Getting Unstuck #134: Leading the Authentic Life
In this episode of Getting Unstuck
Shelley Paxton is the author of the mega-best seller, Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel’s Guide to Finding Your Best Life. She is the Chief Soul Officer at soulbattical.com, an organization dedicated to “liberating the souls of leaders and organizations, by inspiring them to realize their greatest purpose and potential.”
Why this conversation matters
One of our dear friends, Kimberly Davis, wrote a brilliant book titled Brave Leadership. The “brave” part has to do with our human desire and willingness to break through all the “shoulds,” “shouldn’ts” and other self-limiting voices in our head to become truly confident, authentic, and powerful – the kind of leader others would want to follow. Kimberly calls the process of getting to brave “excavation” because who we are is already within us.
Shelley’s story of leaving a high-powered dream job to rediscover herself, her values, and what she wanted out of life entails some heavy excavation. It is a story for anyone in any endeavor – business, education, not-for-profit – who feels their soul is out of alignment with their work and life. Sadly, it is not an uncommon story, but Shelley tells it with uncommon transparency and honesty. Left unchecked, living a life out of alignment with our values stops us from being the leader we want and need to be. And if we’re not whole in our own skin, how can we expect to lead others on the journey of change?
How to use this podcast
Shelley looks at activities in life and work in terms of whether they fill or drain your personal energy tank. Do you think of life’s activities in terms of time or energy? If the latter, what activities drain your energy? Which are more energy fulfilling?
Shelley speaks of living life guided by any number of “shoulds” in her head. “I should do this.” “I should do that.” Gradually, she realizes that when you’re guided by ‘shoulds,” you’re probably living life on someone else’s terms. What are the “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts” you whisper to yourself?
What are some soul-draining activities you could prune from your life?
Connect with Shelley
It’s all Good!
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We want to share your stories of complex change!
Does your district or school have a story to tell about a complex change initiative it undertook?
• Maybe you moved to more of a teacher- or student-centered learning environment.
• Maybe you dove into the deep end of the change pool by using open education resources where you routinely share tools and learning with other districts or schools.
• Maybe you shifted away from traditional grading to a competency-based system.
• Maybe you’ve moved to micro-credentialing professional development.
• Maybe your district moved or is moving to a micro-school environment.
We’re going to be running a series of interviews to inspire and instruct other educators who want and need to make a big shift, so if you’ve shifted from point A to point Z, we’d like to consider your story. Please contact Jeff directly at jeff@quetiocoaching.com to set up a preliminary discussion.
