SigmaU Blog

I’ll be honest with y’all! I’ve been struggling a lot lately.  There have been about half a dozen life changes and crises happening at the same time.  While most have been positive, the negative ones have beaten me down.

This may surprise you given that I’m a high-performance coach. It has been small compromises in my training program that have led me here. I know this to be true, because I have navigated crises in the past while maintaining my perspective, a positive outlook, and healthy routine.

So, what went wrong this time around?

I allowed myself to take on a victim mentality and I stopped doing the basics that drive high performance.

Now don’t get me wrong, if you saw the laundry list of challenges perhaps you would say that my victim mentality was warranted. It was not and is not and today is a new day.

Today, I choose to manage my energy, to look for the good and the lessons. Today, I choose to get back to the basics, the habits that...

The eternal optimist in me tends to avoid the negative and at times I must admit that I’d rather bury my head in the sand than face reality.

During COVID I started doing a lot of journaling. It brought clarity and increased focus and purpose for me. I’ve spoken about that in a recent blog (https://www.growwithsigmau.com/blog/Journaling).  One of the questions in my High-Performance Journal triggered me when I first saw it. 

The question is “A situation that might stress me out or trip me up today could be…” and the next question “And the way my best self would deal with that is…”.

I’ll admit, I didn’t want to answer the question at first. The question itself literally tripped me up! I resisted it because my rationale was to look for the good. If we look for the bad, we tend to find it.  While that may be true, when I started answering this question it placed me in a much better position to deal with...

Life can pass us by so quickly! The days pass, the weeks and then ultimately the months. Unfortunately, most go through life at such a speed that things become a blur. 

I did this for years and then found I had a sense of discomfort. I was unfulfilled. While I had met several of my professional and personal goals, I felt something was missing.

Then I read "Do the Work" with Dr. Nicole LePera, who teaches journaling as part of the healing process.

Here's what simple, daily journaling did for me...

Slow Down

Taking the time to write out the answers to these questions posed by Dr. Nicole, I found myself slowing down to be present and really think through how I wanted my day to unfold.

Here are the questions I journal...

Today I am...

Today I am optimistic, confident, and kind.

I am grateful for...

I list all the amazing things about life.

Today I am practicing...

Today I am practicing fierce...

As I’ve been working with clients over the past year, I’ve noticed that many have benefitted from doing the work of journaling. I say work because journaling isn’t always a joyful experience. It can be joyful, even liberating, but I can also demand that we look inside of ourselves and go deep into the crevices that we tend to avoid peeking in to.

It Takes Courage

At times writing takes courage. It forces us to slow down and ask ourselves questions that we might otherwise avoid. Questions like “What’s really the issue here?”,  “Why does this person or situation trigger me the way that it does?” or “Why do I feel helpless in this situation and how could I change my perspective so I’m back in control?”

It Shines a Light Inward

One client recently expressed to me that she had a huge epiphany. She was in a dark place and when she sat down to journal one weekend, she realized that by asking the right questions, she was...

Journaling is the process of taking pen to paper, or fingers to a keyboard and taking note of personal experiences, reflections and occurrences on a regular basis. It is a personal journey of gaining clarity on a variety of areas in your life you may be interested in exploring. It could be gaining clarity on who you are as a person, understanding your emotions, reflecting back on past experiences, or looking into the future, just to name a few.

Journaling has many benefits when it is added into your daily routine and it can have an impact on how you show up, not only in your personal life but also professionally. Taking the time to journal and really dive deep into your thoughts and emotions will provide you with a better understanding of why you do the things you do. This provides you the clarity you need to become aware of certain things or situations that may be a trigger for you and be able to catch them before they happen or stop and make a change.

Journaling also reduces...

I’ll be honest with you. I don’t wake up every morning with a spring in my step and an eagerness to serve others. In fact, there are some mornings that I want to roll over, pull up the sheets, snuggle my basenji and let someone else be the boss for the day!

I’ve experienced some of my darkest times as a leader during COVID. Battling negative conversations in my mind about the future of the economy, will our savings run dry if this continues for years, will I have to lay people off if there’s a second wave, will it just be Friday already! Anyone else relate? Bueller, Bueller?

Gratitude: a powerful remedy

All that said, I will share with you a powerful way to remedy a funk and that is by practicing gratitude and setting intentions. I started doing a gratitude journal about four years ago and it is a fantastic way to rebalance and reframe your thinking. At the end of the day, while this year has been a rollercoaster ride, there is still SO much to be grateful...