Leadership’s Success: Here To Inspire

 I stopped to re-read some of my old blog posts. At first, I laughed at the overconfident girl who was ready to take on the world. But as I made my way through some posts, I found that I left some lasting impressions that I would be successful. 

The last six months has been a test in the career world I never thought I’d undergo. If you asked me 5 or 10 years ago, where I would be today, I probably would’ve answered “Director or VP position at Medtronic.” 

That was not in the cards. At least not yet. 

Instead, I’m owner of Leadership’s Success, a coaching and consulting business to serve people and business in improving. 

Owner. 

Now, if you asked me 6 months ago or 6 years ago about being owner, I would’ve brushed it off with a chuckle. 

Sticking to your Calling 

The semester before I completed my undergraduate degree, I was involved in many outreach programs across Phoenix. It was during this time that I found my passion in motivating and lifting people up. 

I remember tutoring a young girl in a low income district. She was talking about not seeing her dad that much because she didn’t live with him. Then she asked me about my father. I froze. Here is this young elementary school girl asking me about my father. 

I didn’t want to tell her he died but I didn’t want to lie, giving her any idea that my home was so-called better than hers. 

I carefully said how I knew how she felt but didn’t think it was appropriate to talk about. After a few questions and pushing to get a better answer, she smiled and we finished her assignment.  

If I knew how connect to this young girl, could I connect to others? 

Learning how to fail 

I became a manufacturing technical supervisor quite early in my career. I recall having direct reports who were three times my age (not exaggerating). It was this time that I learned about failing and what it meant in the greater scheme of things. 

I had to let my guard down so others would feel comfortable to lead around me. I learned about being humble in my accomplishments and accepting when I needed help. But above all, I learned that when you inspire someone with no hidden agenda, it sticks with them. 

I would causally spend 10-20 minutes at most encouraging someone to apply for a job or telling him or her how to work through a problem. The smile on their face or the job offer in their hands was enough of a reward. 

Failing is about being humble and vulnerable - Admitting how you are wrong and then working a plan to correct that. When I can help others do that, I feel like I grow a little in the process. 

Rejection is a temporary hurt. 

I mentioned the last six months has been a whirlwind. I can probably go back further but won’t bore you. Plus, you have other blog posts to read if you want to catch up. 

But what hurt the most, was the amount of job application rejections I received in a given week. Talking about learning how to fail- I mastered the class! 

I would ask myself: 

• What is wrong with me? 
• What am I missing in my resume? 
• Why did I leave the medical device industry without securing another job? 

I was too scared to ask the question that was most important: 

What drives me everyday? 

And that has always been, quite simply, serving and inspiring those around me. 

I posted my major career shift on LinkedIn and had an acquaintance from my previous life reach out. We met once in person, waiting for our turn at a busy Verizon store in Desert Ridge. We talked, we laughed and we inspired. This was at least 12 years ago! I remember the lighting in the store, I remember it being around the holidays and I remember he sharing the Christmas Cheech & Chong video with me. 

We connected on LinkedIn but never met in person again. 

Today after congratulating on my career change, he wrote: “You certainly left a lasting impression.  Our dialogue was intriguing, engaging and uplifting...something I definitely wasn't expecting at a Verizon store.” 

My passion is to help people grow. To pass on the wisdom and tools I’ve gained over the years. To uplift others towards a direction they didn’t know they could go. 

With that “lasting impression,” I was reminded today how I was born to do just that - to inspire.

 

Overcoming Pain

Pain is measured by how much it is weighing you down. Unfortunately, this year was painful: for multiple reasons.

• ·      Physical and emotional weight gain
• ·       Wars across the globe
• ·       My sister-in-law’s 13-year-old nephew martyred
• ·       Left Medtronic after a 14 year tenure
• ·       Had an emergency heart angiogram
• ·       Crying in Jerusalem

Pain is subjective to those who are feeling it. In the Emergency Department, they objectify it to determine whether or not to treat you. In May of this past year, I went to two different ED’s. I had symptoms of a heart attack but since they weren’t dire, I was sent home. I recall the doctor saying “You won’t die tomorrow” at discharge. Two days later, I went with my instinct and saw my cardiologist, who transferred me for an emergency heart angiogram. 

In December, the same thing happened. I went to four different hospitals and saw more than seven physicians, for one of them to state “You’ll just need to learn to live with chest pain.” <Insert gasp here.>

As I look back on the past year, I tried to summarize how my pain was relieved. I realized after typing them that they also caused some of the pain but it may still be worth sharing.

Stop Being So Hard On Yourself

Honestly, I still haven’t fully figured this one out yet. Balancing this so-called life with my family, my health and my work, I am constantly putting myself down with feelings of not being or doing enough. I try to keep up with the changes of my growing almost eight-year-old daughter with some days more difficult than others.

I switched jobs earlier in the year to be closer to my daughter and found myself pulling further away from her. Working just as many hours and doing the bare minimum when I got home, I thought it was a bad decision until I realized how much she values the midday hugs, since I work at her school. When someone asked her what I did, she proudly stated “she practically runs the place with the principal!”

The hard expectations I put on myself aren’t as important to what my husband and daughter expect of me. The expectations and the goals I set for myself don’t mean anything if it creates bad memories for those who love me. When you set realistic expectations, it’s easier to be positive about who you’ve become. It is also easier to accept yourself at the end of each day.

Don’t Be Someone You’re Not

Speaking of expectations, we too often try to fit into a mold to go along with the groove. I spent an amazing 14 years at Medtronic, holding various roles to live out the company’s mission. I loved what we stood for but I started to feel out of place. Why was I at this company? What was my next move? Was it in alignment to I needed to be healthy? Or what my family needed to stay strong?

It’s hard to make a change. It’s even harder to put on a face I couldn't keep straight anymore. There are multiple sayings on how it's easier to just tell the truth than to maintain a lie. That holds true in the people you surround yourself with and the roles you take on. Just be yourself.

Articulate Your Pain Well Enough to Explain It

The weight of living with some sort of chronic pain can be indescribable on most days. But it’s critical to be able to speak up on when it’s holding you down. I like to convince myself that the physicians I saw were experts in their field, but to be out of breath with pain and tightness in my chest, well, that’s just not normal. My friend, Dr. Kiran Chaudhry, teaches medical students. She stated how it’s easy to read her notes and make a diagnosis because she actually sits with her patients. She proudly explained to me “that’s the number one thing I’ve learned in my twenty years of service is to just listen. Patients already know what’s wrong with them, you just have to listen.”

After weeks in various hospitals with various doctors, it is only when I finally found a doctor who listened that I started to heal. I was able to explain my pain without a lecture on what they thought it was but rather empathy for what I had been through. I was able to explain what was happening and the effect it had on me. I went twice in once week and we were able to work on a plan together for how I could get better.

When two people are dancing at a party, they both have the same amount of joy. When two people are sitting next to each other in a funeral home, they both have the same amount of remorse. When someone is in pain, the person adjacent to them cannot feel it. Even with empathy, they do not physically have the same pain in that moment.

Pain is generally a lonely feeling. It can cause you to put yourself down or to have you pretend you’re fine to keep everyone going. But with so much of it in the world today, it’s important to be able to express it, even if it can be kind of a downer.

It is okay to express pain. It is truly the only way to overcome it. 

https://cpr123.com/the-most-common-heart-attack-symptoms-in-women/