The Thoughtful Leaders Blog
Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on February 6, 2012
“Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” Ancient Chinese proverb
Truth be told, my perfectionist days are not all over…
There are still many times when I slip and realize that I have been, once again, beating myself up for not getting, doing, or knowing something fast enough, well enough, or good enough. When I’m wondering why I’m not at the pinnacle of the mountain “yet” – why I’m still climbing and moving so slowly you’d think I was walking backwards…
Those are the times when I try and remember to be easier with myself. When I keep in mind the adage that tulips don’t grow any quicker if you try to pull them up from the ground, or if you dig them up to see how they’re doing and why it’s taking so long to get a blossom. When I remind myself that it is ok to move slowly at times – that sometimes growth and progress take time, and that doesn’t mean that nothing is happening and no progress is being made.
It is always when I release my deathgrip and let it be ok that I’m not as far ahead as I think I “should” be…that I have the breakthrough and the growth and success come quickly and easily. You would think I would learn…
Where are you growing slowly? Where are you standing still?
Allow yourself the grace to grow as slowly as you need at times. Celebrate the growth as you see it and enjoy the slower pace. If you have identified areas where you are simply standing still, come up with two actions you will take to move yourself forward.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on December 5, 2011
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart.” Carl Jung
One of the true gifts of my profession is witnessing clients have an “aha” moment. You see the realization hit them as they recognize a self-defeating pattern they’ve repeated over and over…and then devise a plan to break the pattern, or grasp the negative self-talk that they’ve engaged in for years…and begin to question that self-talk and believe a different truth, or acknowledge the rightness of many of their gut instincts…and begin to trust themselves and their leadership more than they ever have before. There often is a pause in our conversation, a moment when they reflect, a silence as they internalize, and then they emerge from their contemplation with a newfound strength that is palpable. And engaging.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on August 22, 2011
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle
We often have the best intentions yet fail to stick to our commitments. We decide to change our behavior – to act differently or treat someone with more care and concern – and we do… but only once or twice. Then we wonder why things aren’t different and nothing gets better.
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Posted by Lisa Kohn on July 7, 2011
I must admit my blog today is very personal…but Thoughtful Leadership is personal and it’s based on bringing our whole self to everything we do and every way we lead. I know my leadership today, my very essence today, is flavored by an extremely private and emotional experience, and if I’m truly living “thoughtfully” then I must acknowledge my situation, my feelings, and my thoughts.
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Posted by Robyn McLeod on May 19, 2011
The other day my daughter and I were discussing the challenges and rewards of working at a large corporation. As someone who is relatively early in her career, she is learning how to navigate the political landscape within her company and how to deal with the wide variety of personalities and characters she comes across in the workplace.
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Posted by Lisa Kohn on April 15, 2011
I’ve spent most of my early life trying to be perfect, and much of my later life trying to learn how to not try to be perfect – and I’ve had my myriad of reasons for learning to “aim so low.” And then I read Seth Godin’s post “Perfect vs. interesting” and my reasons for walking away from perfection exponentially increased.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on March 21, 2011
“Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.” Robert Schuller
I was sitting in the car the other day, listening to my daughter teach my son to read. He clearly was making mistakes and he clearly was trying. The fact that he was learning and that his reading was absolutely not perfect didn’t deter him.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on September 13, 2010
“Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.” George Washington Carver
The other day I was talking with a colleague about something that had happened, something that had gone wrong on a project. As we dug deeper and deeper into the situation, my colleague offered more and more reasons why the errors were simply not his fault, or they couldn’t be helped.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on August 16, 2010
“Getting there isn’t half the fun – it’s all the fun.” Robert Townsend
Just the other day a client shared with me that she had roses, roses she loved, growing outside her house on the veranda…and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d actually seen them, or noticed them.
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View Robyn McLeod's profile
You two are on point. Life is not a dress rehearsal, we only get to do it once. We are bombarded by sound bites that show where we should be (career wise), what we should look like, how we should exercise and how to live basically. But, what if you don’t want to do any of those things. What if your goal is to enjoy the simpler things? Family, friends and health are critical for true wealth and happiness. Taking time to smell the roses or smell the coffee or just play a game with your 13 year old or listen to music with your 9 year old are important things. Keep preaching and reaching the choir needs to hear.
Thanks,