRYING to DO the corporate thing right this week. Stop listening to the stories that say you have to be a certain way in order to be successful at work. Instead, BE yourself.

I hope this helps.

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.

What to do when what you really want is a nap.

Estimated read time: 2 minutes.

Here's one of my favorite images from the interviews. This one will be live in July. Don't we look like we're having fun?!

We've established that I have busted my butt for the last three months producing the amazing Corporate Rebel Series.

What I really wanted this afternoon was a nap. I didn't have it in me to do one more thing.

What I needed to do was conduct another interview and write this newsletter. To say that I didn't feel like it would be an understatement.

This got me thinking about you and all the times you don't feel like (fill in the blank).

Another story: When I was in a leadership program a few years ago we had to do all these terrifying things high in the trees, where we could, like, fall and die.

One of them was this balance beam that felt like it was 6 stories tall. We had to get from one tree to the other by walking the balance beam. As I was scooching across, legs shaking, stomach hurting, doing everything I could not to look at the ground (oh so far down there), our leader yelled out, "This is what commitment looks like!" My first thought was, "Nah. I'm a mess." Then I got it. That moment has stuck with me ever since.

Commitment is not pretty. It's not certainty. Commitment does not require you to feellike it. Commitment requires you to show up even when you don't feel like it.

Commitment requires you to focus on your purpose, your bigger reason for being. For me that means remembering the people in offices who are wondering if they are crazy... who crave the freedom to be themselves while still succeeding at work.

So I put on my mascara, conducted an awesome interview with an expert on executive presence and sat down to write this newsletter. This work matters. Yourwork matters. Let the mattering carry you forward even when you don't feel like it.

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.

Ever feel like a fraud? 6 Life Hacks to Handle Imposter Syndrome

Estimated read time: 2 minutes, 6 seconds.

Yup. This is what the Imposter Syndrome feels like.

Let's cut right to the chase today. Do you ever feel like a fraud?

See if this feels familiar:

You’re leading a meeting and a voice in your head tells you this is the moment when everyone will find out that you have no idea what you’re talking about.

You get a new job and worry that everyone will now see that you are not qualified and have no idea what you are doing.

You are thinking of starting a blog or a community garden or a new initiative at your children's school and you stop yourself because who are you to do such a thing.

Yeah – I relate. I feel like a fraud when I write this newsletter (I don't have anything new to say). I sometimes feel like I have no idea what I'm doing when I coach and this is the moment when my clients will discover that I cannot help them. Ugh. I hate these feelings.

This condition is so common that it has a name. It’s called the Imposter Syndrome.

Oprah Winfrey sometimes feels like a fraud. Even the most successful VP at your company cycles through feeling like an imposter (I know this because I coach them). It’s human to feel this way.

So, what do you do about Imposter Syndrome? Here are 6 life hacks that will help you through those moments when you know the game is up!

1. Remind yourself that it will pass. And that it will come back. And pass. And come back again.
2. Make fun of it! "Check it out. The jig is totally up this time." Laugh at yourself with humble recognition.
3. Tell someone. Bringing stuff like this into the light of day causes it to vaporize like the vampire that it is.
4. Keep a file of kudos and nice things people have said to you. Save every grateful email, every thank you card. Then pull them out to remind yourself that you and your gifts matter. To lots of people.
5. We need you! Stopping yourself from starting something new because you feel like an imposter denies the rest of us of your gifts. So get going already - even if you know you're not ready. You will never be ready.
6. Take action. Nothing proves your worth to yourself and quiets those soul sucking voices like actually doing something.

I hope this helps!

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE. P.P.S. I've been working on something big and cycling through Imposter Syndrome on a regular basis. In a few weeks you'll get to see it, and you can confirm that I really have no idea what I'm doing.