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Continually grow as a person and find your work/life balance

How to Cultivate Patience: The Key to Achieving Professional Mastery

Written by Maria Connolly on . Posted in Handling Change, Self-Leadership Skills.

When you cultivate patience, you give yourself time to grow to professional mastery, enjoying the process and staying focused on what matters most.The path of the Warrior is lifelong, and mastery is often simply staying on the path. ~ Richard Strozzi-Heckler

An experienced sailor needs to cultivate patience in order to safely reach his or her destination. They learn the things within their control, such as the set of the sails. And the things outside their control, such as the wind! It’s part art, part science, but only those with patience stick with it! As we sail through our life, cultivating patience is key to getting to our destination of professional mastery.

This brings to mind the story of Nadia. This 60-year-old coach came to see me because she was unhappy with her professional life. She described her career as average. She’s passionate about learning and, over the years, she’s become a Jill-of-all-trades-and-master-of-none. As we spoke, I began to see a pattern emerging that revealed the cause of her discontent – she had not worked to cultivate patience.

Here’s how I knew this…

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Start the New Year Off Right — Chart Your Course & Follow Your Compass

Written by Maria Connolly on . Posted in Self-Leadership Skills.

Are you ready for 2021? The practical way mariners sail through stormy seas shows us the way to put 2020 behind us and start the new year off right. “Someday, everything will make perfect sense. So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, be strong and keep reminding your self that everything happens for a reason.” ~ John Mayer

Usually this is the time I begin to take stock of my year and make sense of my losses and victories. I look for what worked and what didn’t. Seeing what I predicted and what I got. However, I think this process needs to be very different this year. 

2020 has been a year like no other for many of us. It came quickly and with no warning and it has left us confused, disoriented, lonely and exhausted. It’s like we were sailing on already turbulent seas that changed quickly into huge waves that may have at times plunged us into depression, or swelling to peaks of anxiety and pushing us to places we never imagined going.

In order to start 2021 with the right frame of mind we need to first fully acknowledge the impact this year has had on us on these four levels:

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Be Kind to Your Future Self – It’s the Secret Sauce for Life!

Written by Maria Connolly on . Posted in Self-Leadership Skills.

Adopt a mindful practice of considering how your decisions will affect your future self and you’ll avoid costly mistakes — emotionally or financially. “When you don’t know what to do in a situation, ask yourself, ‘What would the person I want to be do in this situation?’ Then do that.” ~ Drew Dudley

Do you give much thought to your future self? If not, you’re far from alone. According to researchers, many people feel no connection with the person they’ll be in the future. After all, you can’t change that you’ll get older, so why worry about it, right?  

Of course, some think about this for fun. According to Google about 2,400 people search for “What will I look like when I’m older?” every month. There are online sites and apps that allow you to upload a picture of yourself and see how you’ll look later in life.

Going beyond what you’ll look like, I think it’s a healthy practice to keep in mind your older self when making daily decisions. It introduces a deeper layer of mindfulness into your life, as you acknowledge each action will have an impact on your future.

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Practice Self-Appreciation to Own the Value You Bring to the World

Written by Maria Connolly on . Posted in Self-Leadership Skills.

A practice of self-appreciation will help you recognize and articulate your worth.“If you really want to change society, encourage self-appreciation.” ~ Réné Gaudette

I’d like to start out today by trying a simple experiment — since we’re entering the season for thankfulness, quickly write out a list of 7-10 things you’re grateful for. Take a moment and do that right now. I’ll wait…

As you read through your list, how many of your items are about possessions? How many are about people in your life? And here’s the big question: did you express gratitude for yourself?

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Deepen Your Emotional Maturity & Trust Your Feelings When Under Stress

Written by Maria Connolly on . Posted in Controlling Stress, Embodied Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Self-Leadership Skills.

Even with emotional maturity, there are times you don’t trust your feelings, so here’s how to consistently and positively respond to emotional stress…“Who we are is how we lead. We can either lead from heart or we can lead from hurt.” ~ Brené Brown

Often people come to me to bounce off life experiences — to either feel validated or get a reality check. They’ll say something like, “Maria, does this seem right to you? Is it okay to feel what I’m feeling?” I really appreciate being in their life this way. And I love seeing how their mindfulness deepens and adds richness to their emotional maturity over time.

Being mindfully aware of how we feel in our emotions and in our body and then making intentional choices in response is how we manifest emotional maturity. We own our feelings and the path we choose, without complaining, blaming, or making excuses.

This process of emotional growth never ends, because you experience new situations and new feelings. And your current well-being plays a huge part — what you can handle one day may seem overwhelming when you’re overly tired, undernourished or dehydrated.

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