LEANING INTO YOUR EDGES
Hello beautiful, may I have your attention for the next 5 minutes? I promise it will be worth it. Before you indulge me any further, let me introduce myself. My name is Rolee Satyam, mother of a 6-year-old lovely girl and a team leader of Australia’s largest retail company. Blissful family life and challenging work life. Perfect combination. That is what world knows about me. But, secretly, I STRUGGLE. Consistently struggling with “too much or too little”.
I am either too productive or use-less, very happy or heart-broken, a great friend or a heart-breaker, too confident or nervous as hell, people-pleaser or “I hate everybody”. SOUNDS LIKE YOU? Keep reading 😊
I recently attended a leadership coaching session and want to share my learnings with you all. It was intense two-day session run by a company called Inkling women. Our coach was Kelly Segat and she is par-excellence. I found the session extremely practical and backed by science. There are few steps that I am going to apply in my day to day life and want to share with you all: -
1. Know your strength: Ladies, if you have not already taken this test, do it now! As a preparation for the session, I completed a test from Gallup (https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/). It’s a paid test but there are few good free versions as well, for example,
https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/testcenter
This test will ask you a few questions in a random order and based on your answers, the algorithm will identify your strengths based on psycho-analysis.
Why knowing strength matters? That is what title of this blog refers to. “Leaning into your edges”. You know your edges when you know your strengths. Your edges are your strength. And instead of rounding them up to fit in, let them shine! Do not try to blend in. Stand out! Identifying your strengths will help you become the best version of yourself, unapologetically.
My strengths are a) Learner b) Developer c) Positivity d) Context e) Achiever. What are yours?
2. Value sorting: Values keep us anchored, instead of floating aimlessly. Knowing your values will help you use your strengths in a context that matters to you, taking away the decision fatigue.
Take a print out and cut values in small cards. Then sort them in 1) Very important to me 2) Important to me 3) Not important to me. Once you have sorted the cards in above decks, select your top ten from the “very important to me “pack.
3. Be your authentic self: Now, since you have an idea of who you are and what you want, time to practice it 😊
Our deepest fear is not that we are in-adequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are POWERFUL BEYOND MEASURE
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves”
“Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?”
Actually, who are you NOT to be?
You’re playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you.
As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, OUR PRESENCE AUTOMATICALLY LIBERATES OTHERS.
Do not dim your light! Catch yourself in the moment, when you are trying to fit in for extrinsic validation. Have you heard of “LIZARD VOICE”? If you have not, google it. Do not let your “LIZARD VOICE” take over. Speak your mind from your heart. Let “doing” become “being”.
“Apologize for mistakes. Apologize for unintentionally hurting someone – profusely. But, do not apologise for being who you are”…….Danielle LaPorte
TO BE CONTINUED…….
