Fast Track To Fearless – Details, episodes & analysis

I was asked to give three keynotes on leadership for the Royal Institute of British Architects:

1) Learning to lead

2) Leading a team

3) Leading an organisation.

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All different topics but it made me reflect that the absolute foundation to all three is Self-Leadership: the skill and practice of leading yourself. This is a big subject, but I think there are 4 main elements to consider.

Listen to this week's episode to find out what they are.

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Get the self-belief and clarity to create a confident career strategy and join me on the Fast Track to Fearless.

Recently, I was with the CEO of a big organisation. She was asked what leadership skill she used most in her very, very big job. She said, ‘Listening, I spend a lot of my time listening.’ That was the number one thing she practised.

There’s a key distinction in listening:

You can either listen to respond OR you can listen to understand.

So my invitation this week is to remember: two ears, one mouth and try listening twice as much as you talk.

Have a listen to this week's episode for some tips on out how to do this.

Sign up for my weekly career and well-being tips straight to your inbox and find more ways I can help on the Free Resources page on my website.

⁠https://fasttracktofearless.com/free-resources ⁠

Get the self-belief and clarity to create a confident career strategy and join me on the Fast Track to Fearless.

How much does empathy play a role in your leadership style? Are you ‘old school’ and think anything like that is a bit too soft to merit serious consideration? Were you brought up with leaders who were definitely more ‘tell don’t ask’ rather than ‘ask don’t tell? For you, is any discussion of feelings awkward?

Well, you might be interested in the business book of the year is called ‘Leader as Healer’ and I’ve been lucky enough to study with the author Nicholas Janni via Coaches Rising.

If you are going to develop one leadership skill, I wholeheartedly recommend empathy.

Listen to the episode to find some useful tips on how to put empathy into practice.

Sign up for my weekly career and well-being tips straight to your inbox and find more ways I can help on the Free Resources page on my website.

https://fasttracktofearless.com/free-resources

Get the self-belief and clarity to create a confident career strategy and join me on the Fast Track to Fearless.

It might be useful to know that there’s a new acronym for the state of the world and its BANI.

BANI stands for Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear and Incomprehensible.

Listen to the episode to find out how to get ready for this BANI World.

Sign up for my weekly career and well-being tips straight to your inbox and find more ways I can help on the Free Resources page on my website.

https://fasttracktofearless.com/free-resources

Get the self-belief and clarity to create a confident career strategy and join me on the Fast Track to Fearless.

When my husband and I went to pick up our daughter from university, the weather was awful, and the motorway was busy. My husband is a confident driver, but I am not a good passenger. 

If I’m not driving, I often feel car sick for starters. I don’t like going too fast or too near. Plus I’m hyper-alert for any dangers. Which means I’m very vocal with the shrieks and the imaginary slamming of the brakes.

When we got back from the round trip, I was feeling a bit sick and frazzled, and my husband said sympathetically, ‘You’re not a good passenger’. And I agreed.

And then - boom!

It suddenly became a metaphor that translated to other aspects of my life. Am I a good passenger elsewhere or am I happier being in the driving seat? What about being a backseat driver always telling others what to do? Am I ever like that?

So, what does this have to do with you?

Well, I think it’s an interesting thing for you to ponder.  Have a listen and find out the questions you should be asking yourself.

Sign up for my weekly career and well-being tips straight to your inbox and find more ways I can help on the Free Resources page on my website.

https://fasttracktofearless.com/free-resources

Get the self-belief and clarity to create a confident career strategy and join me on the Fast Track to Fearless.

Do you have a strong sense of who you are, how you operate best, what you stand for and what really makes you thrive? If not, I really recommend taking the time to develop it.

​ I think having a strong sense of self is really the foundation of true confidence and internal validation. If you rely on external validation and approval of others for your sense of worth, it can be a precarious way to exist. The stronger the sense of self, the less you rely on external validation.

Listen to the episode where I share the concept of the Pancha Kosha , which says we have 5 layers from outside to in that make up who we are. Thinking about yourself in this way and examining each layer can help you deepen your sense of self from the outside in. It’s sort of like having a map to help you explore your own being.

Sign up for my weekly career and well-being tips straight to your inbox and find more ways I can help on the Free Resources page on my website.

https://fasttracktofearless.com/free-resources

Get the self-belief and clarity to create a confident career strategy and join me on the Fast Track to Fearless.

Do you often feel like you are a bit of a wallflower in meetings?

What I mean is, rarely saying anything, being scared to ask a question or raise a point in case you are wrong?

Are you held back by a fear of looking stupid? 

Do you then feel stupid for not saying anything?

Well, fear not, you are most definitely not alone! This topic comes up so much in coaching.

Why does it matter? Well, if you, like most people, want to create a positive impact, be heard, be seen, and be recognised for the good you do, then you can’t be that wallflower.

You have to be seen and heard and contributing to the conversation, the debate, and the discussion in meetings is an important part of delivering and showing value.

So if you find it hard, listen to the episode where I share some ideas that I encourage you to try.

Sign up for my weekly career and well-being tips straight to your inbox and find more ways I can help on the Free Resources page on my website.

https://fasttracktofearless.com/free-resources

Get the self-belief and clarity to create a confident career strategy and join me on the Fast Track to Fearless.

I work mainly with people in the creative industries and from what I can see this is the toughest year yet in the 30 years that I worked.

Fluctuations in the market, disruption, strikes, you name it, it’s been incredibly tough. The knock-on effect of that is a lack of jobs or fear of losing roles or too many qualified people for the amount of vacancies out there.

So how do you keep your self-belief in an industry with lots of knock-backs? Where following your passion and purpose sometimes feels like a mission impossible?

Listen to this week’s episodes for the 2 crucial things you need to help you through and keep your self-belief.

Sign up for my weekly career and well-being tips straight to your inbox and find more ways I can help on the Free Resources page on my website.

https://fasttracktofearless.com/free-resources

Get the self-belief and clarity to create a confident career strategy and join me on the Fast Track to Fearless.

I know it’s not just me who occasionally wakes up around 4 a.m. with worries on my mind. One minute, you are sleeping soundly; the next minute, you are wide awake, counting the catastrophes and impending doom.

How do I know it’s not just me? Because when I googled 4a.m. worrying things like ‘nocturnal anxiety’ ‘4 a.m. thoughts’ and a whole load of questions and possible answers come up.

Listen to this week’s episodes for tips and advice if it happens to you.

Sign up for my weekly career and well-being tips straight to your inbox and find more ways I can help on the Free Resources page on my website.

https://fasttracktofearless.com/free-resources

Get the self-belief and clarity to create a confident career strategy and join me on the Fast Track to Fearless.

It’s such a distressing time in the news at the moment and it’s unfortunately going to be distressing for quite a while. At times, I’ve felt doubt about having the right words or knowing exactly what to say or do. Asking myself, is it my place, will I say the wrong thing, will I offend etc listen to this week’s episodes for some examples of things you can say, when you don’t know what to say.

Sign up for my weekly career and well-being tips straight to your inbox and find more ways I can help on the Free Resources page on my website.

https://fasttracktofearless.com/free-resources

Get the self-belief and clarity to create a confident career strategy and join me on the Fast Track to Fearless.