John Wayne Mullins Responding to awareness is usually dependent on your maturity as a leader. From a biblical perspective, I believe God always wants to connect with us and wants to lead us to be a better example of him, so we can be a better example to others. But ultimately, I believe he wants us to living out our purpose.
Having purpose and knowing it can be a powerful thing, but it’s something I’ve learned that some people don’t think a lot about. Some people don’t even know how to respond to the question when asked what their purpose is.
Why is awareness so important?
Awareness is important because it brings clarity. Clarity is an important ingredient for growth. Gaining awareness is one of the things I love about coaching leaders. Leaders are called to inspire and influence others because leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. However, if you lack clarity about your purpose or if you’re stretched too thin as leader or even as a company because you’re saying “yes” too much, it can create an unclear path and ultimately result in being pulled in multiple directions that doesn’t lead to living out your purpose. It may be fun, it may even be in your sweet spot, but it may also be leading your further away from your vision.
Being coached gives permission for you to be asked the right questions in the right way that can lead to incredible breakthroughs. Coaching is not mentoring. In order to grow deeper, whether it’s in your faith, in your leadership abilities or in your life, awareness has to take place. Gaining awareness isn’t always pleasant. Sometimes it takes something painful for you to have that moment or that thought. It’s not until you take the time to reflect on those moments where you can be asked those important questions. If you’re honest with yourself, you can move in the direction that’s ultimately closer to living out your purpose.
In a world that’s filled with chaos, it’s easy to allow yourself to become consumed with the things of this world that honestly don’t matter or add any value towards your growth. It’s easy to become unfocused and unclear and lose sight of your vision and become stuck and being stuck stinks!
Last year, I found myself there, saying yes to too many things and putting myself in a position where I became stretched so too thin, I was preventing myself from being fully engaged or able to really give my best to every project, opportunity or commitment.
After reflecting and writing down all of the projects and commitments I was working on, I had to asked myself – are these really apart of my purpose? Are they really helping me come closer to my purpose and vision that I want to have. Are they bringing me closer to where I want to be in life? And after sitting down with my coach, it became clear that I wasn’t clear and my focus was off.
So what do you do? Have you ever found yourself in this position? What did you do?
Sometimes it can be a lot easier to lead others before you lead yourself. But it’s such a crucial step to lead yourself first especially when others are watching your example. Earlier this year, I wrote about leading yourself and shared 4 tips to leading yourself better. But in it, I wrote about how to get out of your own way and become a better leader.
Wanting to go deeper and become more effective requires you to get out of your own way and get intentional about getting clear. Write down your for the next 90 days. Then write down all of your competing projects and commitments and ask yourself – what’s important? The key is to identify where you are and where you want to be. Then make the path to where you want to be.
If you would like to learn more about coaching and how it can help you become clearer and gain more awareness in your personal or professional life, contact me today. I’m currently accepting new clients and will coach you how to become clear and start gaining more traction in your life. For the month of February, I’m offering a complementary coaching session for the month of February.
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