Social Leadership
I DEVELOPED THIS ONE-MINUTE meditation for my executive clients at IBM, BNP Paribas Securities Services, DHL, Microsoft, and beyond. I use it to help clients define their core focus as social leaders.
One thing I’ve observed when working with executive teams is that they’re often so busy in their minds they can’t connect easily with the wisdom in their hearts. I put this meditation together as a fast way to tap into the subconscious mind. For anyone who feels this all sounds a bit woo-woo, you should let the fact that it has worked spectacularly well with business executives alleviate any reluctance you might have towards giving it a go. It won’t harm you, I promise! And it might just do you a world of good.
Over the years, I’ve seen it be a very powerful tool for thousands of executives, sales leaders, and other businesspeople, and it works to help them find their focus as social leaders. I’ve also seen it lead directly to $40 million of business for one client, as well as $140 million in the business pipeline. Why? People buy from people they trust. Owning your voice, with integrity and a mindset of service is what matters in business and in life.
While the one-minute meditation was designed to uncover focus for social media, it is relevant more broadly. I find this an excellent exercise to do anytime I am asking myself what I should do with my life.
Be open. Give it a go and see what comes up.
Context
To gain clarity on your focus or life goals, it is important to reflect and consider what you want to be known for, or what you want to do with your life.
Reflection helps you arrive at a strong, defined, and powerful voice for your professional social media channels. It can offer a clear direction for the journey ahead of you. You may discover you already know the answer to whatever question you have, but it is buried in your subconscious mind and you can’t quite grasp it.
Coming up with answers to these questions can be a challenging process. Some of us keep the answers buried deep, quite simply because we are nervous about facing them. The reality is, when we accept our truth and our voice, it means it’s time to find the courage to step more fully into our future. That can be frightening for a lot of us. I speak from experience: I’ve been working on this for years and I’ve yet to reach my full voice and role in the world. I’m getting there step by step, though. This book is part of that journey.
There is no denying it—owning your voice is an act of courage. I encourage you to support those you see doing so, for while it is a powerful path, it is not an easy path to take.
Ask yourself what you want to be known for. Look at this as a challenge to identify your own special talent(s) or message. We often take for granted what comes easily to us. In fact, coming easily is a sign of what makes us special (and that thing we have this natural talent for), but often we don’t value it because it’s easy. This is one of life’s crazy contradictions, and it can make this process really hard.
The following meditation will hopefully help you overcome that challenge, if you approach it with an open mind and look at it as a starting point for the journey to becoming your whole, best, beautiful self.
The instructions
- Sit down with paper and pen, your phone, or a computer—or simply use the space below in this book. The important thing is to have everything you need to write ready in front of you before you start. Clear away unnecessary clutter.
- Read the questions below. Select one that speaks to you right now. All of these questions are relevant. You can go back and do the others separately later.
- Get comfortable in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Uncross your arms and legs and set your timer for one minute plus 10 seconds. (Those extra 10 seconds will give you time to relax.)
- Start your timer, close your eyes, take some deep breaths, and relax.
- When you’re ready, silently ask yourself the question you chose— over and over again—until the alarm goes off. Push away any other thoughts that attempt to break in while you’re doing this exercise. Just keep asking your question over and over again, meditating on it for one minute.
- When the timer goes off, open your eyes and start writing. Write whatever comes up, and if nothing comes up, doodle or scribble. Do not judge what is coming out, just write for as long as you need to write and capture the messages that emerge from your subconscious.
In front of you will be words, sentences, paragraphs, or maybe even patterns. Consider your words. Do you have your answers there? Are you surprised by what you see? Or are these the words you knew would come?
If you are struggling or apprehensive about doing this, invite a good friend or colleague to do this exercise with you. When you get your results, you can discuss it together. Regardless, the answer to your question is here. Be open to seeing it.
Meditation questions
Reminder: all questions are equal, so select the one that speaks to you today.
- What do I want to do with my life?
- What do I want to be known for?
- What makes me stand out in a crowd?
- When I light people up, what is it I am talking about?
- What is my expertise?
- What am I unique at?
- What are my core values?
- What comes easily to me?
- What do I read about until the early hours of the morning?
- What gets me out of bed eagerly?
- What gives me energy?
- What feeds my spirit?
- What do people compliment me on?
- What makes me amazing?
Notes and insights
Now spend some time defining your message and make a plan to contribute your voice to the world. And for insights on how you can be a social leader, follow my blogs on andreatedwards.com.
I hope this opens up a new path for you to launch yourself onto. Remember, tap into your Uncommon Courage and get going. The world needs you.
Cheers
Andrea
Uncommon Courage: an invitation – my latest book
Uncommon Courage is an invitation to be your courageous best self every day. It’s also an antidote to the overwhelm, fear, and rage rolling around the world. But it’s more than a book; it’s an invitation to join an inclusive community that wants to better understand humanities challenges – both global and personal – in order to take courageous action and create a better world for everyone. If Covid19 has given us the time and space to reflect, Uncommon Courage gives us the nudge we need to create lasting change.
You can buy it on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Booktopia, Smashwords, Kobo, Gardners, Odilo, Indie Bound, BookShop by BookTrib and Scribd.
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You can read the reviews, including a new five-star review on Book Commentary, another five-star review on ReaderViews, a review on BookTrib, and three more on Booklife, another on Book Commentary and Blue Ink Reviews. I’m also collating reviews on my Website too. Have a look and grateful to everyone who has written or recorded one.
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