How peace of mind can make you a better leader

“Peace of mind arrives the moment you come to peace with the contents of your mind.”
~Rasheed Ogunlaru

I was thinking about this the other day. How the more I push against something to make sure it doesn’t happen or to make it go away, the bigger and stronger it seems to get. How the more I try not to think about something or someone, the more they seem to occupy the entire real estate of my mind. How the more I scold myself for whatever I’m thinking or however I’m feeling, how relentless those thoughts and feelings become.

Have you noticed this as well?

I recently asked a few of my coaching clients to share with me the most extreme value they got from our work together. (I wasn’t looking for strokes or accolades. I am drafting a TED talk and wanted to make sure the value I felt I brought to clients was aligned with the value clients felt I brought to them 😊.) Their answers ranged from the importance of love (yes love – self-love and self-care, and treating others with love, care, and respect as well) to getting out of their own head and their own made up stories, to being more aware of what they can control and to stop fighting every fight.

Their answers varied, but a theme I saw was again, this sense of coming to peace with the contents of one’s mind and the best that one can do in the moment. To stop fighting and to let it all be enough.

My clients told me that when they stopped pushing and forcing and scolding, when they allowed a bit of ease, they were able to come to a sense of peace…and equally important, they were able to be more effective and successful. They were able to work things out with the very difficult boss. They were able to stop needing a colleague to act in certain ways and were able to find a way to move forward despite that colleague. They were able to step more fully into their role as a manager and leader. To give up struggle and meet more goals more easily. To take on more and more responsibility. To meet their teams where their teams were and to give their teams what their teams needed.

All at least partially because they made peace with the contents of their minds and with their situations…and allowed themselves to find new and better ways to get where they needed to go.

It’s not always easy to make this peace. (Just like it’s very rarely easy to work with a coach to achieve paradigm shifts and powerful results. It takes hard work, concerted effort, and focus.) But when we can come to peace with the contents of our minds, we often find endless possibilities…and a bit more joy and fun.

How have you come to peace with the contents of your mind (and life) and how has it helped you?
Please leave a comment.

For support in finding more peace…and endless possibilities and powerful results, contact Lisa at lkohn@chatsworthconsulting.com.

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