Five Signs that YOU Need an Energy Leadership Makeover
Posted on January 28, 2016 by Stacey Staaterman, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
How do you feel when you see a snowstorm in the forecast? Excited? Anxious? Energy Leadership: a Port in a (Snow)Storm
What were your first thoughts and feelings when you heard a big snowstorm was coming this weekend? Were you anxious? Did you smile? Did you look forward to playing in the snow, cooking up some chili and binge watching something on Netflix? Or did you stockpile food and worry about losing power? Or maybe you thought: “Oh no, I’m going to be trapped in the house with the kids with nothing to do!”
Most of us probably experienced all of the above – at least a little bit. I did.
With the snow fresh in our minds (and still on our sidewalks) I want talk about the feature of my business and career strategies coaching practice that people are most curious about – Energy Leadership.
Renowned coach and psychotherapist Dr. Bruce D. Schneider coined the term Energy Leadership after years of fieldwork with thousands of clients. He measured a strong correlation between life satisfaction scores and a certain attitudes, perceptions, core thoughts and emotions. He and his team went on to develop a highly accurate assessment (Energy Leadership Index) and a coaching protocol to help people become happier in life.
Energy Leadership is the process for developing an effective personal style of leadership that positively influences and changes the leader and those around him or her through deliberate shifts in attitude, awareness, perception and behavior.
Remember those first feelings and thoughts you had about Winter Storm Jonas? That’s energy – as were the actions you took as a result of your feelings and thoughts. All of us develop default reactions, feelings and thoughts to experiences and conditions in life. That habitual style is your default energy. This is how you “present” to the world.
If you are reading this you probably have some awareness of your typical energy. Maybe you’re satisfied with your energy, or maybe you wish it were different but think it is impossible to change “your personality.” Perhaps you’ve tried to change only to fall back into comfortable patterns.
Change is where leadership comes into play. We commonly associate the word “leader” with business and politics. But we are all leaders of one thing or the other: home, work, church, PTA, team, and so on. Regardless of any official titles, you are the leader of your own life and the owner of any energy you bring into your life. That truth is at the core of Energy Leadership.
Energy Leadership is a process of awareness and decision. Think back to last Monday when the storm was still forming and you started to have initial thoughts about what it might mean to your life. Would you say you had negative (catabolic) responses, or were you focused on positive (anabolic) responses?
If you are not sure or can’t remember, you are normal. Most people are moving so fast that they aren’t readily aware of their thoughts and feelings. Dr. Schneider and many others believe today’s pace has most of us “swimming in a stream of unconsciousness – grounded in fear.” We have so much on our plates and hardly have time for all the good stuff – the opportunity, the joy, the peace.
Some of you might be might be thinking, “That’s not me. I’m a positive and successful person. I fear very little.” I’m sure you are both positive and successful. But what if you didn’t have to work so hard to be that way? Amping-up your awareness of the choices you do have and managing your energy (catabolic and anabolic) is a game changer.
That’s Energy Leadership.
Here are 5 signs that you might need an Energy Leadership makeover:
1) You stayed glued to the television news during snowmageddon.
2) You bought 6 gallons of milk before the big storm despite being lactose intolerant.
3) You continually posted on Facebook for news about local road conditions, accidents and power outages.
4) On Friday night, you left a message with the Board of Education asking if school will be closed on Monday.
5) You own five shovels, a snow blower, a back-up snow blower and two generators.
If these signs resonate with you, you might be defaulting in catabolic energy a little too often. But there is good news: working with an Energy Leadership Master Practitioner like me, you can learn to shift your energy at will to positively impact your life – at home, at work and beyond.
So, how did I handle the storm? I went snowshoeing!
