PADLE Model — The Best Way to Lead Yourself and Others to Excellence
Introducing my comprehensive PADLE Model. If you want new habits that make life changes stick, you must determine why you’re doing what you’re doing and create systems that support the changes you desire. Follow the PADLE Model and you’ll have a life-long tool that gives you the self-awareness and determination you need to lead yourself to success.
When was the last time you caught yourself doing something that surprised or even appalled you, and you mentally berated yourself, “Why did I do (or say) that? I didn’t really mean it. Where, in the world, did THAT come from?!” We’ve all done it.
We all have times when we simply aren’t aware of how our present state or past history impacts us. Just one slip in this awareness can severely affect, even alter, our relationships with others personally or professionally. Learning to be more mindfully self-aware can minimize or avoid any damage that might result from times like these.
(By the way, that’s not a typo in the title. As you may know, I’m fascinated by sailing. So I’m incorporating the allusion of gliding through the water to a new model for leadership that I’m teaching. It’s combining the years of studying embodied leadership with somatic coaching. I’ve distilled leadership essentials into structured steps that you can apply to YOUR situation so you can lead yourself to become the influential, effective leader you’re meant to be.)
PADLE Model – lead yourself first, then lead others
Structure and baby steps — these are the things that create sustainable processes and routines that help you naturally evolve into the leader you are within. You don’t need to force yourself into a mold of how others say you should be.
By creating harmony between your body, mind, and spirit you can learn to listen to your innate wisdom and emerge as the leader the world needs to see. The PADLE Model is designed to guide you through this process. I invite you to test the waters and see if it’s a good fit for you.
The acronym PADLE stands for:
(P) Primal Core – explore patterns that keep you stuck
Your primal core is your historical embodiment — how you embody your personal history, ideas, beliefs and limitations. They, in turn, form your habits or patterns, which keep you stuck, because they trigger negative self-talk, limiting beliefs, the fight-or-flight response, fear, stress, doubt, or anxiety. Without even consciously knowing why, you find yourself doing the same thing — falling for the same kind of guy, getting passed over for promotion, having the same argument, or eating that tub of ice cream, when you really don’t want it — over and over again.
The development of your primal core begins in childhood. Out of certain life events, you develop beliefs about yourself, others, and the world at large. You make up your mind about these things as a child, with your limited ability to understand or see different perspectives. You create a story because, as humans, we like to make sense of things by categorizing, labeling and cataloging. This limits your ability within the box you create.
As the years go by, you embody your story. Your primal core shows up in muscle tone, posture, movement patterns and energy flow. It orientates you to certain perceptions, actions, and reactions. And it certainly impacts your leadership potential.
(A) Awareness – clarify changes you want to make but don’t quite know how.
The first move out of Primal Core and toward Extension is greater Awareness. Becoming aware means that you begin to understand how you’ve embodied your history and why. You come to understand your personal themes and limitations. Awareness, without judgment, allows you to map your territory. This non-judgmental attitude brings compassion, which supports you as you begin to make changes. It takes clarifying your values to bring action and purpose to your life. Greater awareness requires a somatic approach — paying attention to the whole body as a source of wisdom and learning.
(D) Declaration – commit to routines or practices that focus on self-care.
Declaring your purpose is more about what you do than what you say…
Leaders who make a real difference do so by embodying their personal commitment to self and others. They embrace routines and practices prioritizing self-care and centeredness because it energizes them to take daily action toward their purpose.
Ironically, self-care is the first thing people neglect, because they’re “ too busy” and “don’t have the time”? In essence, this declares that your purpose isn’t important to you. In contrast, taking time for self-care allows you to be centered, mindfully finding the balance between mind, body, and spirit.
When you value and nurture yourself wholly, you have the resourcefulness to lead yourself — to direct your energy toward building any skill and cultivating any chosen behavior. There are four steps to connecting self-care with declaring your embodied purpose, which we’ll explore in detail.
(L) Leadership – identify places where you would like to step forward but don’t know how or don’t think you can.
Leaders are never content with the status quo. They’re committed to growth. The truth is who you are today isn’t who you were last year, nor does it have to be who you will be tomorrow. Your strengths and weaknesses may be attributed to genetics or the surroundings you grew up in, however, you can choose to become the leader you want to be.
Do you feel like a leader when you walk into the room? When you have a powerful leadership presence you blend personal and interpersonal skills that send all the right signals. It’s how you show up, how you make others feel, and how effectively you communicate both verbally and non-verbally. That’s embodied leadership!
(E) Extension – discover how to bring your best self forward with confidence and deep satisfaction.
Extension has to do with how you show up in the world; and how you extend the work you have done on and with yourself into your professional and personal life. Extension is the way you bring your gifts into the world. You manifest it in the way you interact with others, the way you take care of yourself, and the way you live with integrity. It stems from how you think, make decisions, behave, manage your emotional state, and communicate. It’s your “wow” factor!
Going through the PADLE Model starts with you assessing everything about yourself — language, your body, your purpose, and your practices. Then you’ll find your potential to intentionally lead yourself with actions that align with your clear vision and values, even under intense pressure. By making the PADLE Model your go-to system, you will embody (completely own and sustain) the transformation. Getting your whole body involved takes transformation from the conceptual realm to the experiential realm. In other words, your new intentional way of living isn’t stuck as a mental exercise of what you desire to happen. It is your new way of living, of being. It’s how you lead yourself. As Deepak Chopra noted,
“By becoming self-aware, you gain ownership of reality; in becoming real, you become the master of both inner and outer life.”
Your “Dream Big, Start Small” here’s the one thing you can do today.
To begin your journey, learn more about how you embody your past experiences and how they somatically show up in your body sensations today. For example, does criticism make you feel tense? Where is that tension – your body sensation – showing up? Your neck? Chest? Shoulders? Mindfully breathe in and out, until the tension lessens. Thank the criticism for the lessons you’ve learned from it. Continue to review the criticism you’ve received over the years, breathing each one away in the same thankful manner. When you arrive at your earliest memories of criticism, do your finally cleansing/thankful breaths. This exercise will help you accept lessons from future criticism with gratitude. You’ll notice the tight, tense body sensations don’t happen or last like they once did.
Use my C.O.R.E. method to observe and examine what’s really going on at your deepest level. I also invite you to download an Introduction to The Stepping Forward Program. It reveals the 7 go-to tools I use to lead myself to being the best I can be.
Take the PADLE Model Quiz to Assess Your Leadership.