When it comes to being a great leader, a great team, and a great organisation, your starting point is vital. And starting from the heart means beginning from a place of humanity.
Did you know that you are already amazing? Before you do or achieve anything at all — just by being the unique human being you are, you are amazing. The chance of you existing at all is incredibly small. Imagine the vast oceans of the world, and somewhere in those 1.37 billion km³ of water, there’s one tiny turtle swimming. Now imagine on the immense 361 million km² of ocean surface, there’s one small rubber ring floating. When that one tiny turtle comes up for air, it just happens to pop its head right through that one tiny rubber ring. That’s how amazing it is that you are here. One amazing human being.
Even though you are amazing, it doesn’t always feel that way. Sometimes it can feel like the world is happening to you — squeezing you, stressing you out, overwhelming you. Like you’re spinning on a hamster wheel, going faster and faster with no idea how to slow down or climb off. Like you’re nothing but a series of tasks, routines, stresses, responsibilities, and expectations. Far from being in touch with your amazing-ness, and even further from feeling truly human.
The world and work can increasingly feel like a high-speed carousel, fuelled by adrenal stress and a sense of automatic necessity. From here, it’s easy to live in a state of near-constant anxiety or worry and feel disconnected from your deeper self, your relationships, and your purpose.
Starting from a place of humanity, integrity, connection, and well-being is the best launch you can give yourself, your teams, and your business to thrive. Great leadership, strong impact, relationship-building, and public speaking — it all starts with you, your state, your well-being — with you, the human being.
Reconnecting to Your True Self: Living and Leading as a Whole Human Being
Many of us have been shaped by cultural conditioning — told to be good, nice, strong, powerful, successful. This can move us further from being in a good relationship with ourselves and others. We begin to mask and pretend, trying to be what we think we should be or what others expect, hiding what we’re really feeling.
So how about trying to be real, human, whole, happy… simply you?
To live a full life, it might be time to put your full self back at the center of your experience. To get off the crazy wheel, even for a moment, and regain choice. Remember, you’re not a machine whose only task is to keep running, producing, or achieving without stopping or questioning. You are, at heart, a human — and so are your colleagues and customers.
At the heart of every great leader, team, and business are amazing human beings who help each other grow, create, and succeed. While many of us get consumed by tasks and performance, at our core we are human beings with hearts. It might be time to reconnect with that heart to live and lead with more meaning, magic, and moments of connection — to truly live and lead as a human being. Or, as we say at 4D, to live and lead as a full 4D Human Being.
The more human you are, the better you will lead, present, and do business in ways people want to engage with.
Over the next few weeks, we will explore four ways to step off the wheel and get back to living and leading from the heart, as human beings with choice:
Get HONEST
Live and Lead from HEART
Stop HIDING
Get some HEADSPACE
