‘Sustainability is no longer about doing less harm. It’s about doing more good.’
– Jochen Zeitz
We all go through stress, tension, worry, and anxiety at some point or the other in life. We find ways to overcome these challenges but many of us struggle to find a way forward. In this week’s webinar we explored the power of self-coaching to better understand our challenges, accept them and build a system to take steps towards sustainability.
I attended the webinar and I want to use this space to share my learnings and reflections with the hope that you find for yourself a mantra to self-coach towards sustainability, as I did through this webinar.
The following questions explored in the session helped me to get closer to understanding how I can use the empowering tool of self-coaching to overcome challenges I face in my own life.
What is the value of self-coaching?
Vinitha said, “The better self-leader I am, the better self-coach I become.”
I found this to be profound since it makes me look at the process of self-coaching as one where I take accountability for my own growth, like a leader. Leadership requires the leader to take responsibility and be accountable for their actions and so does self-coaching. Self-Coaching allows you to accept where you are, trust yourself and move forward by taking actions that align with your needs and values.
What comes in the way of us being able to overcome the challenges we face?
Smita mentioned that it can be sometimes challenging for people to trust themselves to overcome the challenges they face. Self-doubt could cloud our judgment and come in the way of making decisions that can be empowering. Vinitha explained that we can pull ourselves down with a lot of negative self-talk.
My learning has been that the most important factor in working towards sustainability is the relationship that we have with ourselves. Just as there are two sides to a coin, there are two sides to how we talk to ourselves. What is it that we believe to be true for ourselves? When you are going through a challenging situation, you always have the choice to either tell yourself of all that you’re doing wrong or remind yourself of all that you’re doing well. It all comes down to exploring what kind of a relationship we have with ourselves. A positive or motivating self-talk will get the best out of you whereas a negative or demotivating self-talk can take away a lot from you.
How can I self-coach myself?
Smita and Vinitha both self-coach in their own unique ways. They use a structured way of exploration through SET and ABCDE (what is activating an event, what is your belief which is creating the event, what is your consequence if you stick to that belief, how will you dispute the belief, what is an effective way to work around it). Both these tools seem impactful as they take you from a place of becoming aware to acting. I thought these two tools were both easy to follow and also oriented towards giving a structure to your thoughts and emotions. Doesn’t that sound so empowering already? Fast forward to 31:40 in the webinar video to understand the ABCDE model.
So what’s “my mantra.” I landed on the simple, “No is a full statement.” This is something that Vinitha shared and it struck a chord. I realized that I can simply make life easy for myself by saying “No” when I think I cannot take on more. This to me is very liberating since it would come from a place of accepting the limitations I have and respecting my needs.
I encourage you to watch the webinar or listen to the podcast and explore what your magic potion is. Happy exploring!
