Engage your health, energy and stamina to create the vitality and presence you need for powerful conscious leadership. Buddha said “To keep the body in good health is a duty otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.”

Some of the most important work I do with business coaching clients is in “clearing the decks”. By this I mean creating the space for them to stop for a moment, be present and get clear on what’s important to them. To actually get clear on what the impact is that they want to create. Doing this requires doing things to help themselves be as “clear”, focused and conscious as possible. One of these things is self-care.

I very often notice a common theme in executive coaching. It’s the issue and value of creating the space and the permission for one to engage in self-care. People tend to pass it off as “Not now, later. There are more important things to do.” Or, they will say, “My self-care can wait, this can’t.” Or, they will even more simply feel, “There is no time.”

There is always a reason for not engaging in self-care, sometimes even a really good one. Often executive coaching clients are not aware that self-care is an opportunity to create more energy, work/life balance and stronger leadership. The fact of the matter is, self-care is an opportunity.

Unfortunately, it is often not until an effective leader experiences a problem or a life-threatening issue, or witnesses a problem in someone else, that she will pay more attention to her health and personal self-care. Often, it is not until the pain of not doing it gets stronger than the pain of actually engaging it, that she starts to take action.

One of the stakes I hold for business coaching clients, whether they are working with leadership or personal issues, is that this piece must be attended to. Whether it concerns health issues, energy issues, holding boundaries, work/life balance or eliminating tolerations that are sucking their energy, self-care is essential.

It doesn’t matter what your agenda, taking the time to honor yourself and give yourself a bit of TLC will help clear the decks for more powerful and effective leadership. Imagine the possibilities.

When we take care of ourselves, eat well, move our bodies, stand tall, breathe, get rest and lead our energy, we can think more clearly, be who we really are and, in a nutshell, show up more powerfully. When we eat junk, stay static, become exhausted and don’t manage our energy, we undermine our work/life balance and we are less effective. Period. We walk around on “borrowed energy” in a depleted state, less clear and less focused.





How can you make your most powerful choices and decisions from a place of exhaustion and depletion?





How can you show up authentically and powerfully from a place of surviving vs. thriving?





It is essential that we take care of ourselves and our physical and mental energy in order to engage most effectively. Self-care is the self-respect and the fuel that will support and sustain you. Dare to engage in self-care by making a commitment today… and then reap the results of more powerful and effective leadership tomorrow!



Thanks to Anese Cavanaugh for contributing this article to our Leadership Development blog:

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As far as job satisfaction goes, the two most important things that you could possibly do are to know what you want and have a plan for achieving it. For many people living in the Big Apple (and elsewhere, of course), this is all well and good as a concept, but in reality, these parameters can be a little harder to define. Sitting down with a career coach (New York has plenty to chose from) and working on defining your goals and your desires might be a viable option. For those who are already well on their way to being where they want to be, a little fine tuning can be a really good idea to undertake with an executive coach. New York is an amazing place to live your life, and is full of resources- why not take advantage of what all you have around you?

A career of life coach (New York City based or otherwise) isn’t going to have a magic bag of tricks that they can pull out and produce answers to all your problems. That is still going to be your responsibility. In fact, the very first thing you’ll need to do is actually sit down and figure out what all you are unhappy with. The list might be long, or it might only have one or two key items. It doesn’t necessarily matter how long your list is, or what’s on it; what matters is that you’ve identified the issues. You cannot fix a problem you cannot identify, and no coach, no matter how skilled they are, will be able to tell you why exactly you are unhappy or what you can do to fix that.

Once you’ve identified the issues, you set about making a game plan. The best actions to take are those that are proactive in furthering your career. Don’t be afraid to ask for a raise- but only after you’ve ascertained that it has been a reasonable amount of time since your last raise, that the work you’ve done in the meantime speaks well for you, and that your company is actually in a position to accommodate you in that. Don’t diminish your accomplishments- stand behind your work with pride. Find ways to make yourself more valuable to your company so that when you come forward for a promotion, they have good reason to believe that you will do them right in a higher position.

If you have a dream job, make that job a goal. Set to find ways to make that happen for yourself. It may be a lengthy process, but if you start immediately on the planning, you’ll be able to achieve this goal much faster than if you wait around for an opportunity to present itself. They key here is to be able to clearly visualize, in detail, exactly what you want to have in your life. No detail is too small to include in this, as you will want to have the detail down right when you’re living the actualized version of this. In short- you can have what you want in your life if you are willing to do the work and make it happen. Having the assistance of a life or a career coach during these times is an example of using the resources available to you in order to further yourself in life.



Thanks to Temp for contributing this article to our Leadership Development blog:

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