How to make decisions for the person you are becoming, not the person you are today

10/14/2021

Sally Grisedale

In the wake of our global trauma, it’s the perfect time to stop making decisions for the person you are, and begin making decisions for the person you are becoming.

Who you were before Covid-19 will be different from who you will become in the future, so let’s get started uncovering who that incredible version of you will be.

Assess you life satisfaction today

There are many ways to do this, but one way is to use a tool known as “The Wheel of Life.” It’s used by coaches, including Tony Robbins, to rate your level of satisfaction across eight aspects of your life. A free copy of The Wheel is online here at my website clearchannelcoaching.com. Go and print out a copy; it’s my gift to you.

The Wheel is divided into eight quadrants that include Career and Work, Family and Friends, Health and Wellbeing, Romance, Home and Physical Environment, Personal Growth and Dreams, Money and Finance, and Fun and Recreation.

Look at each segment of your life, and assess your satisfaction level today. The objective is to mark each segment on a scale of 1 to 10; 1 being a very low or no level of satisfaction to 10 being highly satisfied.

When you connect the segment spokes with a line and create a new perimeter of the circle, ask yourself how bumpy your ride would be if it were a real wheel.

Imagine better life satisfaction

Now you know your satisfaction level with life today; let’s think about the future. For each life area, ask yourself these four questions

What’s possible when I am fully satisfied with this area of my life?

Who will I become?

Who will help me?

What will I stop resisting to bring what I truly want into my life?

Six months from now who will you become?

Let’s say your level of satisfaction with your career today is 5, and six months from now you’d like it to be 8. What commitment will you make to yourself to manifest this change?

Here’s an example of how to start the process of improving your career satisfaction and moving the needle from 5 to 8.

What’s possible when I’m fully satisfied in my career?

  • I have autonomy and impact at work, and my work helps others.
  • I feel supported by my team, by the compensation/benefits, and the lifestyle fits my personal life.
  • My work aligns with my values; I am in integrity with who I am and what I do.
  • I’m confident, competent, and love how my work just flows from me.
  • I’m happy in this role and excited to come to work each day.

Who will I have become professionally?

  • I’ll be more discerning about positions, projects, and companies I take on and who I give my time and energy to.
  • I’ll be confident in my unique talents and willingness to always play to my strengths.
  • I’ll be accepting of myself as a leader and certain that when I show up without fear, I inspire great work from others.

Who will help me get there?

  • I’ll work with a leadership coach.
  • I’ll ask the supporters in my network for their candid feedback.
  • I’ll help myself by taking better care of myself (nutrition, sleep, exercise, hydration, and daydreaming).
  • I’ll invest in self-care (morning pages, clutter clearing, cleanliness, meditation) to release the stagnation that prevents me from stepping into my greatness as a leader.

What will I stop resisting to bring this into my life?

  • I’ll stop resisting giving proper care, attention, and time investment to this inner work
  • I’ll stop resisting sharing my needs and how I really feel
  • I’ll stop resisting feeling vulnerable
  • I’ll stop resisting standing up to saboteurs who tell me that trying to change is too hard, I’m not worthy, I’ll make things worse, I’ll lose my job if I ask for what I really want… etc.

Now you Try ….

Life Area =

  • Satisfaction Score Today =
  • Desired Satisfaction Score in six months =
  • What’s possible when you are fully satisfied with this area of your life?
  • Who will you have become?
  • Who will help you?
  • What will you stop resisting to bring this into your life?

The benefits of learning how to stop making decisions for the person you are and start making decisions for the person you want to become are different for everyone. For creative thinkers and extraordinary leaders like you, try the exercise and let me know what you learn about yourself. For example did you:

  • Discover where the gaps are between where you are, and where you want to be.
  • Uncover which areas of your life need attention and why.
  • Learn the skills you overdeveloped but continue to rely on, knowing they aren’t really cutting it anymore.
  • Identify your inner critic who wants to keep you safe by playing small.
  • Discover you are embarrassed by how powerful you have become.

Can you remember learning to ride a bicycle? Probably a family member or friend ran behind holding the back of the bicycle seat until you found your balance and speed to ride unaided. Thats the metaphor of having a coach. Someone to champion and support you as you grow a new skill, gain momentum and confidently ride away unaided.

Being open and willing to change is hard, but having support from a leadership coach is a game changer. If you’d like to learn about my 1:1 coaching program, please schedule a complementary call here.

Photo by Florencia Potter for Unsplash

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Leading by Design is a blog for creative leaders working in tech. It’s not a “Why You Should Use AI in Design Thinking” or “How to Hire and Retain Product Design Teams with Impact” type of blog. There are enough of those.

I write about the challenges you can’t safely discuss as creative leaders working in tech. The stories come directly from my experience leading teams at Apple, Meta, Yahoo!, and some start-ups and from the executive design leaders I coach today.

I have written about the stressful magpie boss, hateful cross-functional peers, creative burnout, the shame of job loss and survivor guilt, and the fear of becoming irrelevant in the marketplace.

I publish once a week and offer strategies to reframe your challenge so you can return to being the creative leader your team loves you to be.

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