The Lies You Believe And The Truth Behind Them

Time to read: 1 minute, 36 seconds

Hello Rebels!

One of my clients (let's call her Stacy) called me dreading her mid-term review. She hated the fact that her VP didn't understand her department's role and even worse, he didn't seem to care. She felt like she spent her precious one-on-one time justifying her work, explaining why it mattered, and trying to convince him to care. She didn't know what he wanted and found their conversations frustrating and discouraging.

Does this sound familiar in your corporate job?

Stacy and I talked about the one thing she could control - herself. She believed a number of lies, and those lies were holding her back. We uncovered the truth and prepped her to step powerfully into her review.

Try these on:

The lie: She has to justify herself and her team's work.

The truth: You have nothing to justify. You get to have your passions, and your passion is not diminished if your boss doesn't share your level of excitement. Your job is to share your excitement and help your boss come along.

The lie: She needs her boss's validation for her leadership to be worthy and her team's work to be valuable.

The truth: Your success as a leader does not come from your boss's validation. It comes from how you show up, the way you manage your team, and the way you hold yourself as a powerful leader. Going in apologetic or pleading is not empowering. Instead, know your value and tell the story of your team's success.

The lie: That her boss doesn't care.

The truth: Your boss cares a great deal. He/She may care about different things than you do. As a direct report, your job is to figure out what keeps your boss up at night and how your work fits into the big picture your boss has to manage.

The lie: There's nothing she can do.

The truth: You always have more influence than you think you do. Stacy wanted to know what her boss needed from her so instead of guessing, she asked him. He told her what he needed, and she emailed me to say, "It was a great conversation. THANK YOU!!!!!"

Stacy moved from being her own worst enemy (believing in her lack of power, apologizing and justifying herself) to being her own best friend. She walked into her review powerful and in charge. That changed everything.

If you want a dose of this kind of power, join me and my BFF for our Corporate Rebel Rethinking U Webinar on August 20th at 11:00 am CT. You can register here.

Can't wait to see you on the inside!

Christina

P.S. Did you love the Quiet the Noise Challenge? Do you have friends who could use a little dose of positivity and hope in their corporate job? Invite them to join you for the Rethinking U Webinar on August 20 at 11:00 am CT. Send them here. You'll be glad you spent the hour with us.

Refreshing Your Spirit

Time to read: 30 seconds

Gwynn Valley at sunset

Hello Rebels,

I'm away at camp.

I spend three weeks working at my children's summer camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. In a departure from my regular life of coaching and momming, I spend my days as the Miller (as in grain and an actual water-powered mill) where I take children through a farm to table experience that involves lots of corn and lots of food. (It also involves dead fish, which is a story for another day.)

At camp, there is little cell service, spotty wifi, no TV or technology, lots of fresh air, baby animals, and hundreds of children. Even though I end each day covered in cornmeal and drop in bed exhausted at night, I am grateful I get to spend so much time each summer playing with children. They refresh my spirit.

As we prepare to start the Quiet the Noise Challenge, I invite you to consider what refreshes your spirit.

Where can you step outside your usual existence, even if only for a few minutes or a day? What can you do or where can you go to quiet the noise in your life for a while?

If you'd like a quick daily practice starting on August 5, our challenge is just the thing. You can join us here.

Anne and I look forward to seeing you there!

Christina

P.S. If you're excited for the challenge, please invite some friends to join by forwarding this email to them. They can sign up here.

Stop Wasting Your Time and Energy

Time to read: 56 seconds

Actual teen has been changed to protect privacy.

I was driving my 15-year-old to work in silence this morning. If you've lived with a teenager, you know that morning isn't their most vibrant time of day. After 15 minutes of silence, she got out of the car. I asked her a simple question which was met with the icy teen stare and something like, "Mom, you're always asking stuff like that. It's so annoying."

I pointed out to her that I had said, like, 3 words to her all morning. She responded, "Yeah, three annoying words."

Here's what's important to you about this interaction. Many times throughout your day, you are either on the giving or receiving end of your version of 3 annoying words. People say rude things to you. People respond in unpredictable ways to the things you say, and you have to clean it up.

In these moments, you have a choice.

You can get upset, make up stories about the deep implications of the interaction, and let the situation hijack your entire day (thereby killing your creativity, sucking your energy, and rendering you unproductive and crabby), or you can laugh, recognize that the interaction was nothing personal and move on to use your energy and creativity to move forward on the things you want.

The choice to ruminate or let go makes all the difference in the kind of day you'll have and how much you get done. Don't waste your time and energy creating unnecessary noise.

(Oh, and if you want some help to quiet the unnecessary noise, join the Corporate Rebel Quiet the Noise Challenge right here.)

I hope this helps!

Christina

P.S. If you find that it is hard to resist creating unnecessary noise in your work and life, join my BFF, Anne Lippin, and me for the Corporate Rebel Quiet the Noise 7-Day Challenge. Be done with wasted time and energy. Join us here.

The First Step To Get What You Want

Time to read: less than one little minute

Earlier this summer, my children and I spent a week at my parents' house clearing the clutter and hosting a yard sale. Even while schlepping boxes and sorting the toys from my 1970s childhood (bye-bye Spirograph), I think of YOU.

The goal in clearing the clutter from my parents' home is to free them to enjoy the things they love and to ensure that the house remains one they can manage and stay in for a very long time.

What does my parents' yard sale have to do with you?

This...

The first step to move toward the future you want is to clear the clutter. In your life, the clutter might be old thoughts that no longer serve you. It might be saying adios to friends who don't make you feel good about yourself anymore. It may literally be about trashing projects you're never going to do or clearing off your desk so you can focus. All of this clutter clogs your mental and energetic pipes and makes it impossible to move forward.

You know the experience. You try a few tips you read online and even though things feel smoother for a few days, you revert right back to the doubt, fear, and inaction.

Here are three simple ways to clear clutter from your life in order to create space to move toward the things you want:

1. Clear physical stuff. Clean out your closet. Get rid of actual stuff.
2. Clear the mental stuff. Challenge the disempowering beliefs. Dump the doubts and negative thinking.
3. Join the Corporate Rebel Quiet the Noise Challenge. My BFF, Anne, and I will spend 7 days cleaning out your pipes and getting you on the path to what you want. It's like a yard sale for your mind and soul. You can join us here.

Can't wait to spend more time with you!

With rebel love,

Christina

P.S. If your friends and family have clutter - mental, physical or otherwise, invite them to join you in the Corporate Rebel Quiet the Noise Challenge. They can join the fun here.

Three Cheers For Your Freedom!

Time to read: 30 seconds because you have BBQ to eat and fireworks to watch!

Even though the 4th of July is a distinctly American holiday, around the globe, nations mark their independence from tyranny and external control in celebrations of all sorts. Keep reading to see what this holiday has to do with your life and work.

In those idealized stories of nationhood, bands of ill-equipped, untrained and determined rebels threw off the shackles of domination and colonization by much bigger powers. Passion, tenacity and the desire for self-determination led citizens to take a stand for their freedom.

They did not wait for someone to give them freedom. They believed that independence was their birthright. They believed they had the power to create their own reality. They put those beliefs into action that ultimately led to their independence.

These stories are idealized. Hypocrisy and oppression are baked into the reality of these independence stories. We can't and shouldn't ignore the complexity. Both the passion and the hypocrisy are part of the narrative.

And this brings me to you on this festive 4th of July. Freedom from tyranny is your birthright, even when that tyranny is your own beliefs and choices. The path to liberation is complicated, messy and far from ideal. Don't let the complexity and messiness become an excuse for inaction. You have the power of self-determination. It's simply (HA!) a matter of clearing the clutter from your mind so you can see the path forward.

Happy 4th of July, everyone.

I raise a glass to your freedom!

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who wants to be liberated from the tyranny of their own beliefs and choices, simply forward this email to them. They can join us here.

P.P.S. Very soon, my BFF, Anne Lippin, MD and I are launching a cool weeklong challenge that will help you quiet the noise. I don't know about you, but our lives can get very noisy. We've created this challenge to help you clear the path to your freedom. Stay tuned. Coming soon!

Find the Good People

Time to read: Less than one minute.

The stolen bike

Hello Corporate Rebels,

Sometimes bad things happen.

A project you love gets taken away. One of your work friends gets laid off. You lose all the data you spent the past 5 hours working on. It's discouraging when stuff like this happens.

Last week, my son's bike was stolen from our fenced yard. Thus ensued frustration, disappointment, and sadness that someone would do such a thing.

Then an amazing thing happened. I posted the above photo to a local Facebook page devoted to finding stolen bikes. Through this page, I discovered a whole team of folks who track stolen bikes, link them to bikes for sale online and uncover data to help the police catch the ring of thieves who ransacked our neighborhood (and many others) for bikes last weekend. Individuals have contacted me with tips. I have connected them to the investigating officer. These folks are doing incredible work simply because they have the skills, interest, and will.

It has been uplifting to meet the "Robin Hoods" as I have started calling them. They don't have to do this work and have no personal stake in my son's bike. Interacting with them reminds me to have faith in the goodness of human beings and our power to make a difference when we care and take action.

When you look around your workplace, where do you see the Robin Hoods? When things feel hard or discouraging, look for the folks who do what they do simply because they have the skills, they care, and they're willing to take action to change things. Then hang out with those folks a lot.

It makes the things that suck a whole lot better.

I hope this helps.

Christina

P.S. Do you have a friend or colleague who needs a little help to see the bright side today? Forward this newsletter to them. They can join us here.

P.P.S. My BFF, Anne Lippin and I are cooking up something fun to rev some momentum in the lazy month of August. Stay tuned!

How To Get Stuff Done, Fast

Time to read: less than one minute because you have s*$% to do!

Imperfection at its finest.

Hello rebels!

To say that the past couple of weeks have been slammed would be an understatement. See if any of this sounds familiar to you...

• My children are off for the summer. Bye-bye routine. Hello daily unpredictability and chaos.
• I have daily client calls and meetings and have to take some of them from my bedroom because of see #1.
• We're taking a trip next week so everything has gotten crammed into this week.
• My BFF and I are launching a project for y'all in August and spent yesterday shooting videos.
• A volunteer job requires hours of emails and organizing.
• There's always a dose of interpersonal drama that sucks time and energy when you work with other people.
• Then there's just regular life: showering, walking the dog, making food, cleaning.

Can you relate?

In weeks like this, the name of the game is "get s#*$ done."

So, how do you get your s*@# done with quality, efficiency and speed?

Keep this one simple moto in mind:

Completion over perfection.

In shooting the videos, Anne and I stumbled over our words sometimes. Did we shoot each video 10 times to get it perfect? NO! We declared our stumbling charming and human and moved to the next video.

I usually have this newsletter written by Tuesday afternoon. Here it is, Thursday morning, and I'm slamming it out before my children wake up. Am I beating myself up for not making my internal deadline or considering letting it go this once? NO. I woke up, chose a topic, and started writing.

Be thoughtful. Do good work. Meet your deadlines (or communicate well if you won't). Don't spend hours dotting every "i" and crossing every "t." Your 80% is good enough. Otherwise, perfection will make you insane. We're not fans of insanity here at the Corporate Rebel.

Get 'er done and move on.

I hope this helps.

Christina

P.S. Do you know someone who gets stuck in perfection and doesn't complete stuff efficiently, or at all? Share this article with them and they can sign up to join us here.