I’ve been busy training for perhaps one of the most important leadership roles I’ll ever hold, becoming a mom. Just like any new role or opportunity, there would be so many things to learn along the way. Like beginning any new job, I have been filled with excitement, nerves, and anticipation of what’s to come.

 Going into this adventure, like any adventure before, there are only 3 things I know for sure:

1)    I have no idea what to expect or do, but I will figure it out as I go

2)    I’ll get it wrong more times than I’ll get it right, but I will learn from it

3)    Preparing for anything is safer than planning for something, I can trust myself to handle whatever comes my way

We've all developed our own ideas of how to lead. For too many of us, our experience of other leaders is how busy they are. How many meetings they attend. How many calls they are on. How hard it can be to get on their calendar. How important something needs to be to bring it to them.

Leadership isn't just about the business stuff. It's about the people stuff.

When we hire the right people for the job, the last thing we need to be doing as Leaders is focusing on telling them how to do the job. Instead, it is our responsibility to identify and remove the real and perceived obstacles that get in the way of our people performing at their best.

The truth is, we will never know the outcome of anything. We are all vulnerable to circumstance beyond our control. So we are left with only two real options - do nothing, or do something.

Which do you choose?

For high achievers, there is a delicate balance to find between wanting to do things well, and the time and FAILURE it takes to get there.

The What If’s that fuel this fear have always been loud in my head:

What if…

• I can’t do it, I fail, I fall

• I look ridiculous

• I get it wrong

• I disappoint someone who thinks so highly of me

• My business isn’t successful

• No one wants to work with me

• My team thinks I’m unqualified for the job

• I don’t get the job

• Someone thinks I was out of my league applying for this job

It goes on.

Every brilliant idea we have today was likely seen as ridiculous at the time it was presented. As Henry Ford quipped, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Can you imagine life without access to a car or transit? Let alone an Airplane? Or a phone that doubles as a camera, video camera, computer, calendar, navigation unit, recording device, video calling, calculator, flashlight, wallet, ride hail, weather network… you get the point. 

How much of you are being is driven by the people around you? Who would you be if you moved somewhere that no one knew you? What would really make you happy?

I had a pattern, it RAN me for many years. Eventually, it got to me. That 5:30am alarm clock the most resented sound in my world. Knowing the traffic pattern down to exactly which lane to change to at which point to beat the traffic flow started to make me feel crazy and irritable. The days felt long, I wasted more time pretending to be busy and searching for busy projects. I felt the need to justify my worth. Despite real success, rewards and recognition, I felt as though I was no longer successful.

What patterns or themes are you aware of in your own life? How might you leverage the awareness to change or take advantage of your pattern/theme?