Lead Through Strengths

In today's episode, we dive into building your personal brand as a coach. You'll hear about "Connected Kelly," a coach who initially felt pressured to conform to an analytical persona in her big tech job, only to discover that her true strength—Connectedness—was what truly set her apart. You'll learn how she transformed her approach, leading to a more fulfilling and energized coaching practice.

We also explore practical tips for building your personal brand, including how to identify the challenges you can help solve and how to communicate your unique value effectively. Whether you're an independent coach or working internally at a company, it's important to be specific in your messaging to connect with your ideal clients.

So, if you're ready to make sure your coaching brand aligns with your personal brand, this episode is packed with insights and actionable advice to help you shine!

🌟

Work With Us!

BREA Roper Communication | Woo | Activator | Futuristic | Connectedness

If you need a Strengths Hype Girl, for yourself or your team, connect with Brea at brearoper.com. She's ready to deliver an inspirational keynote, empowering training, or transformational workshop. If you're looking for an expert guide to support your internal Strengths efforts, reach out today!

LISA Cummings

Strategic | Maximizer | Positivity | Individualization | Woo

To work with Lisa, check out team workshops and retreats at the Lead Through Strengths site. For 1:1 strengths or life coaching, check out the Get Coached link. For independent coaches, trainers, and speakers, get business tools support with our Tools for Coaches membership.

Takeaways

● Your differences are your differentiators: Don't shy away from what makes you different. Like Connected Kelly, who initially suppressed her connectedness, recognizing and embracing your unique strengths can lead to a more fulfilling coaching practice.

● Be specific in your messaging: Vague statements like "I help you live your best life." are unclear and uninteresting. Instead, focus on clear, compelling messages that resonate with your audience, such as "I help get your emails get read." This specificity helps potential clients see the value you offer.

● You are your brand: Your personal brand is a reflection of who you are. By aligning your strengths, values, and messaging, you'll create a cohesive brand that resonates with your audience and showcases your unique contributions.

● Narrowing your focus can attract more clients: When it comes to marketing, less is more! Don't fear that specializing will limit your opportunities. Instead, it can help you attract clients who are specifically looking for the solutions you provide, ultimately leading to a more successful coaching practice.

Take Action

● Identify Your Strengths: Reflect on your unique strengths and how they contribute to your coaching practice. Let your differences be your differentiators – in your brand, your business model, and beyond.

● Identify the Challenges You Solve:: Determine the specific challenges you want to address as a coach. Consider what problems your ideal clients face and how your strengths can help solve those issues. This will help you create targeted messaging that resonates with your audience.

● Craft Your Messaging: Develop a clear, concise, and compelling answer to the question, "What do you do?".

● Utilize Your Online Presence: Update your LinkedIn profile and other online platforms to reflect your personal brand. Incorporate your strengths and the specific problems you solve in your headlines and descriptions to attract the right clients.

● Engage with Your Audience: Actively communicate your value and the unique contributions you bring to your coaching practice. Share insights, tips, and success stories that highlight your strengths and the impact you can have on your clients' lives.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in building their personal brand. Join us as we explore the power of aligning your personal brand with your coaching practice.!

🎧 Listen now and let us know your thoughts! We'd love to hear from you!

#PersonalBrand #Coaching #PersonalDevelopment #Podcast #Leadership #CoachingTips #StrengthsBasedCoaching

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

AI-Generated Transcript

Lisa: Hi, I'm Lisa.

Brea: I'm Brea.

Lisa: And today's episode is strengths and your personal brand as a coach.

Brea: Yes. Oh my gosh. I love this topic. Let's just dive in.

Lisa: I'm so excited. Okay, let's dive in. I want to dive in with an example of something that happened with a coach who was building a personal brand as a coach and she didn't know it and it wasn't at all what she would have done on purpose. Ooh, I'm intrigued. Tell us more.

Brea: Because I think that so many people fall into this trap.

Lisa: Yeah. Heck yes, we do. I imagine most of us have done this where we unintentionally built a reputation on something that we just became skilled at because we practiced it a lot. And this person, I'm going to call her Connected Kelly. I made up her name because I want to keep her anonymous. But she led through connectedness, hence Connected Kelly.

Brea: And alliteration. We love alliteration. OK. I mean, who doesn't?

Lisa: OK. She's a real client. She works in big tech. And she felt like I need to be analytical. That's what I need to be, to be believed, to be credible, to be desired in this company, to be found useful in this company.

I mean, we could go on and on, but analytical was the thing that she really grabbed onto as important for her to be. So she spent a lot of years really honing it, doing analytical actions, showing analytical skills, and showing up that way.

Brea: And probably because she's surrounded with people who are acting like this or who are showing up that way. She feels like she has to be that too. Yeah. Okay. I'm with you.

Lisa: Yeah. And I can, I mean, my individualization loves that in many ways because I'm thinking, well, she's being palatable to the people that she's around. So she's thinking, this is who I need to be for them. Otherwise they won't value me. And specifically when we talked about connectedness, she was like, oh, that's for my friends.

Brea: She's like, that part of me doesn't belong at work. You know, that's my at home or my with friends. Okay. Yeah. Interesting.

Lisa: Yeah. She really felt deeply like it didn't belong there. Like it would get shunned there. It would get made fun of there. She said it felt like people would perceive it as woo woo, that it would just not go over well. So she just shut it off, like put up the wall, anything. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

So what's the results of it now? She it's not like she was faking it. She legitimately built analytical skills and she legitimately used them with her clients, but the repercussion is She was completely wiped out. It was sucking the life out of her because it wasn't fun. It was just something she could do

And I think this is a really important lesson for building a personal brand as a coach, because if you do what you're competent at, you're going to get more of that. She's great. She's an amazing performer, an amazing person. So she kept getting more of the work she didn't want because she showed up and she was good at the work she didn't want.

Brea: That's the worst, the worst.

Lisa: It's a bad cycle.

Brea: Digging your own grave, you know.

Lisa: Yes, yes. Now we did some things with it so I can tell you what I did with her and then I want to switch over to things that you might do with her after she's to the point where she's ready. She feels good about her personal brand aligned with her strengths so that her personal brand as a coach is making her feel alive. It's bringing her clientele that she loves.

So I have this personal branding page. It's leadthroughstrengths.com slash personal dash branding. We started there. We started looking at her top five. We really honed in on connectedness because it was one she said she was squashing. And we just use it as a starting point because she's like, OK, genuine. Well, that's a good thing for me to be as a coach. Being present with people, that's a good one. Okay.

And then we start talking about things like, Oh, I see downstream effects. I understand how parts are connected. I have good rapport across departments. Okay, like all these things could be useful internally. I just shut it off. Because I thought it was the woo-woo strength.

So first pass through, it was really cool, because she realized What a fool! Why am I shutting all this off? There are actually things that I believe people in big tech would value.

And in fact, she's realizing people are like, oh, wow, you're an intrapersonal genius. And they're seeing these elements of her that she didn't show before. And they're things that the clients wanted from her and really valued because they don't know how to do that at all. So that was cool.

Brea: Yeah, it's the lie that we tell ourselves that when we are different, the talents that we might have that are different than what we see around us, we believe that it won't be valued or that it won't be wanted.

And sometimes that is true, but most of the time it is very valuable because other people don't have it. They don't have that capacity, they don't have that ability, and when they saw that in her, that uniqueness, it became her differentiator, right? That's the word that you like to use, Lisa.

Lisa: Yeah, that your differences are your differentiators. Exactly.

Brea: Yes, yes. I think Gallup's focus on naming, claiming, and aiming is what's coming to my head here.

When she was able to look at connectedness and really name it, really understand what that talent is. Maybe it had been called the woo-woo strength, but it was so much more than that.

So when she was able to start finding new definitions for that talent theme, I think that opens up so much potential for us to then claim it, for us to love it in ourselves, you know, for her to see how it could be beneficial at work and how she could love working. How her life at work could actually energize her instead of draining her energy and sucking her soul. She could come to work and thrive and it could increase the connection that she makes with her employees.

And so then when she was able to better understand what it is and what it could be and she could get excited about it and really own it, then she started to aim it and that's where all the magic happens. So what a great example.

Lisa: So, one of the things she named it as was Integrator. She was working with a bunch of software developers, hardware engineers, and what happens is the engineers speak in specifications. That's what was important to them.

But At some point, somebody has to translate that to the non-technical people, whether that is to the marketing team so that you could talk about that to a customer audience and they could actually understand it or otherwise.

So she started thinking of herself as an integrator because she could see all the connections, because she could speak human. They felt like she was a complete genius in this area, but that never got exposed until she started looking at connectedness as this great element of herself and it really became key in her personal brand as a coach.

So, okay, Bria, I know you are a StoryBrand coach and that you keep it under the covers all the time and people don't even know this about you. Let's get some of this magic out of this brain you have on StoryBrand.

Brea: Yes, I was trained in StoryBrand. That's true.

Lisa: Yeah, OK, so now let's say she wants to work her personal brand as a coach now and connectedness and being an integrator and being perceptive, being a connector. These are some parts of her messaging.

If she came to you and said, OK, now what? How do I build this reputation? How do I begin to change it? How do I do the messaging? What kind of things come up for you and what could be valuable that you could bring? Because I think you have this unique lens because you have story brand and strengths mixed together and it's so cool and I want the audience to get it from you.

Brea: Yeah, thank you. That's why I call my business Strength+Story. I use both of those things all the time. So this is a fun conversation to have.

So if you've never heard of StoryBrand, it's a marketing framework that is built on or let's maybe even say adapted from just general framework of story because there's so much scientific proof and just I think all of us have experience of how story it connects with our brains in a very powerful way.

and there's a framework to it. It's not by accident that the blockbuster movies or the best-selling books are blockbusting or best-selling. That's not by accident. It's by design.

So essentially, if you are adapting this to your brand as a coach, there's a challenge that you help people overcome. So most good stories start with a bomb going off, you know, something that's like really challenging, a problem that needs to be fixed, right? That's what grabs our attention and locks us in from the very beginning, the, the bomb ticking away, right?

So what is that challenge that you as a coach, want to solve for the world, for a particular client, for your company, if you're an internal coach like Connected Kelly, what is the challenge that you have a personal mission to overcome? If you can identify that for yourself, then you can build your messaging around that.

Because when you're communicating that challenge in your messaging and in your branding, in the way you talk about your services, if you're leading with that challenge, you're going to attract the people who need that solution, right?

So it's not a marketing gimmick. It's not a way to manipulate people or to scare people into working with you. It's a real way of connecting with the people who need your services. So I would say that's a great place to start.

And it sounds like Connected Kelly did that where it was kind of a backwards on accident way of doing it. So the challenge is to figure it out first so that you can put that out there in your messaging and your branding.

Lisa: on purpose. It is funny that you say this because there's something really simple that was going on with the problem that linked to her brand which was just no one reads my emails.

And it's because they were boring speeds and feeds, they were not compelling, they were not written from the perspective of the reade: an internal person who's really busy in back-to-back meetings all day. and she's offering coaching services to people who don't really know what a coach is or how a coach can help.

When she realized the thing that would grab them: 'I can help your emails get read. I can help you get responses, get noticed by your peers so that you become the collaborator.' So the kind of things that they were having problem with and frustration with, like, 'hey, I sent an email off and it goes into a black hole.' Now it doesn't.

Now she is helping them. because she's the integrator, she's helping them communicate with their colleagues in a way that helps them get noticed. And it's because of her connectedness. It's because she can think beyond the analytical.

So I really love that because she was solving that problem for them and loved solving that problem for them. And it was easy for her to do that. And they thought she was a genius.

And she never thought about messaging like this. She was just like, hey, we're here. We can help you live your best life. This is something that we're guilty of as coaches. We're like, oh, everyone needs a coach. It's so powerful. It's amazing. You want to feel good again? You want to live your best life? But inspiration like that actually doesn't drive people to action the way that solving a problem for them does.

Brea: That's right. That's right. And this is where it can be so interesting because You can approach the problem from two different ways. You can look at the problem that your client or your potential client is facing, like no one reads my emails, and make that the problem that you solve.

That's a great way to do it because your client is the hero of their own story. So when they hear your messaging, it needs to be their story that they hear or else they're not interested, right? so many other things pulling for their attention, right? So make it easy for them.

The other way to do it is to look at your strengths. And if you if you are a certified strengths coach, you know this language of bring and need. What do each of your strengths bring? What do they contribute? What problems do they solve really, really well with ease? And you love solving those problems.

And then just make that your business, right? Choose that problem and then put it out there and let the right people find you. So you can go either way and I think that's the first place to start.

If you're listening now and you're like, I really want to work on being intentional about my personal brand as a coach, I would say start with your strengths. figure out what problems you solve really naturally and you want to solve and then build your business around that

or figure out what are the problems that your clients are already coming to you for, right, that you have successfully helped people with and figure out how your strengths are doing that and then be intentional about really leaning into that and building your brand around that.

Lisa: I love this conversation and it overlaps so much with the one about And I know we'll do a separate episode on what your niche is as a coach. But there's overlap because it's like this all relates to what is your specialty? What is unique about working with you?

And if you're not clear in your messaging, then you just overwhelm people with options and they scroll on by because you really have to grab attention with somebody, especially today. There are so many things competing for attention. So that person has to be like, whoa, that was written for me.

And so if she is the one saying, I hope your emails get noticed. I hope your emails get read by colleagues. I hope your specifications get implemented properly. Whatever it is, that wouldn't grab me personally, but I'm not her client. So that's the beauty of it. We know to scroll on by because we're not her client, but the people who are are like, whoa, I need that.

And I think the objection that coaches have to this is we think if I narrow too much, then people won't know what else I could do for them when I decided to specialize in virtual.

I remember the angst I had about putting that on the website, like we specialize in virtual training. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm going to lose all my in-person workshops. It's going to be detrimental to the business.

It's not what happened at all. I attracted more virtuals. And then plenty of people still said, Oh, do you also do in-person? Why? Yes, we do.

Brea: Because people are not idiots. They can fill in the blanks. They can make those very easy jumps and connections. So you don't have to spell everything out, but you need to give them a place to start, you know? Yes. It's clear.

Lisa: Yes.

Brea: Yeah, and it's interesting because as coaches, like let's flip it, let's put our coaching hat on, okay? So we're in a conversation with a client and they say, gosh, I really just want to be my best self at work. I really want to live my best life, right? What's the very next thing that you would say?

Lisa: Tell me more.

Brea: Well, yeah, "Tell me more." Or "What does that mean? What does your best life look like?", right?

Lisa: Yeah, yeah.

Brea: So what you're saying, Lisa, and what we're saying about building this personal brand that's more specific, instead of just saying, hey, coaching's gonna help you live your best life, it doesn't connect with people. It doesn't connect.

So you understand as a coach, that if someone came to you and said, I want to live my best life, your job is to help them understand. what that best life is. It's not enough just to leave them with this desire to live their best life. That's not helpful to them.

So why are we putting that out in our marketing? Why do we think it's going to be helpful to them in marketing? It's not. And it, which means it's not helpful to you in building your business. It's not, not profitable. It's not converting.

So it is helpful. It is It is your responsibility even to be specific in your messaging, in your marketing, to niche down, to find that signature offer, to build your business model around your strengths, the problems that you solve. That's actually more helpful to the people that you serve and it's a win-win for your business as well.

Lisa: Yes, yes, yes. And I think that's a great place to issue a challenge. What could you talk about in your personal brand that brings in your ideal client, somebody who'd be so fun to work with on a topic that you love coaching on? What could be your hook for marketing?

So to Brea's point about your customer being the hero of the story, you're making them the hero by making them stop in their tracks and say, whoa, this was written for me. That's right.

Brea: They're the hero. You're the guide. They're Luke Skywalker. You are their Yoda, right? Especially in coaching, this metaphor works so well because whoever you're coaching, they are the ones that are doing the work. They're the hero of the story, right?

They're the one that's on their journey. They're the one that is actually doing the work. You are just there to empathize, to keep them on track, to keep them focused, to keep them moving in the right direction. They're the ones that are doing the work.

So your marketing should reflect that. Your messaging should reflect that. Your brand, your visual brand online, you know, in your print media, your deliverables, and you, the way that you speak, the way that you come into networking meetings. Just who you are should align with what you do and they should really flow into and out of each other.

A brand is not something that you just create. You can use this intellectual process to help you get intentional about it, but You are your brand. Your strengths are such a natural place to start when it comes to this because that's what makes you unique. So how do your unique strengths set you apart amongst other strengths coaches? It's not just the client that you serve or the problem that you solve, it's how you do that.

So I just love this conversation in general, but then bringing strengths into it is such a natural, just a natural fit because that's what strengths does best is figuring out what's unique about you, what your unique value is, what your contribution is, what's unique about how you approach it.

And if you can get clear about that and put it out there, you're doing the same thing for yourself as you're helping your clients do for themselves, you know, in their lives.

Lisa: Yes. I love also that we've talked about the independent coach. We'll see a lot of this as natural because they've already been thinking, Oh, I need my messaging. I have to write about myself on my website. I have to have, I have to have my messaging in all the places that I'm talking about my business.

But for internal coaches, I don't think that they have often put a lot of thought into where this messaging would happen or could happen. And just imagine, what if your headline in LinkedIn mentioned something around your personal brand?

Imagine how many times, okay, yesterday, I was personally in my coaching practice, I was talking to a really big customer and there were five people there from the client and they went around the room and described what their role is and three of the five people said, I am in HR.

Brea: Boring!

Lisa: Yeah! Could you imagine if a person was like, oh, I'm in HR. My role is that I'm an internal coach, and I help people get their emails read at work. I would be like, ooh. I don't even need the service, and I'm not even a potential customer, but I'm still like, ooh.

That's really interesting because it's so specific. I also know, oh, I need that. I have a friend who needs that. Oh, I can refer somebody internally. So think about all those places where you might communicate.

If they had used your story brand, they could have been beneficial to some other person who was doing an intro to say, oh, I know somebody. Oh, I know six people in my department who need that.

Now they're referring people to you and you're getting the work that you want more of because that work energizes you. You're working yourself into a lot of job security because you're in such high demand. So there are all kinds of places this come up.

And just think of how many times someone asks you, "What do you do?" That happens all over the place, whether you're an internal coach or an independent coach. So that's a great application for this.

If you're listening, and you're like, I get it. Now, what do I go implement from this? Have an answer to that question, "What do you do?"

Brea: So you're tee-ing me up really well for my call to action for this episode, Lisa.

Lisa: Bring it.

Brea: Usually, answering that question, "So, what do you do?" brings fear and dread and makes us, you know, shake in our boots because we don't know how to answer that question.

So if you're really, really good at what you do, but you don't know how to talk about it and you definitely don't know how to give a compelling, concise answer to that question, "What do you do?" If that's something that you need – that one-liner, that elevator pitch, whatever you call it, you need to reach out to me and we'll get it done.

Lisa: Hit her up, brearoper.com.

Brea: Whether it's a workshop for your team or whether you want to do this one-on-one with me, I also have a keynote version, but answering that question, so what do you do? That is one of my favorite things to do. What about you, Lisa?

Lisa: I have a membership for coaches who are building their independent practice and they need help when it comes to the business building practices like, Oh, I don't have business acumen. Oh, I don't know about all the tech. Oh, I, or I was an executive and I left work and all these people used to do all of that. And I, now I have to be the person doing it.

So templates, tools, strategy, marketing, sales, operations, all of that stuff that you might want to learn from a business coach and steal. I actually let people steal all of the stuff I've used in the 10 years of my coaching practice so that they can get a head start and they don't have to spend so much time being bogged down in the business side.

And that's leadthroughstrengths.com and look for the link called Tools for Coaches.

Brea: Love it. We are all about giving and sharing and abundance. And I just really hope that this information is helpful to you. So please take advantage of either of those offers. Both of those offers go out there and build your personal brand based on your strengths. The world needs what you have to give. So don't be shy in putting it out there.

Lisa: Yeah. The world needs it, and when they hear about it, they get excited. So you've got to give yourself a chance by actually putting it out instead of just saying, I'm an HR, next person.

Brea: Oh, my gosh. OK, we can do better. We need to do better. You deserve to do better. It's hard to find our place in the world. But once we do, once we can get clear on how we show up, how we can contribute, what our purpose is, what our role is in the bigger picture.

There's just so much freedom there for you to be able to step into that with confidence every day. I mean, no more imposter syndrome, right? Like when you know who you are, why you're there, the value that you bring, how you're making lives of the people around you or the processes around you or whatever it is that you're involved in.

When you're making that better, I mean, who doesn't want to live that life, you know? So you owe it to yourself to get clear about your value and your strengths and how to clearly communicate that so you can do what you do best.

Lisa: Yes. Yeah. Don't withhold it from the world. We need you. We want you. And Brea just dropped the mic. So we've got to go because she doesn't have a microphone anymore.

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

The Fine Print: This podcast is not sanctioned or endorsed by Gallup in any way. Opinions, views and interpretations of CliftonStrengths© are solely the beliefs of Lisa Cummings and Brea Roper.

Every coach grapples with today's topic: Should you avoid bias while coaching? We kick things off by acknowledging that the answer isn't as straightforward as it seems. While many might instinctively say "yes," we explore the nuances of bias and how it can actually play a positive role in coaching.

Whether you're an independent coach or working within a company or organization, this episode is packed with insights to help you embrace your unique coaching style while still being the best support for your clients. Let's get into it!

🌟

Work With Us!

BREA Roper Communication | Woo | Activator | Futuristic | Connectedness

If you need a Strengths Hype Girl, for yourself or your team, connect with Brea at brearoper.com. She's ready to deliver an inspirational keynote, empowering training, or transformational workshop. If you're looking for an expert guide to support your internal Strengths efforts, reach out today!

LISA Cummings

Strategic | Maximizer | Positivity | Individualization | Woo

To work with Lisa, check out team workshops and retreats at the Lead Through Strengths site. For 1:1 strengths or life coaching, check out the Get Coached link. For independent coaches, trainers, and speakers, get business tools support with our Tools for Coaches membership.

Takeaways

● Bias Isn't Always Bad: We often think of bias as a negative trait, but in coaching, it can actually be a powerful tool. Our personal biases—rooted in our strengths and experiences—can enhance our coaching effectiveness. For instance, if you have a strong belief in your clients' potential, that bias can help them borrow your confidence as they work toward their goals. Embracing our biases can lead to more authentic connections with our clients.

● Awareness of Preferences: As coaches, it's crucial to recognize our own preferences and how they shape our coaching style. Understanding our preferences helps us create a coaching environment that aligns with our strengths while also being transparent with our clients about how we operate. This clarity can help clients determine if we're the right fit for them.

● The Balance Between Coaching and Expertise: Sometimes, coaches feel pressured to avoid giving direct advice, fearing it may introduce bias. However, there are moments when sharing our expertise is not only appropriate but necessary. It's about finding the right balance—knowing when to ask powerful questions and when to provide guidance based on our knowledge and experience.

Take Action

● Reflect on Your Biases: Take time to identify and acknowledge your own biases and preferences as a coach. Consider how these may influence your coaching style and interactions with clients.

● Communicate Your Preferences: Clearly articulate your coaching preferences and styles to potential clients. This transparency can help clients determine if you are a good fit for their needs.

● Balance Coaching and Expertise: Recognize when to lean into your expertise and provide direct advice versus when to facilitate a coaching conversation.

● Leverage Positive Bias: Use your positive biases, such as belief in your clients' potential or your focus on strengths, to support and encourage them. Allow clients to borrow your belief in their capabilities to help them progress.

● Embrace Differences as Strengths: Foster an environment where diverse perspectives and biases are seen as advantages. Encourage open discussions about biases within teams to enhance collaboration and understanding.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in personal development. Join us as we explore the nuances of bias in coaching and how to leverage it for better outcomes!

🎧 Listen now and let us know your thoughts! What biases do you find helpful in your coaching practice? How do you navigate your preferences? We'd love to hear from you!

#Coaching #Bias #PersonalDevelopment #Podcast #Leadership #CoachingTips #StrengthsBasedCoaching

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

AI-Generated Transcript

Lisa: Hi, I'm Lisa.

Brea: And I'm Brea.

Lisa: And today's topic is all for coaches. And it's this question: Should you avoid bias while coaching? What say you, Brea?

Brea: Well, this sounds like it's going to be a juicy topic. That's what I say. I think it's not so clear black or white this time. I feel like there's a lot of gray here.

Lisa: Right. And I think people will be listening. You tell us, listeners—did you say, "I don't even know if I want to listen to this one because, of course, the answer is yes, I should avoid it?" I don't even need to listen. Skip.

Brea: Yeah. I mean, that was my first thought. Like, well, of course, you should. That's my, you know, what all of the gold-star coaching programs are going to tell you.

Lisa: Yeah, I feel like you get the message both ways. You should avoid bias while coaching, and you should avoid bias in all areas of life altogether. And I think a good discussion is warranted. Why don't we start with where bias would be bad?

Whether you have an independent coaching practice or you're an internal coach in a workplace, I have two things that feel like bias that you should be on watch for. One, I have an agenda for you. I want you to own your own business, not stay in corporate. I want you to have bigger goals for your revenue.

I want you—those are my wants, not yours. That could bring a huge bias. So having an agenda for you could be a warning sign where you really should avoid that bias while coaching. The other is when my preferences blind me as a coach.

Brea: I'd like to talk more about that. Sometimes, as an independent coach with my own business practice, where I'm the business owner and I've got a business model and a strategy to make a profit, my preferences play into that big picture. That's very different from being an internal coach at a company where my only job is to show up for 30 minutes and coach. So maybe we could talk about preferences a little more.

Lisa: That's an example. Say I'm your customer and I come to your coaching business, and you have some preference. Give us an example of what that actually sounds like. I think with this idea of avoiding bias, we're going to get people caught up in semantics.

Brea: Yeah. Everything from how many coaching calls I want to do in a day, a week, or a month, to how long I want them to be. Do I want video? If so, is there a certain platform that is easier for me?

I strongly prefer Zoom over things like Teams or Google Meet. Just because I've been using Zoom for as long as I've had my business—almost eight years. So, I'm very familiar with Zoom. That's a functional bias of ease of use.

Lisa: Yeah, they create clarity for you. And something that's simple and practical can be an area that allows the customer to decide if you're a good fit for them. You could think of putting out biases to the world like an exercise in saying, "Here's how I show up best." If these are a good match for you, we're getting off to a great start.

Brea: Yep, that's right. And it's interesting because all of this comes from our strengths, right? There are coaches out there who appreciate having an agenda as a structure. Some coaches have a general outline of their sessions.

Some coaches use slide decks. I prefer to just show up, meet them as they are in the moment, and go with a casual flow. I don't do worksheets during sessions. That awareness of personal bias is so key.

Lisa: You're actually getting me to think beyond preferences into advice-giving when your client really wants it. Say you've been delivering CliftonStrengths for ten years in a specific industry. Now a client asks, "Hey, coach, give me your recommendations on how we should implement this." And coaches get wrapped up in avoiding bias.

Brea: Isn't that ironic? Because that in and of itself is a bias, isn't it?

Lisa: Boom. Yes! And if a client comes to you because you have expertise but you refuse to share it, you're just going to be frustrating. Sometimes, you are a person with an expert perspective. Not every part of every conversation is a coaching moment.

Brea: Yeah. I love that. I think I run my business and life that way. Every interaction I have with others is just me, Brea Roper, human being.

Lisa: Yes. And another reason why the answer to "Should you avoid bias while coaching?" might be no. What if you are a specialty coach? Like an accountability coach?

Or take this: I once heard of a woman who was a deltoid coach. Literally, a shoulder deltoid coach.

Brea: What do you mean?

Lisa: Like, she helps people with deltoid strength, mobility, and appearance. That's her specialty. She's going to have a system, a structure, a bias. And that's good.

Brea: Yeah, similar to strengths coaching. I intentionally lean into the bias of focusing on strengths. If that's what the client wants, that's a good thing.

Lisa: Right. And that is a cognitive bias, right? We're wired to figure out what's wrong as humans. But what if we leaned into a positive cognitive bias?

Brea: Yes! And I think most people immediately associate bias with negativity. Recognizing that we can use bias for good is crucial.

Lisa: Yes! One last example: Sometimes clients don't believe in themselves. I let them borrow my belief in them. I'm biased toward their success.

Brea: You are so good at believing in people. That's what we're talking about—being aware of our own strengths and using them when needed.

Lisa: Yeah. Sometimes clients say, "I want to start my coaching business, but I don't know if I can cut it." They don't believe in themselves yet, but they expect their clients to believe in them. I help bridge that gap with my belief in them.

Brea: Yeah. And bias plays into communication, too. My communication strength hears something differently than your strategic strength. That impacts our responses.

Lisa: Yes! And in workshops, that always comes up. The way we ask questions and interpret answers reflects our biases. Instead of running from bias, let's explore it.

Brea: So cool. And recognizing our different cognitive patterns only helps if we're aligned toward the same goal. Our differences are advantages.

Lisa: Yes! Your phrase, "Differences are advantages," sums it up perfectly. Recognize bias, use it with purpose, and turn it into an advantage.

Brea: Absolutely. And if someone wants to work with me, they can find me at brearoper.com. Lisa, where can they find you?

Lisa: leadthroughstrengths.com—check out Tools for Coaches for independent or internal coaches.

Brea: Amazing. And in closing, avoiding bias for the sake of avoiding bias only disconnects you from authenticity. Recognize it, use it with purpose, and let your differences be your differentiators.

Lisa: Agreed! Strength snaps!

Brea: See you next time!

Lisa: Bye!

Brea: Bye!

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

The Fine Print: This podcast is not sanctioned or endorsed by Gallup in any way. Opinions, views and interpretations of CliftonStrengths© are solely the beliefs of Lisa Cummings and Brea Roper.

In today's episode, we dive into the essential, yet often overlooked, concept of "working on your business" versus "working in your business." We share our personal experiences and insights on how taking intentional time to strategize can transform your entrepreneurial journey. If you've ever felt like you're just spinning your wheels, constantly reacting to the demands of your business, this episode is for you! We discuss the importance of stepping back, assessing your goals, and making those scary but necessary decisions that can lead to greater profitability and joy in your work.

You'll hear us chat about the value of business planning retreats and how they can help you align your offerings with your strengths. Whether you've been in the game, are building a side hustle, or are still dreaming of the entrepreneurial life, it's imperative to pause, reflect, and create a roadmap for success. So pull up a chair, settle in, and get ready to be inspired to take that much-needed time for yourself and your business!

🌟

Work With Us!

BREA Roper Communication | Woo | Activator | Futuristic | Connectedness

If you need a Strengths Hype Girl, for yourself or your team, connect with Brea at brearoper.com. She's ready to deliver an inspirational keynote, empowering training, or transformational workshop. If you're looking for an expert guide to support your internal Strengths efforts, reach out today!

LISA Cummings

Strategic | Maximizer | Positivity | Individualization | Woo

To work with Lisa, check out team workshops and retreats at the Lead Through Strengths site. For 1:1 strengths or life coaching, check out the Get Coached link. For independent coaches, trainers, and speakers, get business tools support with our Tools for Coaches membership.

Takeaways

● The Importance of Working on Your Business: Taking time to strategize and plan is crucial for long-term success. It helps you shift from a reactive mindset to a proactive one, allowing you to set clear goals and work with intention.

● Align Your Business With Your Strengths: When you're the business owner, you get to choose how you run your business. YOU're the boss now! Make sure you practice what you preach and choose a business model that fits your strengths.

● Business Planning Retreats: Dedicating a day or more to work on your business, instead of in your business, can lead to significant breakthroughs. These retreats provide the space to assess your offerings, refine your messaging, and make strategic decisions that align with your desired lifestyle.

● Customization vs. Standardization: While creating custom solutions for clients can be appealing, it's essential to find a balance. Standardizing certain offerings can save time and energy, and bring clarity to your customer.

● Understanding Profitability: Knowing where your revenue comes from is vital. By identifying your most profitable offerings, you can make informed decisions about where to invest your time and resources, ensuring that your business remains sustainable and enjoyable.

● Embracing Scary Decisions: Making bold choices can feel limiting, but they are often necessary for growth. By stepping back and evaluating your business strategy, you can confidently embrace changes that lead to greater fulfillment and success.

Take Action

● Schedule a Business Planning Retreat: Set aside a full day to work on your business strategically. Use this time to assess your current offerings, define your target audience, and outline your business goals.

● Identify Your Core Focus: Determine the one big thing you want to focus on for the upcoming quarter or year. This will help filter your decisions and keep you from getting distracted by new opportunities that may not align with your primary goals.

● Evaluate Your Offerings: Analyze where your revenue is coming from and identify your most profitable offerings. Decide if you want to double down on these or pivot to new opportunities that align better with your strengths and interests.

● Create a Customization Strategy: If you offer customized solutions, establish a clear pricing structure for these services. Consider implementing tailoring fees or premium pricing for highly customized work to ensure it is profitable.

● Reflect on Your Business Alignment: Take time to assess whether your current business model aligns with your strengths and desired lifestyle. Make adjustments as necessary to ensure that your business empowers you to live the life you want.

If you're ready to stop being heads down all the time and start working on your business with intention, I invite you to listen to this episode! 🎧

👉 Listen now and let us know your thoughts! What strategies do you use to work on your business? Share in the comments below!

#Entrepreneurship #BusinessPlanning #Coaching #Podcast #Leadership #IntentionalLiving

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

AI-Generated Transcript

Brea: Lisa Cummings

Lisa:

Brea Roper. Hi, I'm Lisa.

Brea:

And I'm Brea.

Lisa:

And today we're talking about working on your business.

Brea:

Working on your business. Yes, because let me tell you, working in your business is so fun. working on your business, not always, but gosh, when we do it, it makes working in the business so much easier and smoother and more profitable and all the things, right?

Lisa:

Right. I remember first learning about this concept from the book E-Myth and E-Myth revisited way back. I mean, it must have been the nineties. I wasn't an entrepreneur at the time, but I served them. They were our customers and I think the example in the book was something about a frame shop. And it was like, imagine the person who is framing stuff all day long. Frame, frame, frame, frame, frame.

You're so busy. But then what about bringing in customers? What about taking a vacation? What about having a break? And we have these dreams of starting a business and what our life might be like as an entrepreneur. It definitely kind of looks sexy to people who aren't doing it. often. And then you get in and you're like, Oh my gosh, I'm just working like a dog. What am I doing? I don't have a single break to even think or eat lunch. So I'm curious for you, have you gotten in that place in your business before where you were just working yourself to the bone? You seem like you would be a person who never let yourself do it because you're so good at intention.

Brea:

Okay, well, thank you for saying that. But no, it happens all the time. It happens all the time because even with the best of intentions, it's so easy to get blown off course, especially for people like me who, you know, I love to plan and I'm very adaptable. I'm very like emotional, you know? So if I'm not feeling it, I'm like, Oh, I'm just going to go take care of myself, you know, go for a walk, go eat my feelings, you know, whatever.

And that's not the best way to, to set yourself up for success. Right. So we have to find that blend that works for you. And sometimes it is working yourself to the bone. Right now, I'm actually setting up for a big speaking tour. So there's just a ton of work that has to be done on the business so that when the tour starts, you know, that first domino falls and I'm not working on the business at all. For several months, I'm working in the business, right?

So However the rhythm works for you, it's just so important to make sure that you're doing both and that it's intentional and focused instead of just reacting to everything. That's the worst way to to run your business, you know? Yeah. And I have definitely, definitely fallen into that, that trap for sure.

Lisa:

Yeah. Brea Roper is a mortal.

Brea:

Yes.

Lisa:

I could see that where you're like, I'm over self caring. I could, I could definitely see that. I also think in talking to coaches and trainers very specifically in this episode, a lot of times we're talking about, Hey, you're a CliftonStrengths practitioner, that sort of thing. And that could be internal in a company that could be a coach who does this full time. And there are a lot of listeners who are either independent coaches, or trainers, or they're doing it at a company internally, they're doing something else, and they want to start a business like the one we have.

And we know they exist and they're all over the place because we typically get one to five of these people hanging out after every workshop saying, how do I live this life? How do I do this thing that you do? This is so cool. So how valuable would it be to work on your business from the beginning? I'm thinking of that person who is starting up a side hustle. They're interested in this and they've never done a business planning retreat. They've never worked on their business in a way that they take a day off. and they really figure out what they want their lifestyle to be, what they have as a profitable business model, you know?

Have they even tested out their idea for their product and their messaging? Do they feel solid on it? And I love this episode for the corporates who are going to leave someday out on their own, or the coaches who are already on their own, independent, and they just have a tough time taking off a full day or a big chunk of a day to work on their business strategically. So what is it for you? Tell me about the why. Why do you do this on regular intervals?

Brea:

Yeah, well, because I have to for my sanity, you know, because I've seen how beneficial it is. I've experienced being an entrepreneur without it. and running a business from that place of reacting, you know, as leads come in or as opportunities arise or don't arise, you know, then all of a sudden you're like, oh crap, I have nothing on the calendar. And then any sales conversation you're in is from a place of desperation.

So if you can make sure that you're setting yourself up for success by giving yourself that intentional time to find who do I really want to work with, right? Who's the customer that I really want to serve and how do I want to serve them? That takes time, you know, and shaping your business is, I think one of the greatest things about being an entrepreneur is that we get to choose.

And I've seen in myself and I've seen in coaches that I've coached, when we don't take that step back and do that intentional planning, how working for yourself can feel just like working for the man, you know? The place that you left, the stress that you were trying to get away from, it just actually becomes more, you know, if you don't take the time to put the thought and the planning in.

Lisa:

Yeah, you just got yourself a bad boss and it's you!

Brea:

It's you! I know, I know.

Lisa:

Yeah, I love this also for stopping the squirrel. So you know, people are like, oh, squirrel, squirrel. We are like this quite often as coaches, as trainers, as course creators, as speakers. we get a lead on a thing and someone is like, Oh, okay, what's next? What about this? Do you have any content on this? Do you have any content on that? Do you have any content on this? And sometimes strategically, it is a great idea to do it.

Other times, it ends up taking you a month of work to create a new program, roll it out to their people, and maybe you're doing it one or two times. And when you sit back and look at whether there was a return on that effort, yes, can you reuse it? Can you resell it? Will you? Those are all strategic decisions you could make up front. But I've seen a lot of coaches get really distracted by the squirrel opportunity, the potential squirrel opportunity, and also the kind of squirrel thoughts on learning, like, oh, this is cool.

Oh, I should be doing AI.

Oh, I should be doing more on this element.

Oh, I should make some content over here.

Oh, I like learning on this topic.

So I'm going to go take some more training.

[[Instead of really focusing on one big thing for that year in front of you or that quarter in front of you.]]

So I love having a business planning retreat. or a business planning day to work on your business and get your brain reset and get it really focused on what is the one big thing you're working on right now so that you can keep filtering your decisions through that? Like, is this a good use of my time? Should I be, even though there are a lot of fun things we could do, are they going to make money? Are they taking the business in the direction I want it to go in? It gives you the moment to get a big breath and assess.

Brea:

So I love this and I hate this at the exact same time. Well, here's the thing is because it's so true. So if you're listening to Lisa and feeling like me on the inside, like I don't want to just do one thing. I don't want to focus on, you know, I don't want to create something and then rinse and repeat. I don't want to, right? Like, I've been there, I am there every day, and that is not, almost always, not the way to profitability, not the way to ease.

But if you have high individualization like I do, and like I know you do, Lisa, so I want to hear how you balance that. But my individualization was killing me in the way that you're describing, where if anyone said, do you have content on this? I'm like, sure. Do I? No. But can I make it? Yes. Will I? Yes. And all of a sudden, all my talents are engaged. I'm like, yes, I get to do this for this person or this company. But like you said, it takes so much time, right? So for me, I have to honor my talents. And what I've learned is that when someone comes and they ask for that custom solution that I don't have, I have to charge for it. Like this is a premium offering.

These are my talents. giving them something that has never existed before ever. This is not an out-of-the-box solution. If what they want is an off-the-shelf, out-of-the-box, you know, press play and go, like, they can get that anywhere. If they want something that is customized to them, to their values that they have hanging on the wall.

If we want to learn how to use the strengths of their team and the strengths of the individuals on their team to live these values at work in their interactions with their customers every day, then they're going to pay for that. And I'm happy to create it. But it's it's not pennies on the dollar like I was doing, you know, before.

Lisa:

Yeah. I definitely agree that individualization can create a monkey wrench in this way. It does for me. Similarly, I love customization. It's a thing with individualization. I started off trying to solve that problem with tailoring fees. I would be like, okay, if it's a really customized thing, there would be a tailoring fee and make sure that they know it's super premium. I found over time that what really worked out better for both of us was, Look, I have a standard deck for a half-day program and a full-day program, if we're talking CliftonStrengths. And I have a handful of exercises in there.

Say there are 5 exercises. that if I just get a little bit of information from them on their values, the programs they're implementing right now, a couple of hot-button topics, what challenges are going on, I can integrate those into the exercises as examples. I could change in literally 15 minutes. I can change some words on the screen to customize the exercise, and then they're having whole conversations on things that matter to their team, and it feels very customized.

I got really good over time at making it feel like customization to both of us, to them and to me, but very minimal time because I standardized what I was customizing. And then I also, if I take Maximizer and Strategic and I said, all right, now if I am going to do mega customization, I'm going to make sure that if I do it, they're going to pay a mega premium or they're going to offer at least six of these programs so that if it's in volume, it makes it worth it doing it. And I can offer it to other clients.

I ask: is it something that could then become a standard program? And then I could go out and sell that. So strategically, I'm looking at that would be one of that would be a great topic that you could come with in a business planning retreat. Like, here's how I'm getting myself in trouble. Here's where I'm finding a time suck, even though I love how that time is going by. It's not a profitable use of my time. So then how can I get rested and rejuvenated in a day away while I'm simultaneously working on the strategy of my business, the direction of my business, the most profitable decisions.

And it's just like any tough decision in your life. If you make these decisions in advance before the situation comes up. you can handle it in a way that you're proud of. And it's easier for you to make the decision you need to make. Because I'll tell you, like relationship wise, and in a great conversation with a prospect, I've been swept up in the moment where I'm like, yes, this sounds great. And then I make them feel like I'm totally going to do that customization thing.

But if I had decided in advance, here's what customization means to us. and be able to explain it. Because I already came up with that strategically in my business planning retreat day. It feels great. I know how to present it to them so that it feels great to them. I know how to present it to me so it feels great to me. And I didn't get swept up in the moment and get excited and then promise something that takes my business off course for a whole quarter or two, which could really tank your revenue for the year.

Brea:

Totally.

Lisa:

Because something sounded fun. And look, if we have our own businesses and coaching and training, for most of us, all this stuff is fun. It's just what is the most fun? And or of the fun things, what are the most profitable decisions? And if they're not fun or profitable for you, you know, we have dozens of amazing coaches we can refer it out to because we're all so different in what we want to do.

And we could pass that work along to one of our colleagues. And then that kind of good vibe comes back to us, but it feels so good to be solid in your decisions because you took a business planning day to really be working on your business and what you want out of it. Big picture.

Brea:

Totally. Yes. I wish that people could see, like, I'm just nodding up and down because, you know, Brea from seven years ago, you know, I wish I had known these things then, you know, I wish I had seen how, how much of a difference it makes and what that looks like. Because otherwise it's not only confusing for you as the entrepreneur, but it's confusing for your client. No, if someone comes to you and says, Hey, what, what's it like to work with you, Brea?

And I say, well, I can do whatever you want. What do you need? They might say, who is this girl? No one can do everything. Like, you know, she's just hungry for a sale. Or they say, well, I don't know. That's why I'm asking you. What does it look like to work with you?

Lisa:

I want you to consult me. Oh, I have an example of my very favorite outcome from a business planning retreat. I decided to work on my business and get really focused and make some scary choices. Because I think what we're talking about here is making scary choices because it feels like if you're saying no to business that is sort of in your realm, are you being foolish?

Are you turning away business that you should have taken? What if you don't get any more this year? There are all kinds of things that come up in people's minds. So I had something similar coming up. This was a few years into my business. I was doing a lot of virtual training for very large companies who at the time were saying, no vendors like doing virtual training. None of our vendors want to. We just make them put it in the lineup.

I was like, Pick me, pick me. I love virtual training. Now, of course, post-COVID life, everyone's used to it now. It's not a big deal now. But at the time, it was a very rare specialty.

Brea:

So rare. And you were crushing it. I mean, you were like the girl to go to for that. Yeah.

Lisa:

How cool to have you come back and say that because you know how scared I was to put it on the website, like that we specialized in that. I came up with all these stories about how. Look, my whole business was based on all of these in-person workshops. If I put it out there that we specialize in virtual, I'm going to lose my whole business. What am I doing?

So I needed that day to work on my business, to decide what my strategy is, to come up with a revenue model for it. That makes sense. to make sure I understood how I was going to generate business, attract clients, feel solid that I had a model with an addressable market, and all of that sort of stuff, and feel comfortable putting it out there. And the funny thing is, there's no reason why, if you lead with a specialty, like at the time when I put virtual training on the website as the core thing we did, It didn't mean that I would never offer an in-person workshop again.

It didn't mean we would say no to all those things forever. But it was really clear what our main thing was. But I was so scared to make that change. I thought it would tank the business. And in fact, it did the opposite. And I think we have a lot of those kind of things happen where we need these business planning retreat days to, to take care of ourselves and our minds and direct our minds because they can make up all the stories about how terrible our decisions are. But if we sit back and say, okay, look, I've mapped this whole thing out.

I've thought about what I want. I thought about the life I want to live. So now I've got a lifestyle that I feel good about for my business. And then I've run it against a profitability model. Do I actually have a business model and customers that make sense? And now what's the strategy to implement it? But if you don't step back, take the time to assess it, ask yourself, if those narratives you're talking about are really true or not. You don't know. So I like that example.

I wanted to bring that up because those are the kind of problems you can solve in these days where you're working on your business, that if you're just going about the daily motions, you would never say, This is my core focus. I'm saying focus on that, back to that idea of focus on one big thing. It didn't mean I didn't do anything else in the business. I still did one-on-one coaching. I still did in-person.

But I had a totally different strategy for how I would bring the business in, how those leads would be handled versus the other ones. It just changes the details of the operations for how you handle it. And if you don't take time out for yourself to think through it, you just keep going through the motions and it never happens and you never design the lifestyle you set out to do when you started your business.

Brea:

That's right. And what a shame, you know, because the entrepreneurial life is not for the weary, not for the faint of heart. There's so much good that comes from making these sacrifices, but there are many sacrifices, you know, that are made. So if you're not getting the outcomes that you want, then why are you doing this, you know? Yes.

You're making me think about how, one of the things that surprises me when I work with coaches, coaches tell me all the time that they struggle to know where their profit is coming from. Look at where your revenue is coming from. What is the most profitable offering that you're offering? If you don't know that, then you have to step aside and take some time to work on your business. Because as strengths coaches, we want to focus on what is working. We know that when we invest in what's already strong and what's already working, that's the best way to get more of what what is good and what is working.

So do that with your offerings. Do that with your revenue. Do that with, yes, your personal energy, you know, what's fun for you, what you enjoy doing, but also look very practically at what are people buying? and then decide, do I want to keep, you know, is that sustainable for me? Is that fun for me? Do I want to keep offering that? And do I want to double down? Or, you know, like, like Lisa was just describing, you know, maybe in person was the majority of your revenue, but it was It was not fun for you. It was draining you. It was not sustainable for you.

So you made a scary switch. That's fine. But you have to at least know what the heck is going on in your business right now. You know?

Lisa:

Yeah, I agree. Because if I did a surface level assessment, I would have said I love in-person events because I do once I'm there. But I didn't like being away from home all the time. I didn't like the airplane travel there. And so there are these other elements involved that if you're not retreating and getting that restful state for your mind and that dreamy state for your mind about what you want, you're not going to come up with those deeper realities about the thing.

You might just be like, Oh, yes, I love being in front of a crowd. Okay, great. But that is not all that is involved. Totally. So if someone wants to work with you on one of these days, let's talk about that. What kind of things could they expect?

Brea:

So if we worked together on a retreat day where we retreat from the everyday operations, we change our patterns, we change our location, we change our mindset, we create extra space to dream. What could that look like? Well, I think it's going to be most successful if you come in with a very specific outcome that you're desiring. Maybe that's coming up with a new offering.

Maybe that's trying to figure out how to stay profitable. and stay home instead of traveling all the time. Whatever problem you're feeling or whatever tension you want to solve, let's do that. Or if you say, gosh, I've got this offering and I love it and I want to get more of it, let's bring it into the retreat and let's figure out how we can really blow it up. Or if you're just saying, you know, I've been at this for two or three years and I feel like I've got a good business, but it's not in alignment with my strengths. You know, how many strengths coaches are out there that are not operating from their own strengths? Let's figure out how to align who you are, how you work at your best. with what you're actually offering and how you are running your business.

I mean, I could offer my story brand marketing. My goal is to show up and make sure that we continue to shine a spotlight on your talents and lead from your strengths so that when you come out at the end of the day or at the end of your time working on your business, you have a business that empowers you to live the life that you are empowering others to do.

Lisa:

Beautiful. Oh, I think so many coaches don't know that you're StoryBrand certified and how important that could be to be able to get messaging and from somebody who leads through communication and cares about words at a level that is It's pretty epic. I've heard it in our conversations on and off the podcast. Like you really care about words and that translates for messaging when someone is working on their business. So get on over to briaroper.com slash VIP. Is that the right link? Let's make sure I got it right.

Brea:

You got it. That's perfect. Thank you so much, Lisa. Yeah. And leadthroughstrengths.com slash VIP. What will they find when they go there?

Lisa:

They will, well, when they go there, literally, they'll just find the opportunity to book one of these personal business planning retreat days. And the people I think this would be really good for, for me, would be if you are starting up a side hustle, you're in corporate right now, and you are making that decision. How do I decide when to go full time? How do I build all the systems and structures and marketing and sales and operations and things to feel really comfortable and solid?

Or if you've just dreamt of starting a business and you want to map this all out? Like, what is my strategy? What is a profitable business model? What do I love and want to do, and somebody else wants to buy it? The other audience, like you mentioned, people who are several years into it, but they've found they have gotten away from the lifestyle they meant to create. Or they never created a profitable business model.

They just did what they loved. And then they're like, oops, this isn't profitable. I just like it. So any of those kind of problems or places where you need to do decision making, and a little bit of that dreaming and decision making together to map out a strategy, it'd be a great way to spend a day. And as Brea has said many times, this idea of restfulness and rejuvenation, even though it's hard work to do one of these days, there's also a restful, rejuvenating vibe because your brain has space. It's not task, task, task in those days. It is thinking. time, there is space and pause, and it's a really different cadence than many of us are used to when we're in a grind mode.

So I think if you're ready to stop being heads down all the time, come to leadthroughstrengths.com slash VIP.

Brea:

I love it. Lisa, you are so good. I mean, your story is exactly that, right? You were crushing it in corporate, but it was crushing you and you were like, there's a different way. So here you go, right? You put your plan together and then you started your own business and you worked your plan and now you're just crushing life, you know, without losing your mind. Like that's the ultimate success story, I think.

You are an excellent authority for anyone who is in that same situation right now. I mean, Lisa is such a great guide for you, so please reach out to her. My story was very different. I did not ever have a corporate experience. did not have any kind of planning. You know, I crowdfunded $10,000 to pay for my certification.

And that was my business planning was, you know, people pledged in exchange for coaching. So I left the certification with 100 people. on the books, scheduled, ready to start coaching. I coached 60 people. I'm sorry, 100 people in 60 days.

I built this thing, you know, from the ground up just on the fly. So it can be done both ways. But definitely if I had known earlier the benefits of having a little bit of runway built ahead of you. I know that that would have helped me get a lot further a lot faster. So no matter where you're starting from, please just make the time, invest the time, take the time. It's never going to just be there for you. You're not going to wake up one day and just say, oh, huh, I have a day to work on my business. Cool.

Lisa:

That's right. Yes. Working on your business like this, this is working on your life. This is an investment in your life that you are choosing to live. Thank you for saying that. That is so big.

Brea:

Yeah, yeah. So wherever you are now, the best is yet to come and you will go further faster if you just take a pause. It's like those little toy cars that you have to pull back and then release it and then it just like shoots forward really fast. That's what this day is. It's time to just pull back.

Lisa:

Marco Pico train.

Brea:

Like what?

Lisa:

Hillbilly references, you're gonna have to look up. See, I know we both are not great on pop culture, but I've got the hillbilly 1980s down pat.

Brea:

Oh my gosh, that is so funny.

Lisa:

It's a scavenger hunt. Let's see if people can come back in. Actually, I said it wrong. Anyway, it's Roscoe Pico train, I think, not Rocco.

Brea:

Okay, Roscoe Pico Train.

Lisa:

Roscoe Pico Train. Okay, so that's the scavenger hunt for people to come back in social media and tell you who Roscoe Pico Train was and get you, because it just, I'm playing on your car metaphor here. You just had no idea that it was all in support of the visual that you gave us.

Brea:

Love it.

Lisa:

So there you go. Yep. Now the listeners have to support you. I'm not going to give you the answer. It'll be fun.

Brea:

Okay. I love it. I love it. Oh, that's so good. Well, I feel like we could talk about this forever because it's just so important. It's not even the right word. It's foundational. It's essential. It's necessary. If you don't do it, you will feel it and not in a good way. And if you do, oh my gosh, like you will feel the benefits of being just more in alignment finding more ease, more energy, more joy in your everyday work, and more profit, more success, you know? Yes, yes.

Lisa:

And I think that these business planning retreats, I mean sometimes people of course go to in-person retreats to work on business. But if you're doing it, and you're like, hey, I love to work with Brea or Lisa, and I can't go to Kansas City, or I can't go to Austin, Texas, or to Colorado, we'll do it virtual.

We'll create relaxing vibes, we'll recreate those kind of feels as much as possible, because you can still find a park where you have Wi-Fi, you can go outside, you could go get a hotel for the day and do a staycation, you could, you can do a lot of things to mix up your workspace, even if you're in a different spot in your house, or you just sit on the patio that day instead of indoors. I think you can get a lot of those kind of feels as long as you're breaking your patterns.

Brea:

Yep. Yep, and I love to travel and I'm very happy to travel to you or to your nearest beach in Mexico if that sounds fun for you. But maybe people don't know that Tour Guide Barbie is actually my middle name and I love to create experiences.

So, yeah, Kansas City, Nashville, Denver, or, you know, wherever you are, let's do it. You know, we'll make it fun. We'll make it a little yummy, a little special, and It really is just what you do for everyone every day. It's just holding space so that you can have that focused attention that intention to Set yourself up for success just like you do for your clients every day

Lisa:

Beautiful. Mic drop right there.

Brea:

Boom, baby. All right, everybody, BreaRoper.com slash VIP or LeadThroughStrengths.com slash VIP. Go book it now. Just do it. We'll see you there. Just do it. Adios.

Lisa:

We'll be there with our tiki torches waiting for you.

Brea:

Party.

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

The Fine Print: This podcast is not sanctioned or endorsed by Gallup in any way. Opinions, views and interpretations of CliftonStrengths© are solely the beliefs of Lisa Cummings and Brea Roper.

Goal setting. Does setting and getting goals light you up and get you groovin? Or maybe you're not a big fan. Either way, this episode focuses on how to set yourself up for success – by using your Strengths, of course! We believe that when you approach goal setting through the lens of your individual talents, it not only makes the process more enjoyable but also opens up a whole new realm of possibilities that you might not have considered before.

Tune in for personal anecdotes and insights about how leveraging your strengths can transform your goals from mundane tasks into inspiring challenges. We discuss the importance of having a solid action plan and the value of check-ins to keep you on track.

Plus, we emphasize that even if a goal feels outside your natural strengths, you can still use your unique talents to achieve it. So, whether you're looking to set a Big Hairy Audacious Goal or just want to make your bed every day (no judgment here!), this episode is packed with tips and strategies to help you set it and get it!

🌟

Work With Us!

BREA Roper Communication | Woo | Activator | Futuristic | Connectedness

If you need a Strengths Hype Girl, for yourself or your team, connect with Brea at brearoper.com. She's ready to deliver an inspirational keynote, empowering training, or transformational workshop. If you're looking for an expert guide to support your internal Strengths efforts, reach out today!

LISA Cummings

Strategic | Maximizer | Positivity | Individualization | Woo

To work with Lisa, check out team workshops and retreats at the Lead Through Strengths site. For 1:1 strengths or life coaching, check out the Get Coached link. For independent coaches, trainers, and speakers, get business tools support with our Tools for Coaches membership.

Takeaways

● Strengths-based goals set you up for success: Setting goals through the lens of your unique strengths can lead to more meaningful and attainable objectives. By focusing on what energizes and excites you, you can create goals that feel natural and motivating.

● Think beyond SMART Goals: While SMART goals are a great starting point, it's essential to think outside the box. Incorporating your strengths into the goal-setting process can help you identify opportunities and areas for growth that traditional methods might overlook.

● Strength doesn't happen by accident. Strength, or as Gallup defines it, "consistent, near-perfect performance" doesn't happen by accident. To achieve the best outcome,use your talents to bring intention and clear direction to your goals.

Take Action

● Explore Your Strengths: Take time to identify your unique strengths and consider how they can inform your goal-setting process. Reflect on what comes naturally to you and what you enjoy.

● Create an Action Plan: Simply setting a goal isn't enough; you need a step-by-step action plan to achieve it. Without a clear strategy, it's easy to lose focus and get sidetracked. Consider using tools (like sticky notes or vision boards) that align with your strengths to keep you organized and motivated.

● Set Goals for Talent Development: Consider setting goals that focus on developing your talents further. This can lead to new opportunities and enhance your overall performance.

● Use Accountability: Find an accountability partner or coach to help you stay focused on your goals. Regular check-ins can help you assess your progress and make necessary adjustments.

If you're ready to use your Strengths to set and get your goals, this episode is for you!

🎧 Listen in and let us know your thoughts! Got some hot tips of your own on strength-based goal setting? Share in the comments below! ✨

#Podcast #Productivity #Leadership #PersonalDevelopment #Planning #TimeBlock #Goals #WorkLifeBalance #WorkLifeBlend #Talent #Strengths

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

AI-Generated Transcript

Lisa:

Hey, I'm Lisa.

Brea:

And I'm Brea.

Lisa:

And today's episode is all about goal setting.

Brea:

Oh my gosh, we came in with giggles because I was like stretching and groaning like an old person as I was getting ready for the record button to go. So funny.

Lisa:

It would be great if one of those kind of noises, I guess, included, you know? Yes, I love letting them in. And my back cracking as I'm like crouching in my chair. We'll have to overdub some back cracks. Oh my gosh.

Lisa:

Hi, everybody. Yeah. Hey, everyone. And a double hello to Ricardo. I want to give him a shout out. He has been a listener, oh my gosh, I don't know how long, for eight years, nine years. He's been a listener forever and has been giving feedback over the years and has just been a great, great listener and strengths peer. So shout out to Ricardo for suggesting the topic of goal setting.

Brea:

Okay, love that. Thank you, Ricardo.

Lisa:

Yes. And I think, Brea, you tell me what you think here. I'm going to say you have to give an obligatory nod to SMART goals because it's the standard everyone talks about. So if you're a listener and you've never heard of SMART goals, it stands for, it's an acronym, it stands for Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.

And yes, those are great standards to make sure your goals are concrete and ready to go and in a form that feels gettable. And with that, I would like to quickly move right off of SMART goals so that we can give you some insights and things to think about that are different from every other goal setting podcast or article you've ever read. What do you think, Brea?

Brea:

Yeah, you know, we're talking about strengths. We're talking about goals through a lens of strengths. So already it's different because, as everyone on this podcast knows, your strengths are as unique to you as Well, there is nothing more unique. They are 100% unique to you, the blend of your talents. So already, just if you are leaning into your strengths when you are approaching goals, it's already going to be unique to you. So let's dive in.

Lisa:

Yes. You know, as you said that what pinged for me was When I'm deciding on my goals, what comes to my mind first is traditional goal setting stuff like, okay, let's think of the workplace and what are some metrics I want to move for the year? What are my revenue goals? I start to think of things like that. And when I think of strengths and add that in, I add things that I never would have thought of otherwise. So for example, I lead through positivity, individualization, woo, I have these need for people kind of themes, and I've worked from home for over 15 years.

What I've realized is if I don't have goals that relate to social things, I start to lose myself a little bit and I just don't realize it's that important for me to be around other humans physically because you can just be heads down in your work and forget. So I think that's an example personally of where goal setting with a lens of strengths, it could even tell me which ones to set that I might overlook entirely that'll be really valuable to me as a human. How about for you?

Brea:

Yeah, totally. Using our strengths to set goals automatically broadens the scope of where you can go and what you can achieve. And it's attainable because it's coming from a place of strength, right? So it feels like, oh, this is a surprise. I've never really thought about setting a goal like this. And at the same time, it feels so doable and so natural and exciting, hopefully, you know, to think about going for that.

Lisa:

Yeah, yeah. And they also give you. different approaches. If I think of mine, strategic's my number one. I love to get a list going of possibilities, and it's quick. But here are things I could focus on for the year. Here are things that might be important. And then I know that if I'm realistic, I can't do 40 top goals. That doesn't make any sense.

So instead, I can use strategic to say, what's most important for me? What are my priorities? And boom, I'm picking these two and that's it. And if I need to pivot later, cool, I will. And it allows me to do that. I love that. And I think my maximizer number two, it really drives me to set a goal and a BHAG, you know, the Big Hairy Audacious Goal, so that I can challenge the standard and challenge my potential and get a little bit of fun out of having the goal and then having the Big Hairy Goal.

Brea:

Yeah. I love that.

Lisa:

What do you think?

Brea:

Yeah. I, I just, I'm thinking about, well, I'm thinking about why, why is setting goals so important and also why do so many people not do it? And also for those of us that do do it, like, why is it so hard? to finish. And I wonder if part of that is just because we are setting the wrong goals. Like you said, if we think about this through the lens of our strengths, we're able to set goals that can help set us up for success versus, you know, younger Brea would set goals to make my bed every day.

And, I just am not an everyday bedmaker and I've wasted so much time going after that goal, but it's just not a goal that's worth my effort. So I think this idea of setting goals through the lens of your strengths is so important because it helps you choose the right goals. And then the big hairy audacious, um, what's the G in beehive? Oh, Oh my gosh, I crack myself up. Okay, as soon as I said it, it was like right there.

Lisa:

It's like pin number, personal identification. What's the N? Oh my gosh. It's a pin number. It's a BHAG goal. I think it's the same situation. So you're off the hook.

Brea:

Yeah, that's so funny. So the BHA goal is, I forgot what I was saying. I don't even remember.

Lisa:

I've got to jump on the insight then while your brain can bring it back to you. I think what you said, it felt like a metaphor that happens in the workplace all the time. So at year end, especially, but it happens at all different times of the year when people have to do their individual development plan for the year. And it's required that they set goals.

Of course, sometimes you have assigned goals where it's like, here's your goal. Go figure out how to meet it. And you can do that through strengths really well as well. But there's this opening on these IDPs, the individual development plans, for so many people because you're supposed to come up with a few of your own development goals. And what do people do?

They come up with goals that they think someone else wants to see. And what I just heard you saying, it reminded me of this same situation. Maybe they're making Make your bed goals. They've tried it and it was a meh goal. Well, those aren't fun to achieve. Those don't motivate you and pull out your potential. And if you use your strengths as a filter, they're going to be fun, or at least more fun. They're going to inspire something in you. There's going to be a spark.

And if you set your goals the way you think someone else believes you should, well, of course, they might not be that motivating for you. They might not sound that exciting. So I think strengths as a lens of goal settings, oh, it's so smart because all that stuff we talk about with the ease, ease, energy, enjoyment, excellence. If you set your goals aligned with strengths, it's going to bring all of those things out in you.

Brea:

Totally. Yeah, I 100% agree. I've been that person. I think most, if not all, of our listeners have been there, so totally that resonates. Yeah, the BHAG doesn't seem so big, hairy, and audacious if it's aligned with your strengths.

Because what feels big to us or hairy to us or audacious to us are often the goals that are not in alignment with our strengths, right? Because like you just said, if we're setting goals that are in alignment with our strengths, then it feels easy. It feels energizing. It feels like excellence is attainable, right? We're excited for it. We enjoy it. That does not feel like big hairy audacious, right?

Lisa:

I think, okay, so big, yes. Audacious, yes. Hairy, maybe not. But I would think like be careful with what kind of audacious, what kind of big, what kind of hairy. What a funny conversation. But I would say, okay, let's do an example. If I say, I want to double my number of members in Tools for Coaches. That sounds possible.

But I could set an audacious goal to triple it. And is it possible? Yeah, I think it's possible. And I like the stretch in the brain on something that sounds really exciting for me, something that is strengths aligned if I allow it to be. and I do it in a way that is of service to the members and in alignment with my strengths at the same time, then the audacious part of it feels amazing.

So instead of audacious being outlandish, it would be audacious because it's like, ooh, this is just a little possibility that I'm seeding in my mind so that I can start marinating on how I could actually pull that off.

Brea:

Yeah, and I think when we use our strengths, we can do that, right? The big hairy audacious becomes possible.

Lisa:

What about accomplishing goals? Let's say it's a goal. Now it's set. You've done your SMART goals, you've picked a BHAG or a stretch or whatever version of it, and you've done it. with your strengths in mind. It feels aligned with you, with you as a person. So your goals are set.

Brea:

And now you got to go get them.

Lisa:

You got to go get it. Brea's got the ultimate rhyme. Set it and get it. So now we're on the get it phase. How do you use your strengths? What does that even look like if you're using your strengths to accomplish what's already set?

Brea:

Yeah. So we've talked about how setting the right goal is setting yourself up for success. But then you got to go get it. And you can't just like set the goal and say, okay, cool, and then have no plan. And I think that's the second place that people fall down is that they don't have a step-by-step action plan of how they're actually going to get there.

So it's kind of like Babe Ruth steps up to the plate and he points to where he's going to just crush this Homer But if I did that, the ball would not go where my finger is pointing, you know what I mean? Like, I have no plan, I have no practice. That's where I think a lot of us fail in our goal getting is there's no strategy, there's no plan, there's no step-by-step. So gotta give yourself some direction.

Lisa:

Direction, intention, you know, which you also brought out for me is the difference that in the same thing, let's say the same, goal, I'm going to use this in quotes, because you might not do goal setting. If you were Babe Ruth, you're not like I am goal setting to hit the ball over there in that moment. But if it were you, you would have to because of all the things that would have to come to lead up to it. So the relative part of this is cool because we're one person's task is another person's goal.

Thinking back to some recent coaching conversations - I had one recently where person manages her goals and tasks with sticky notes really masterfully. And I think that's kind of neat to see. Yeah. And if you imagine adaptability, arranger, those kind of things, or someone has all the stuff and Achiever was on board. All the things that you have to accomplish, they can get scratched off and thrown out. They can get pushed over to another category on the side.

Goals can be stacked. If there's a project involved, the next action is the one that's on top. I was getting the whole visual of this thinking, this sounds so beautiful and strength aligned. And the next person who leads through futuristic and strategic and positivity, maybe they love vision boards to get them started, and then they turn that into concrete action.

And maybe the next person who leads through competition and analytical, they're all about the metrics and understanding where they came from last year, where they're headed to this year, what the industry standard is, how they're going to nail it, how they need to break it down by month.

And all those different examples, those are really different paths to possibly hitting the same exact goal. It's using your strengths to find the approach that is fun to you because your strengths are aligned.

Brea:

Yeah, that's so good. Yeah. I think something you're bringing up is, um, guardrails or just like check-ins, you know, depending on the goal, depending on the length of the project or, you know, the timeline that you have, you might need to have little milestone goals, right? You might need to put in some check-ins to say, let's look at the data. How are we doing? Are we making progress?

Because that's the worst is if you set a goal and you start running after it, and then. you know, squirrel and you get distracted, something comes up and all of a sudden you're off on another tangent. So if you can't be that person for yourself, if you can't set those, those boundaries or those guardrails for yourself, then maybe it's finding an accountability coach, or maybe it's taking advantage of weekly check-ins with your manager or whatever it might be.

Lisa:

Yeah, I like that. How do I know what else needs to happen to keep me on target or to check in? Whether, like you said, whether that's accountability partners or using, for example, using some relationship themes to reach out to people who have been in that industry longer than you so that you could get some data points outside of the ones you know, but you could do that through relationships.

You could sit back and do some reflection and thinking or research with your thinking themes. Just go through the domains. I just went through two of them, but you can go through and think about different ways to approach it based on the domains you're dominant in.

Brea:

Yeah, this is so important. If you're given a goal, okay, bring your strengths. How can I use my talents to accomplish the goal that has been set before me? Even if it's not, let's say, most naturally aligned. Maybe it's an execution goal and executing is your lowest domain. Okay, that's fine.

You can still get there using your strengths. We can also set goals to actually develop your talent. What a great use of time, energy, resources. You know, the definition that Gallup gives us for strength is consistent, near-perfect performance. That does not happen by accident, okay? So you need to be intentional. So let's set some goals to develop our talent and build strength, create new strengths, and go out there and just crush life, you know?

Lisa:

Yes, I'm loving what you just brought up. And it made me think of this example of a person in a workshop a couple of years ago. She led through connectedness. She told me she had been squashing it down at work and that that was more of her personal strength with friends, family, social, etc. But she kind of put it in a drawer for work because she had the sense that it wasn't hard driving and logical enough. and didn't think it was useful at work.

So she set a goal, to your point, to develop connectedness and see what it looks like at work. And pretty soon she's realizing, oh, this is how I build rapport. Oh, my kindness takes the edge off when I really need to push hard. Oh, connectedness, it helps me see downstream effects that others don't see. It helps me see how our work is connected to the end user. She came up with 20 things that it was valuable for as she got into it. Yeah, and she did it because she set the intention to work on one that she had been totally shutting off in the workplace.

Brea:

Yeah, and I think that's a great example of, and I hear it from clients too, this is a great exercise to help you get to the goal setting process. Just start looking at your strengths, start looking at what is easy for you, what's natural for you, what you enjoy, and dreaming about how you can grow that - how you might be able to bring that to a place or a person or a task that you normally don't. And then all of a sudden you're like, oh wow, look at all these opportunities, right? And then you can set goals to help you get there.

Lisa:

Beautiful. Inspired action.

Brea:

Ooh, love. Hello.

Lisa:

Oh, I got snaps.

Brea:

Love it.

Lisa:

Okay, we got snaps, but we also need to tell people how to work with us because what if they want our help in exploring their goals? So, Brea, tell them. If they want some goal-setting work with their strengths and they want Brea Roper in the house, how do they find you?

Brea:

Well, if you are ready to go for your own snaps, then come to my website, brearoper.com. Set up a call. We'll figure out if we're a good fit to work together. How about you, Lisa?

Lisa:

Come to leadthroughstrengths.com/getcoached and we can do a one-off session on goal setting or any topic you have on your mind.

Brea:

Love it. Don't forget to use your strengths to set it and get it.

Lisa:

Set it and get it.

Brea:

But don't forget it.

Lisa:

Yes. Don't forget it.

Brea:

Don't forget your strengths when you're setting and getting goals.

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

The Fine Print: This podcast is not sanctioned or endorsed by Gallup in any way. Opinions, views and interpretations of CliftonStrengths© are solely the beliefs of Lisa Cummings and Brea Roper.

Did you know that frustration and burnout your talents can be 'hangry'. In today's episode, we dive into the delightful concept of nurturing your nature! Life can be tough, and we all know that adulting isn't just a walk in the park. So, why not focus on what makes you shine? We discuss the importance of not just using your strengths, but actively nurturing and developing them to unlock their full potential.

You'll hear us chat about the nuances of nurturing your talents, the idea of nourishing them like a well-cooked meal, and how to create opportunities for your strengths to thrive. We even share some personal reflections on our own talents and how we are intentional about feeding them. So, if you've ever felt like your talents are a bit hangry or underutilized, this episode is for you! Join us as we encourage you to take a moment to reflect on how you can start nurturing your nature today.

🌟

Work With Us!

BREA Roper Communication | Woo | Activator | Futuristic | Connectedness

If you need a Strengths Hype Girl, for yourself or your team, connect with Brea at brearoper.com. She's ready to deliver an inspirational keynote, empowering training, or transformational workshop. If you're looking for an expert guide to support your internal Strengths efforts, reach out today!

LISA Cummings

Strategic | Maximizer | Positivity | Individualization | Woo

To work with Lisa, check out team workshops and retreats at the Lead Through Strengths site. For 1:1 strengths or life coaching, check out the Get Coached link. For independent coaches, trainers, and speakers, get business tools support with our Tools for Coaches membership.

Takeaways

1. Nurturing vs. Using Your Strengths: It's not enough to simply use your natural talents; actively nurturing and developing them is what leads to a life of strength! This means investing time and energy into growing your talent, rather than just filling gaps or addressing weaknesses.
2. Embrace the Journey: Nurturing your nature is an ongoing process. Just as you would monitor your health or the needs of a plant, it's important to stay engaged with your strengths and be open to adjusting your approach as needed to ensure they continue to flourish.

Take Action

● Schedule frequent talent 'check ups': Just like our bodies need specific nutrients to thrive, our talents require attention and care. Regularly reflect on your top talents and assess which ones may be undernourished. This self-audit can help you identify areas where you can focus your energy to foster growth and satisfaction.

● Create opportunities for your Strengths to shine!: If you find that your strengths aren't being utilized in your current environment, take the initiative to create opportunities for them to shine. Whether at work or in personal projects, seek out or design situations where your talents can be fully expressed.

● Consider a VIP Day: If you're looking for guidance as you work to nurture your nature, consider booking a VIP day with Lisa or Brea.

○ Book with Brea: https://brearoper.com/vip

○ Book with Lisa: https://leadthroughstrengths.com/vip

If you're ready to unlock the hidden potential in your talents, this episode is for you!

🎧 Listen in and let us know your thoughts! What does nurturing your nature look like in your life? Share in the comments below! ✨

#Podcast #Productivity #Leadership #PersonalDevelopment #Planning #TimeBlock #SelfCare #TimeForYourself #WorkLifeBalance #WorkLifeBlend #Nurture #Nature #Talent #Strengths

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

AI-Generated Transcript

Lisa:

Hey, I'm Lisa.

Brea:

I'm Brea.

Lisa: And today's episode is all about nurturing your nature.

Brea:

How to nurture your nature or why to nurture your nature. I love it.

Lisa:

I love how your brain does this. It does it on a lot of topics. We'll talk about the topic and then you'll be like, but why? You know? So when you ask me the question, why should you nature… Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Should you nature your nurture? Let's nurture our nature, but I need to think on that. Is there an application for nurturing your nurture? Because I really like to nurture. Why should you nurture your nature? Instantly, I think about how adulting is hard. And really, I mean, stuff is hard. Life isn't just joy, joy, joy, joy all the time. So why not do things that for you are efficient and fun and can make life feel better. And if you're really taking your nature, and then you're leveraging it for all that it can be, then you're going to feel more efficient in your life. You're going to have more fun. It's going to be more exciting. It's not going to feel so laborious and difficult. I mean, we already have enough difficulties that will come our way anyway. So when you direct your attention for where your development is going, why not do it in these areas where you can really, really shine? That's what comes to mind for me.

Brea:

Life is hard enough. Yes, life is hard enough. We don't need to make it more hard. So yes, I totally agree 100%. And I feel like a lot of people listening right now are nodding their head in agreement, right? Like we all get that. I do think that there's a different nuance to the conversation because we love nuance here on the Lead Through Strengths podcast. There's a different nuance to the conversation where leveraging your talent or your nature is one thing, right? Leaning into it aligning with it. Those those are all Kind of versions of that using it, right? But the idea of nurturing it Developing it. I Feel like there's a lot of us out there who aren't really exploring the full potential of what that means to nurture Our nature, you know to grow it. How do we do that? How do we do that as coaches? How do we help our our coachees to nurture their talent, to grow the good, not just to use it as it is, you know what I mean? But to nurture it, to grow it, to invest in it, right? Like that's- That's a cool distinction. Yeah, yeah.

Lisa:

So I am totally getting where you're coming from. And the word that popped into my mind while you were describing it, because it almost felt like it with your words and the way you said them, was the word nourish. It's kind of like, If you were nourishing them, what would you be doing for them? If you were paying attention to making them better and better or have more things they could be directed toward or apply them in new situations and try them on in new ways and experiment with it and play with it, like all of those things could be ways that are nurturing it.

Brea:

Yes. We have to feed our talents because if we don't, then they get hangry. And we don't like talents when they're angry. That looks like bad behavior. That looks like not emotionally regulated. That just doesn't look good. It does not look like strength. It looks like weakness, right? So the idea of nourishing is so good.

Lisa:

So I definitely am a person who thinks you grow through practice, but you could practice the same terrible form over and over throwing a ball and just become stronger at your poor form.

Brea:

I love that because clarity comes from action. I a hundred percent believe that a hundred percent. You got to move in order to get some clarity. Here's the thing, though, when it comes to nurturing, Traditionally, outside of the strengths movement, we have learned to reflect on our practice, to take a look at how we did and invest in the places where we were falling short. This is the difference. I think we still kind of default to looking to where we fell short and, you know, how do we use our talents to like fill the gaps? But what about this idea of looking at what we did well, looking at where we're excelling even and nurturing that, growing that? Is it true that if we do that, that our great will get even greater and it will be strong enough that the weakness doesn't even matter? In some cases, right? Is it true? Is what we believe really true?

Lisa:

Yeah, so in addition to what you're talking about where we get focused on filling gaps and fixing weaknesses and trying to figure out how to do what we can't do yet, I also think there's this piece of nurturing your nature where you have to remember what makes you come alive and you have to remember where your greatest contributions are because if you will, You'll remember how to bring that excitement to your life. You'll remember what it feels like when you're contributing in the world. And you're like, oh, I need to get in that environment more often.

Brea:

So this is so good because it it brings us back to let's start at the very beginning. The idea of how do we nurture? How do we do that? Right. Well, I think it's looking for opportunities to use your talents and or creating those opportunities if they don't currently exist in your work from home environment, then you have to create those opportunities. If you're in an office setting, maybe it's being aware of the opportunities where your talents can shine and really thrive and raising your hand for those, you know? So whether it's taking advantage of them when the opportunities come or, you know, creating those opportunities for yourself, I think that is a very foundational way of making sure that your talents get nurtured.

Lisa:

Yeah, 100%. I love the word nurture. I love the metaphor we've been using with nourishing because it really is like that. Yes, you can go consume the fast food version of doing these things where you kind of get a drive-by experience of using them. But you could also do a slow cooker soup that you really worked on and you thought about carefully. And when you eat it, you're like, whoa, there's depth here. Like if you ever ate an amazing soup where you can just tell. this thing has been cooking for 36 hours with 20 amazing ingredients. Like that is what that taste experience is akin to what somebody is receiving on the interactions with you. They're like, whoa, when they say that person is so genuine or wow, like I really like that person. They it's because you're showing your strengths so genuinely and you just seem so on. That's what it's like. I love that kind of fed, nourished vibe because it really shows the richness that you demonstrate as a human.

Brea:

I love that, too. And now you're actually reminding me, Lisa, when we went to Four by Brother Luck. I had a soup and it was maybe the most delicious soup that I've ever had. So that's just a fun little memory that you're bringing up.

Lisa:

I think I know the one. Was it their duck chili?

Brea:

No, it was a butternut squash something something. It was delicious. Yeah. But here's, this is actually going to your naturing the nurture. Okay, I think it's possible. You're gonna make it work. Well, I, to me, they they're hand in hand. If we look to the nature and we say, look, I know I want to nurture my nature. So I'm going to feed my nature, right? I'm going to nurture it. I'm going to feed it. I'm going to nourish it. Okay. So how do we nature the nurture? Well, we have to look to the nature and say, well, what do I need? What, not just what food, like, okay, well, I need food. I need water. Okay. Yeah. So all of us do, but what do I need? So have you ever gone to the doctor and done a little allergy test or a blood panel that says, you know, hi, you're, you're vitamin D deficient, you know, or you're deficient in this or whatever. Like every body needs the same vitamins, nutrients, everything, but some are deficient in areas that others aren't. Right. And so if I'm going to, if I'm going to truly nourish my body, I need to know specifically what it needs. How much protein should I be eating every day? Well, that depends on how much muscle mass you have, or maybe hormone levels, or exercise, or all the things matter. So if we're truly going to nourish, and this is along the lines of self-care too. We talk about how it's important to take time for yourself. It's important to nourish. yourself and care for yourself, we have to know what we need in order to do that. And it's not just as simple as saying, well, we need food, we need water, we need to sleep, we need air. It's very specific to the person.

Lisa:

I like your metaphor. I can also really relate to it. Having been a person who nerds out on my micronutrients every six months and seeing how individual vitamins, minerals, etc. are on or off. And then I pay attention to them and give them extra care for a while. The same would go for the talanthemes. And you have to keep checking in. It's not like a static thing. Well, I gave it some gave it some nurture time. It's set for life. It's very much like those nutrients in the body. So I think that's a great metaphor because you do have to keep checking in and it depends on what you've been focused on, how you've been living, who you've been around, what kind of contributions you've been making, all sorts of factors. So it is an ongoing check-in.

Brea:

Yeah. It reminds me of caring for plants. Now, this is not one of my strengths. I do not do a good job of caring for them. And I think it's because I don't understand what they need. So I'm like, Oh, I'll just put it by the window and I'll get some water. And I, I think it's you know, good to go, but then, nope, it's not good to go. But in that situation, I would say, okay, well, maybe I'll, I'll move it over to this side, or maybe, oh, it's right by a vent. So it's just getting blasted with AC during the summer. Maybe it needs to be in a warmer place. So I move it to a different location and you move it around. And if you're patient, if you love it enough, if it matters, then you're going to figure it out, right? You're going to figure out. and maybe you have a cool little app on your phone to help you figure it out, but some way you figure out what it needs, right? You understand how much to water, when to water, how much sun, shade, all of the things, and then it can start living its best life. If we do that for plants, then why don't we do that for ourselves?

Lisa:

Right? And the CliftonStrengths report And many tools, coaching and other things, but the CliftonStrengths Report makes it pretty easy. It's like your app for the plant. And it gives you the chance to say, Oh, okay, I'm feeling drained. I'm feeling a little soul sucked right now. I'm feeling whatever negative emotion. If you look to your report, it can often, with a little bit of the nourishment of your talents, it can bring you out of the yellow leaves. So it's another just great reason you've got to nourish it. And everyone looks a little bit different. And you have to pay attention to your own. Great point that I mean, come on, if you're going to give your houseplant more attention than you give yourself. Yeah.

Brea:

Got to get your back here. You're more important for real, though. Like how many of us do that? I know I'm sometimes guilty of that. maybe not with plants, but maybe with other things that are not worth as much as I'm worth. I'm giving time and attention to other things or other people or other situations or whatever, and I'm not doing the work for myself. And so I think it's a real gut check to say, are you nurturing your nature? It's not a pleasantry or a platitude or a cheeky phrase. I really invite anyone listening to ask yourself, am I nurturing my nature? And if so, how, and how can I do more of it? And if not, what's one way that you can start right now? You know, today, what's one thing that you can do to appreciate your nature and to just give it a little bit of love?

Lisa:

Yeah. And I think there's an audit that could be cool as well. You know, I always go practical and I'm like, okay, let's apply this to something really going on in life. So I just did a quick run through of my top talents and I'm thinking through strategic, maximizer, positivity, individualization, woo, focus, futuristic, learner. And the one that pops out for me when I ask this question, am I nurturing? The one that I'm not sure I'm deliberately nurturing is strategic. Now it shows up in a lot of things. It shows up in my thinking. It shows up when I get to make a quick decision. But a lot of times I'm not making quick decisions. I do like to zoom out. I do like to prioritize. So there are a lot of things I could say I like to do this. But am I deliberately doing it and really pouring into it as something I could develop and make me a better human with? Ooh, that's the one that stands out to me that could use some directed attention. So I'm thinking, ooh, this little process, this question is an easy one. You could just glance down at the list and say, well, which one's in a micronutrient deficiency? Which one's sad right now? Which one's just not used that much right now deliberately? It is used in small doses throughout the day, but am I really giving it nourishment? Am I really developing it? Am I really working it? Am I really having fun with it? Am I really directing it? That one stands out for me. Do any stand out for you?

Brea:

Well, what immediately stands out is, you talk about that a lot on this podcast. The strategic wanting white space, you know, wanting an opportunity to be more intentional. So I guess I'll just reflect that back to you because…

Lisa:

It's hungry.

Brea:

It's getting hangry.

Lisa:

Yeah. It's hungry. It's hungry.

Brea:

Yeah. Well, for me, this is part of my nightly examine is intentionally looking at my talents and saying, which ones do they feed today? Which ones are going to bed hungry? My strategic, it also shows up every day, but it's like, I don't know, strategic is like real hungry. It's like a teenage boy, you know, like just a ravenous appetite all the time. It's like, like you can never feed it enough. And so it gets me into trouble sometimes because it's hangry a lot. Does that make sense? It's more needy than the others. And so if, if my strategic stays in my head, I can think and think and think and think and think about, we could do this. We could do that. It could look like this. It could look like that. Well, we can't move, you know, this way because I don't have this piece of information. And if I still need that piece of information, then I don't really know you know, how it's going to go. So I can't like make a decision yet because it could go the wrong way and I can just lose my mind, you know? So the best way that I need to be intentional about feeding my strategic is actually like moving forward. I don't know if that's just me. You tell me because you actually have strategic number one listeners with strategic. How does this show up for you? Is strategic always on the move? I mean, it's a strategic thinking theme. but I feel like it thinks on its feet. You know, it really like at its best, it's as you're moving and grooving, it's like, we can pivot this way. You know, we can pivot that way versus standing stationary and thinking through all the options. For me, I need to move, you know.

Lisa:

Yeah, I think always being on the move is true for mine as well. That seems like part of the nature of strategic. My strategic, I think, is what makes me decisive though. And I think when you mix it with Maximizer, it becomes an efficiency theme. So it might take on a little different flavor. But what, back to your strategic, if you were to think about a night, because you do this awesome nightly, tell us what you call your nightly practice again.

Brea:

It's an examen.

Lisa:

You're nightly examine when you're doing this. Tell us a night when this hungry teenage boy felt satiated. What was a day when strategic was like, yeah, I used that. And that was a good one.

Brea:

Yeah. It's when it allows me to pivot through unexpected circumstances. You know, when I had a plan, but things didn't go according to plan and I was able to just roll with it. Like that's where my strategic really, really comes alive.

Lisa:

Hmm. Ooh, I like this because it shows some, so much difference in strategic.

Brea:

Yeah. I think it also comes out in coaching. If I'm coaching strategic plus ideation is like, and all you can eat buffet. Like, I'm so happy if someone comes to me and says, can you give me some ideas of what I could do? I'm like, yes, I can. You know, I have a lot of ideas, but they're strategic as well. So that's also a really good feel good, you know, thrive kind of situation.

Lisa:

Yeah. Like mix that with strategic ideation and communication and you're someone's at the ready brainstorming partner. It's going to feel amazing.

Brea:

Unless it's a coaching client who continues to come back and, you know, every session never takes action. Then my activator is like, we're done. So that's, it's true though. You know, like my activator, if it's not activating, then it gets, it gets angry. So.

Lisa:

Well, that's the whole topic of the show, right? Talking about the idea of nurturing the nature. So if something's running against your nature and you can't activate and you're able to choose your clients and you want someone who is going to take action on the stuff they've come up with from their coaching, maybe that's, I mean, that's beautiful. I'm sure that's something that you've come up with in your nightly examines where you say, ooh, this isn't good nurturing of my nature if I keep Being around this and I'm not pushing on it to get action Mm-hmm.

Brea:

Yeah, and it's interesting because then I have a choice right we have we have a choice. Do I? Do I say okay, I only want to work with super high achieving People who are gonna come every week do the work come back and be hungry for more or do I say, you know what activator like I This person is really just looking for some ideas or some space to think and dream. So it's not time to activate yet. So you can just move to the back, have a seat. Thank you so much. We'll call you when it's your turn. And I think that's the thing is just understanding that just because I'm hungry doesn't mean I need to eat every second.

Lisa:

Yeah, if we're brainstorming, and I want them to take action for them, but if that's not what they want, because they're not there, or maybe the value they wanted out of this conversation with me was a person who could generate ideas with them, but they're not ready for or interested in the action. And to them, they're getting full value out of the coaching is Is that plenty? You know, it's really interesting to think through the coach's needs, their needs, what the coaching agreements are, what they're there for. Are they just not challenging themselves or is it something else? Did they just come for ideas? Do they just need a space to let their brain go open wide?

Brea:

Yep. Yeah. That's what makes you such a good coach. Lisa Cummings, everybody. Love it. Love it.

Lisa:

I'm bowing, I'm bowing. Thank you, thank you very much.

Brea:

Here's a round of applause, a round of applause. Oh my gosh, it's so good. That's why they pay you the big bucks. Come on, come on.

Lisa:

Okay, well, speaking of that, if someone wants to experience the Brea Roper, tell them how to find you and find this concept of nurturing the nature or nurturing the nurture, either one you want. Brea Roper's got it for you.

Brea:

It's a equal opportunity here for nature. Come on over to brearoper.com. You can schedule a call, just a quick little, a quick little chat. I'll get to know you. You'll get to know me a little bit better and we'll see if, if it's good fit. I'd love to work with you. Please come on over. Say hi, Lisa. How about you?

Lisa:

Come on over to leadthroughstrengths.com/getcoached. And actually, I think there's a dash in the getcoached. It's "Get Coached" in the main menu. And we can set up a one-off call anytime you need to feed those talents, because we don't want you being shriveled up and starved out.

Brea:

Yeah. You know, something else that's coming to mind is for both of us, we both have what we call a VIP day. And this is an opportunity for you to really step out of your everyday experience and nurture, feed, nourish yourself, whether that's your business, your talents, um, whatever is, is hungry the most, but you can find that at BreaRoper.com slash VIP or LeadThroughStrengths.com slash VIP.

Lisa:

Yes, this is when you are ready for a delicious seven-course meal and you're ready for the whole experience. You're not eating Panda Express today. You're having a VIP day.

Brea:

That's right.

Lisa:

Come on. This is your high-end, calm, nourishing, beautiful, delicious experience.

Brea:

You don't have to cook. You don't have to clean. You can just set the time aside, right? Come sit down at a beautiful table and be there. Show up for yourself, show up for your business and feast.

Lisa:

We've got to go now. I am very hungry, Brea.

Brea:

All right. See you guys later. Bye.

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

The Fine Print: This podcast is not sanctioned or endorsed by Gallup in any way. Opinions, views and interpretations of CliftonStrengths© are solely the beliefs of Lisa Cummings and Brea Roper.

Maybe you're a planner like Lisa, whose calendar resembles a game of 'time Tetris', more spontaneous like Brea, who's a little more free-flowing, or somewhere in between. No matter how you do it, taking time to prioritize your well-being is essential. In this episode, you'll hear us discuss the importance of setting boundaries and making intentional choices about how you spend your time. We share our personal experiences and strategies, from booking vacations and massages to creating those precious moments of spontaneity that can truly rejuvenate your spirit.

We even touch on our VIP day offerings, where you can take a deep dive into your goals and aspirations with us as your guides. So, if you've been feeling the weight of life's demands, this episode is your reminder to take a step back, breathe, and invest in yourself.

So, grab your planner (or just your favorite cozy blanket) and get ready to discover how to make time for YOU!

🌟

Work With Us!

BREA Roper Communication | Woo | Activator | Futuristic | Connectedness

If you need a Strengths Hype Girl, for yourself or your team, connect with Brea at brearoper.com. She's ready to deliver an inspirational keynote, empowering training, or transformational workshop. If you're looking for an expert guide to support your internal Strengths efforts, reach out today!

LISA Cummings

Strategic | Maximizer | Positivity | Individualization | Woo

To work with Lisa, check out team workshops and retreats at the Lead Through Strengths site. For 1:1 strengths or life coaching, check out the Get Coached link. For independent coaches, trainers, and speakers, get business tools support with our Tools for Coaches membership.

Takeaways

1. Define What "Time for Yourself" Means to YouTaking time for yourself can look different for everyone. For some, it might mean a luxurious vacation with no responsibilities. For others, it could be as simple as blocking out a few moments in your day for reflection or relaxation. We discuss how it's essential to identify what self-care means to you personally, so you can prioritize it in your life.
2. The Power of "Planning to Be Spontaneous"Brea emphasizes the importance of leaving open blocks of time to allow for unexpected moments of joy and creativity. This balance can help you recharge and stay present, making it easier to embrace life's surprises.
3. Invest in YourselfWe can't pour from an empty cup. Taking time for yourself is not just a luxury; it's a necessity. We discuss practical strategies for blocking out time for self-care, whether it's scheduling PTO, planning massages, or setting aside time for reflection. Remember, investing in yourself is one of the best decisions you can make for your well-being and productivity.

Take Action

● Block Out Time for Yourself: Schedule your personal time in advance, whether it's for vacations, self-care activities like massages, or simply time to relax. Make sure to earmark these activities in your calendar to prevent overbooking.

● Plan for Spontaneity: Create blocks of time in your schedule that are left open for spontaneous activities. This could be as simple as a few hours with no plans, allowing you to engage in whatever feels right in the moment.

● Reflect and Review: Set aside time for a year-end reflection or quarterly reviews. Use this time to assess your goals, accomplishments, and areas for improvement, ensuring that you are intentional about how you want to spend your time moving forward.

● Establish Boundaries: Learn to set and maintain boundaries around your time. This includes saying no to commitments that do not serve your well-being and protecting the time you have allocated for yourself.

● Consider a VIP Day: If you're looking for guidance in taking time for yourself, consider booking a VIP day. This can provide you with structured time to reflect, strategize, and plan for your personal and professional goals.

○ Book with Brea: https://brearoper.com/vip

○ Book with Lisa: https://leadthroughstrengths.com/vip

If you're feeling overwhelmed or just need a reminder to prioritize yourself, this episode is for you!

🎧 Listen in and let us know your thoughts! What does taking time for yourself look like in your life? Share in the comments below! ✨

Additional Resources

● The Planner Pad – Brea's favorite planning system. ✅ If you're looking for a simple and effective way to time block your day, so you can streamline your focus and maximize your free time, check this out!

#Podcast #Productivity #Leadership #PersonalDevelopment #Planning #TimeBlock #SelfCare #TimeForYourself #WorkLifeBalance #WorkLifeBlend

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

AI-Generated Transcript

Lisa:

Hey, I'm Lisa.

Brea:

I'm Brea.

Lisa:

And today's episode is about taking time out for yourself.

Brea:

So this is a timely topic because you have just taken time for yourself, a luxurious amount of time in a really yummy place. And I am feeling the need to take time for myself. So we're coming, you know, from opposite ends of the spectrum. And I think that hopefully that makes for a juicy conversation.

Lisa:

I feel like we should define it Brea style. You know, you're always like, let's back up. What is it like? What does this mean? What's it about to take time off? What does it mean to you?

Brea:

Yeah, taking time out for yourself can mean, an all-expenses-paid resort wherever your heart fancies for an extended amount of time with no responsibilities, turn off your cell phone, like to one extreme. I feel like it also, most of the time for most of us, looks like smaller moments, you know, throughout the day and throughout the week and throughout the month and throughout the year. And that's what I'd love to talk about as well as, you know, the big things, but just the little things. How can we, how can we take time for ourselves?

Lisa:

Yes. I love it. And for me, it's the same along with I don't have a lot of talents that are in the moment and spontaneous. And if I don't plan these things, they do not happen. So I'm very much a planner. So for me, taking time out for yourself is about relaxing. It's about time to marinate, reflect. luxurious amounts of time. I don't feel that feeling very often. It's usually like I have booked myself from the moment I wake up until 8pm in time blocks and I am like boom boom and you know how I am. You do Brea and probably many listeners know now that if I have a five minute sliver of time I have something else I throw in there. It's very packed when I'm in a workday. Okay. You might be better at this than I am. Like if I scored myself on a scale of one to 10 on how I am at taking time out for myself, I would give myself a six. I feel like you're better at this. How do you score yourself?

Brea:

Well, maybe we need to go back to the definitions. Yeah, I mean, 10, 12, 20, I feel like I am overly kind to myself in time. And that works for me, but I know that I could do more. I could accomplish more. I just choose not to because I don't like that feeling of being stressed. It's stressful for me to have a lot of time pressures. For other people, that's the thrill. That's the thriving. That's the best life. It's just not for me. I've learned that over the years and it's been a really hard lesson for me to learn or just something for me to accept about myself because I grew up, maybe like a lot of us, just feeling like we have to be productive all the time. And I just don't enjoy it. So I do take time for myself, but I call it planning to be spontaneous, you know, like putting time in my schedule to just kind of ebb and flow and, you know, live into the adaptability parts of me. So.

Lisa:

Well, that phrase you just used, planning to be spontaneous, well, it resonates with me a lot. I would love to talk strategies, what you block out. I know I have four really clear things that I block out. Yeah, tell us. Okay, okay. Number one, block out PTO for the year. So if you're an employee, like when I was an employee, I blocked my PTO. I might be wrong and I might change vacation days, but I will earmark them essentially because I can always shift things in the calendar. Like if I need to move things by two weeks, it's fine because there's a chunk of time allocated to it. So, I block that for the year. Just do it. Yeah.

Brea:

Buy the tickets. You gotta go.

Lisa:

Yes. And even if I don't buy the tickets, just have the four days, seven days, however many days that's going to be, they're earmarked so that I don't book over it. Booking PTO for the year is big. Another one is I book massages or self-care things, like whatever that thing is for you. Massage is my favorite self-care thing to go do. I block those out even if I don't have them booked I block either Mondays and Fridays because I attempt to not work on Mondays and Fridays and I will Put those in and then if it doesn't happen for some reason fine but I'll I'll block those because otherwise I'll just book right on top of them and We'll never get them done And then third thing is I time block my workouts and even my walks. Like if I just have a leisurely stroll where you hear me audio chatting with you with my gravel crunching in the background, those and my workouts are inside of those time blocks. When I have my calendar rolling from usually about eight to eight, I have every minute pre-planned what is going to happen in that minute. Doesn't always work out. But yeah, that that works for me. And I would say for someone else, they might need an accountability partner to make it happen. But I think the time blocking time for yourself to honor your body, and the one that I'm working on right now is blocking out more time for the time that food requires, like the actual eating whole food and what it requires for cooking and cleanup is something that I haven't allocated very well in my time blocks and I'm seeing it's one of my failure points. So coming into the next year when I'm reviewing how I've done, I see that's an area where I'm not doing as great. And then the fourth and final one for me is I plan a year-end reflection at least one day at the end of every year. Sometimes I do these quarterly, but I just really like them as a year-end. I usually do a year-end training day where I just give myself the opportunity to learn about whatever. And then there's one day that's like strategy, look back, reviewing all the metrics and like basically it's what do I keep of this? How did I do? And what do I change? And then what do I want this next year to be? How do I want to show up? What are the goals? It's just that whole day of reflection and thoughtful strategic stuff so that every day isn't defaulting to what is currently urgent. It's kind of like the urgent importance scale, making sure there's time blocked out for what is important and then fill in around it. So it sounds like I have all kinds of leisure time, but also people who know me would also say I've been talking about getting more white space and marination space and open brain space for years. So it's something, this is why I give myself a six. I'm pretty good at blocking the time out. And then I'm also pretty good at overbooking myself in the time blocks I have left over. Yeah, that's real. So that's my recap. Yeah, what's your recap?

Brea:

Well, that sounds exhausting. I'm like, I need a nap just listening to that.

Lisa:

This is like a great example of strength because I'm like, this sounds so cool. When I look at those time blocks, I get so excited because there are big chunks just blocked off that can't be scheduled. I get excited.

Brea:

So funny. So planning to be spontaneous in my world is not that. Planning to be spontaneous is putting, it's putting two hours or three hours or 30 minutes or whatever onto the calendar with nothing planned. So you're planning to be spontaneous, right? So maybe, so for me, if I do have a really full day that's just packed, I have to have those blocks of like nothing time because because I've learned over the years that things come up, you know? If my schedule's blocked too tightly, then I can't receive those. And it means so much to me. It gives me a lot of joy and it brings me a lot of energy and really fuels me to be able to say, yes, let's talk. You know, I have some time this afternoon. Or maybe I just need a nap or maybe I just need to rest, you know, or maybe I just want to go outside and like, you know, kick off my shoes and put my feet in the grass and let the sun on my face and just have that time for myself, you know. So, yeah, it is interesting how our talents are so different, you know, like taking time for yourself can mean a million different things depending on where you find your fuel.

Lisa:

I think yours might be a wiser, more mature version of what I'm saying, because I'm listening to you going, I need to do this, this sounds so good. Because if I got the call like, oh, sick dog, throw out the whole afternoon, I would be like, Okay, and I would do it and then there would be an aftermath. There would be no blocks of spontaneity in there that could be grabbed. So I like that as a day. Do you do that every day?

Brea:

Well, yes and no. I don't plan my schedule as tightly as you do just to start off with. I don't have my full day blocked minute for minute, so there's already just breathing room. Again, this is something that I've learned for myself over the past Specifically, past like seven years, eight years, as I've been a solopreneur doing a lot of this type of work, I used to do like eight to 10 hour-long Zoom meetings, coaching calls back-to-back all day. And that was awful. I've learned that maybe I should put a little bit of buffer space in between or not do so many in a day. It felt really efficient at the time. It was like, I'm just going to knock them out all, bring similar tasks together. I'm going to do all my Zoom computer video stuff so that Cause that's always hard, you know, is like trying to figure out, okay, I got to get home to be on the video, you know, versus taking a phone call versus meeting in person. So I thought it would be efficient, but then it just ends up draining you, you know, so draining a lot of times.

Lisa:

Cause there are coaches like Adrian Massey, as an example, fellow strengths coach, she loves doing seven, eight calls, boom, boom, boom, boom, back to back to back. coaching on video. I can't imagine that. I think I would be sucked of energy and I need that buffer in between. But she loves that and it's energizing.

Brea:

So, yes. Gosh, Adrienne, I'd love to hear more about what energizes you about that. If you're listening, throw it into the comments or tell us more. But I think for me, it is energizing because that's eight different people or 10 different people that I get to talk to that day and that's so fun. What I learned doesn't work for me about that is follow-up, right? Any emails that I have to send after the conversation or whatever, the follow-up is, I had also blocked that time on a different day. I'm going to have my admin day and I'm going to do all the follow-up from yesterday. That is so draining for me. So instead, I just have done a little bit of time before the call to just kind of prep, a little bit of time after the call to send whatever follow-up, and then it's done. It's off the list, it's out of my head, and I can move on to the next thing and be really present with whatever I'm working on.

Lisa:

Next Yes, I think you're excellent. This might be a future episode just being present. I Take it like you're naturally good at this or I have in the past making it like you're naturally good at just being present and I I think you also do it very strategically on purpose because you like being in that state and you take time out for yourself to ensure that you can. So I really like your idea of handspontaneity and I would say like people who know me really well they would crack up if you heard me say planned. Yeah. They would be like planned. Yes. Spontaneous. No. No. But I do desire that. Like that's a thing that I think, oh, that's possible because that can be planned for. I just haven't done it. I haven't learned to do it right yet. So I'm learning from you. Yeah. In this episode. But maybe I'm good at the big picture thinking out for the year, but I'm not good at executing in the day to day. Yeah.

Brea:

Well, Gosh, I mean, I've done this since high school where, like you, I plan out my big rocks. I'm also a very big planner. I know it sounds like I'm just very spontaneous and adaptable, but adaptability is not a talent of mine. I just have had to learn over the years because I've moved so many times and my life has has required a lot of adaptability. So I've learned how to adapt and it is easier for me than it used to be, but it's not a place that I thrive. It's not something that I'm like seeking out. You know what I mean? I love to plan, but truly planning to be spontaneous is more than just adding buffer. I remember when I was in high school and college and I just didn't have the responsibilities that I have today, planning to be spontaneous, what that was was blocking off an entire afternoon. And when it got to that time, I was like, okay, what am I gonna do? And it was true spontaneity. It was, what do I feel like in the moment? who's around me, what am I feeling inspired to do? Let's truly be spontaneous. And sometimes that was just going on a little adventure. Maybe we went to go get ice cream or maybe we went on a walk or maybe we just said, you know what, let's go for a drive. We've got two hours, let's go see what we can find. It was truly spontaneous and there is a thrill about that. spot in 80 that I think creating that time for myself was just, yeah, just, it was good. It was good.

Lisa:

And something you want more of or something that is just different in adult life?

Brea:

I still do it. I don't lock it or plan it in the same way, but I mean, When I'm feeling stuck, when I'm feeling low energy, when I'm feeling like whatever, I'm present with myself enough to know I got to get out of this. I got to switch. I got to do something else. I got to be spontaneous. I'll just get in the car and I'll go for a drive or I'll go to the park or whatever. But again, I can do that because I've learned not to pack my schedule. Again, it's really been more of an unlearning. I used to live the Lisa lifestyle where everything was just go, go, go, really, really full. And part of that is exciting. You get a lot of dopamine. There's a lot of adrenaline. Part of that was and still is in my adult life. It can be exciting, but it's not sustainable for me. I've learned that. And so I've learned to unlearn some of those beliefs or those patterns of, I have to be this kind of person because this is how we're supposed to be. We're supposed to be super uber productive all the time. I've had to unlearn that a little bit and this is just what it looks like for me now.

Lisa:

Yes. Well, hats off for unlearning and for using that whole concept of taking time out for yourself as a way to have spontaneous moments, get spontaneity, be spontaneous. I mean, all of those things, there's been a lot of spontaneous in your theme. And I listen I listen to your examples thinking that sounds really nice. That sounds like something I should work on. So this is great given the theme for me being all about planning in advance so that the day-to-day can actually happen. So these moments can happen, but they're still planned. There still isn't spontaneity. So the planned part, I'm solid in, I feel great about, I have a great system for, but I can see through this conversation even more clearly, maybe this is why I've been seeking that white space, buffer time, even though you said it's more than that, I don't even have that yet. So if I had the buffer space, the white space in the moment every day. I think that's the missing piece for me personally.

Brea:

Interesting. I want to holler at you offline because there's a tool called the planner pad. Okay. It's the best planner that, and I've tried a lot of them. Like I said, I mean, I used to be much, much more of a planner than I am now, but it's a simple system that makes it easy to take advantage of those five minute slivers of time or to block out a luxurious two or three hours for a futuristic Friday afternoon, where you just go and lean into, for me, futuristic, but pick your strength and just say, Hey, I'm going to go and sit on a patio somewhere and just create this white space to let my futuristic flag fly and just dream. Anyways, so I can show it to you if you want. I can link it in the show notes if people are interested, but the planner pad is a great tool to help facilitate this. But one thing that I think you're really good about is boundaries. Lisa, you're so good at boundaries. And that is something that I do learn from you and will continue to learn from you is how to set those boundaries and hold those boundaries. Because that's why I laughed when you asked me to rank my on a scale of 1 to 10, how good are you at taking time for yourself? Because I can have so much white space that there isn't enough structure to make sure that I am answering emails like I should be or email is always my Achilles heel. So yeah, I think if we could just meet in the middle, you know, then we would both be great.

Lisa:

I am so structured and you are so unstructured. Right.

Brea:

Yeah. What do I feel like doing today? Oh, it's four o'clock in the morning. Sure. My brain's awake. Okay, great. You know, like, that's usually how I get things done is when I'm, I'm feeling it, you know, whereas I am like, it is 4am.

Lisa:

That is designated blocked as sleep time. Sleep time is the only thing that might be available right now. Back to school. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wow. OK, well, this is great. We took people on quite the tour of options. And hello. Hi. Yeah. And this is just our example. We know you lead through your own strengths as a listener and your own preferences. And you have your own desires about what you do next when you're thinking about taking time out for yourself. What does that look like? Does that mean you haven't taken a vacation in two years and it's simply to block those five to seven days? Is it overall getting a little more relaxation, marination? Is it body work? Is it the nourishing, the body, you know, the massage, the food, the things that you're putting in so that you have the ability to perform highly? Or is it something like me that I need to focus on planned spontaneity? That is a great goal for me. to be able to do a little bit more inside of the day, like Brea was talking. So, Bria, I know we both have VIP days available for people if they want to do some deep reflection to figure out and tackle something difficult in their business. And I think the stuff we just talked about today would be a great source for a VIP day. Like, hey, I need to do some strategy and reflection. I want to decide what my next 12 months will be, but I want a third party person to step me through it facilitation style. Why don't we tell them about each of our VIP day offerings so they could get an idea in the context of taking time out for yourself, but then also maybe other things they could be for them. Why don't you tell them about your VIP day?

Brea:

Yeah, VIP days are so, oh gosh, it's just, I mean, it literally is taking time for yourself. It's blocking an entire day. For me, I don't really care what it is that you're trying to accomplish. You can come to a VIP day for professional reasons. Maybe this is your quarterly planning or your annual reflection, your beginning of the year, it doesn't matter. Or it could be personal, like let's just explore your talents, right? What talents are being fed? What are not? What did you use to enjoy? You know, you used to be into, I don't know, musical theater, you used to dance, you used to paint, you used to read, you used to take time for yourself, but you don't anymore. Why is that? You know, it could be coaching, it could be anything, but it's a day for you to step away and explore or put together a plan to accomplish your goals, however you want to use it. But I block off the day for you. I'm available for you throughout the day as you need it.

Lisa:

Beautiful. And where do they find more? Do you have a website spot for them to look?

Brea:

Yeah. So as always, BreaRoper.com. You can schedule a call if you just want to learn more. But if you're like, wow, that sounds amazing. I'm ready to book right now. Go to BreaRoper.com slash VIP.

Lisa:

Boom, VIP. And mine is similar in the, you know, take time out for yourself as a theme. I have a couple of flavors of these. One is kind of tactical, and one is more strategic. On the tactical one, it might be you saying, Hey, I'm a coach. I have never set up email marketing as a system. I don't have any sequences. I do coaching with somebody or training with somebody. And that's the last they hear from me. And I want to have a more systematic approach to marketing and keeping in touch and adding value to people. So I do VIP days like that, that are more on the tactics of getting it all set up and established. And then I also have more of the strategy reflection where it's a personal development day. It's $1,500. It's there for you to direct. But if you say, I just want to spend the day really deciding what my business is to me next year, what my goals are, how I want to show up, it could also be a day around career personal branding figuring out what's next in life and maybe you don't feel ready to take a whole sabbatical in your career where you take off months to find yourself but you do feel like it's a great idea to spend a day reflecting on it and just stepping back for a minute and figuring out what's next. Those are great. I have all the questions to guide you through for the day. Like Brea's, we can start on Zoom if you desire. I usually spend a lot of time with people on Voxer because they can begin with questions, and then we can ping back and forth. And I can go to the next kind of reflection, thought, exercise, and then come back to you when you're ready. So that's my quick version of what the VIP day Tends to look like at leadthroughstrengths.com slash VIP Hey Hey, it's time. It's time to take time out for yourself Do it with us if you need a guide or do it alone, but do it Do it man Yes, so important with do what do with this would be my little 90s rap songs that Brea probably does not recognize as jazz lady.

Brea:

Oh, man, I just that's funny. I want to talk about 90s rap because I love it. It's like 90s R&B is like the best R&B ever. But also I've got a little a little G in me. Okay, a little gangster. Come on.

Lisa:

Same old G even though I'm shocked right now.

Brea:

But also, I just am thinking about how I hope that there's a listener who is going to book a VIP day but says, gosh, I want to do it in person and I want to do it in Europe and then we can just do that. That would be awesome.

Lisa:

I'm just going to say- So if that's you- Yes, you must call Brea if that's you because as we were comparing notes on our VIP days- recently, I'm like, yes, they're on Zoom, they're on Voxer, we have the day. It's a luxurious amount of time, but on technology. Bria is like, oh, I would love it if it were in person, and I'll create this experience for them, and it will be at a resort. I mean, the way you were describing what you would love to create for someone in the in-person versions, and I'm like, oh my gosh. Here's the planner of my brain kicking in. I'm like, oh, but I mean, that sounds cool. But that's like, you're gonna have to buy three VIP days because you need one on the front end for me to plan and get there and one on the back end and one here and then that's going to be a lot of logistics. And I go down the opps kind of road thinking about how the opportunity cost of time is going to make that not a great product for me. And meanwhile, I'm listening to your description going, I want one of those with Bria.

Brea:

This sounds good. See, part of planning to be spontaneous is planning around things that already exist, right? So even if someone only books one day, they book one workshop or they book a VIP day or whatever, I can plan to be spontaneous by extending my stay and then filling it in as much work or as much play as I want. I love that. It gets me so excited to think about it.

Lisa:

Yeah. Oh, it sounds exciting. And also the things that the listeners didn't hear, you gave me an example of the experience you would be creating and how much thoughtfulness and care that you would put into an in-person VIP day, it just sounded incredible. So even though we're not taking the time in this episode to go through a whole scenario of what it might look like, if you have one of these on your mind, Or you're like, hey, could I bring Brea to my city or could I go to her city? As of this recording, she's in Kansas City. That may or may not be true when you keep listening because she does like to move.

Brea:

Yeah, it's true. Just call me Tour Guide Barbie. I love it.

Lisa:

Love it. Tour guide Barbie brearoper.com

Brea:

Oh my gosh. Yeah, and if you're like, oh, that sounds too woo-woo or too dreamy or too connectedness, then I just need practicals. Lisa is your girl. She's going to get you up and going and moving and grooving.

Lisa:

Yeah. Super fast. Yeah, we'll move and groove. We'll be practical and reflective. We keep taking reflection and then turning it into Now, how do you go execute this? What does this look like in real life? I will get you to step back have the deep thoughts But you're also gonna be leaving feeling really practical Love it.

Brea:

Love it. So basically you can't lose. We're both awesome and You should just take time for yourself. However, you do it whether it's with us or on your own just I Put it into your calendar, block the time off, buy the tickets, make it, set the boundaries around it, guard the time. It's such a powerful investment in yourself.

Lisa:

Yes. Yes, invest in yourself. That's a great theme for the episode to end on. Because taking time out for yourself, it can be a financial investment or not, but it is a time investment. And hey, it might sound cliche, but you're worth it. So if you don't do it, that time is going to get sucked into the vortex of life. It is going to get grabbed by other people. And if you don't grab that time for yourself and decide how you want your life to be, it's just going to be what swoops up all around you. So why not take the opportunity now, no matter what time of year you're listening to this, to decide what you want the next 12 months of your life to look like and then grab it by the horns and make that happen. Look, here's the truth.

Brea:

Not like we're going to lie to you on this podcast, but for real, like, let's keep it for real right now. People say that you can't give what you don't have. Have you heard that before? Of course we have.

Lisa:

I'm just thinking of Rolling Stones, you can't get what you want. And I think I like your saying a little better.

Brea:

Well, people say like you can't give what you don't have, right? Like you can't pour from an empty cup or whatever. But like, I don't think that that's the fullness of the truth. I think you only give what you do have. You will give whatever you have. So if that's exhaustion, if that's burnout, if that's confusion or whatever the case may be, that is what you give. That is what you're bringing every day to the people that you're around. You have to take time for yourself to recharge, to be intentional, to plan, to set yourself up for success so that when you show up every day, you are giving what you want to give, which is joy, which is freedom, which is all the good things that you are. So don't settle for just giving whatever you have. Beautiful. Take the initiative to make sure that you are setting yourself up for success so that when you pour out, you're giving glimmers and glitters and all the goodness.

Lisa:

Glitters and glimmers, yes. And I like the take. You know, you're talking about the word take. We're saying taking time out for yourself. You truly have to take it. people have heard me say a dozen times if you don't ask the answer is no and that might be out of a sales context that might be out of other kind of context that they've heard me use that phrase but the same goes for time out for yourself if you don't ask for it from yourself you won't get it. It will just get swallowed up by the world around you. So take, we love to be givers. We love to interact with givers, but in this case, take, take time out for yourself.

Brea:

Love it.

Lisa:

Let's do it.

Brea:

See y'all later.

I'm fired up. I'm going to go. I'm going to go book with you, Lisa. I need a VIP day. This sounds so good. Yes.

Lisa:

I mean, I'm headed to Kansas City right now and I'm going to see one of these curation. Come on.

Brea:

Oh, my gosh. I love it. I know just the drum circle. Oh, this is exciting. I'm already planning it in my head.

Lisa:

Oh, you know, do you even know I love drum circles? Yes, that's why I just said that. I just might guess because you're so good at customizing.

Brea:

No, I know, I mean, I guess I don't know that you love drum circles per se, but I know that you love drumming. And you know, I have a drum circle that I can connect you to.

Lisa:

That's such a specific thing. And so yeah, that you that you know what it is. And then if you do that, you would think yeah, she'd probably like one of those. That all that that's just really fun. You're a good customizer.

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

The Fine Print: This podcast is not sanctioned or endorsed by Gallup in any way. Opinions, views and interpretations of CliftonStrengths© are solely the beliefs of Lisa Cummings and Brea Roper.

People are always asking us, "Will my CliftonStrengths change?" and "Should I retake the assessment?"

Since these questions are really two sides of the same coin, the short answer to both is the same: probably not. For the longer answer, be sure to listen in as we explore if/when to retake, and how to get the most from your CliftonStrengths results. 🌟

Work With Us!

Brea Roper Communication | Woo | Activator | Futuristic | Connectedness

If you need a Strengths Hype Girl, for yourself or your team, connect with Brea at brearoper.com. She's ready to deliver an inspirational keynote, empowering training, or transformational workshop. If you're looking for an expert guide to support your internal Strengths efforts, reach out today!

Lisa Cummings

Strategic | Maximizer | Positivity | Individualization | Woo

To work with Lisa, check out team workshops and retreats at the Lead Through Strengths site. For 1:1 strengths or life coaching, check out the Get Coached link. For independent coaches, trainers, and speakers, get business tools support with our Tools for Coaches membership.

Takeaways

1. Retaking the assessment is rarely necessary. With a few exceptions, you'll most likely gain more from investing your time and energy in developing your existing talents instead of seeking validation through a different set of results.
2. Don't let labels limit you. Getting caught up in the labels of the strengths themselves can be more harmful than helpful. You can achieve your goals by using your existing strengths, even if they don't perfectly align with specific labels or expectations. For example, someone with low "Achiever" can still be highly successful by leveraging their "Competition" to move projects or people across the finish line.
3. Work with a coach to maximize your strengths. A coach can help you understand your results, develop your talents, overcome perceived limitations, and apply your strengths to achieve your goals. Coaching offers a more effective path to personal growth and success than simply focusing on changing your assessment results.

Take Action

● Shift your focus from rankings to actionable outcomes: Remember, the assessment is merely a tool for self-discovery. True growth comes from taking action based on your strengths. So, instead of seeking validation through changes in rankings, focus on identifying your desired outcomes, and then explore how to utilize your strengths to achieve those outcomes.

● Work with a CliftonStrengths coach: A coach can provide personalized guidance on applying strengths to specific goals, overcoming perceived limitations, and navigating potential confusion or frustration related to strength rankings. Lisa and Brea are both accepting new clients. Reach out today!

🎧 Listen now!

p.s. - Don't forget to share this episode with friends who might find it helpful! Strengths develop in relationship. Don't keep the good news to yourself. 😀

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

AI-Generated Transcript

Lisa: I'm Lisa.

Brea:

And I'm Brea.

Lisa: And today's episode is about the question, do my Clifton Strengths results change over time?

Brea: Oh my gosh, I get this question all the time.

Lisa: Yes. Every single workshop, without exaggeration, this is asked every event.

Brea: Everyone. Everyone. And this is a real, like, a real juicy topic because—well, because different people say different things.

Lisa: Hot takes.

Brea: So, let's dive in. Do our results change?

Lisa: So, Gallup releases the actual numbers occasionally. The latest release said 73% of the top 10 stays consistent over decades. The things that are contained in the top 10, they can change order. And there are only a few things that tend to make the swings. And they're not the things we would think because people are always asking me, like, "I just changed jobs, is that going to change it? I was in a bad mood when I took the assessment, is that going to change the results?" Nope, nope. And surprisingly, the things that move it are things like you took it when you were 18 years old, and now you're 29 and your frontal lobe is fully developed. So, this very young age change into mature adult does give people some shifts. They see it when people experience major life traumas, and they see it when people change the language they take it in. So, if you're a native Spanish speaker, you took it in Spanish the first time, the second time you took it in English, and you changed the language of the assessment you took, they really see shifts when you do the language change. And those are the surprising few things that tend to give the big swings.

Brea: Which makes total sense because of what it's assessing, right? It's looking at your brain and the patterns in your brain. So, when there's a traumatic brain injury… Well, of course, that's going to change your results. You know, if you're taking it in a language that's not your own, you're—you have to think and process more, so you're using a different part of your brain. Or when you move from being 18 and only ever living in your parents' house and not really ever having a chance to think for yourself, and the fact that your prefrontal cortex is still forming, of course, there's going to be a big difference, you know, between when you're 18 and 29. Like, yeah, that all makes sense.

And I can say, from my own experience, I have seen dramatic shifts in some, moving from the top to the bottom, and the bottom to the top—

Lisa Really?

Brea: Yeah! Yes. But here's—without going into all of that, if you want—if you want to talk more about that, if your ears are, you know, like, really perked up right now, then go to my website, hop on my calendar. I'd love to talk to you about it. Um, but here's my—my overall take is that when that happens, your talent is not changing. Your nature is not changing. But often what happens is you've learned to use your talents, you've invested in your talents, you've nurtured your talents in a way that ends up creating a strength, right? You've followed the formula. You know, you've nurtured your nature, and now you have this strength that behaves like a talent theme is defined. So, for example, empathy is, I think, number six right now in my most recent assessment. But originally, I mean, it was very low, like, I'm going to say low 20s.

Lisa: Was your connectedness really high simultaneously with empathy being low?

Brea: Yeah, yeah. Connectedness has always been in my top five. Um, and so I think connectedness, individualization, you know, several of my—my relationship-building themes have really matured over the years. I've, you know, been able to refine them and use them. And I've learned the skill of empathy. I've studied it. I've read about it. I've taken classes. I've learned how to use my communication, how to use words to show empathy, or things like this. So, I've—I've acquired the skill of empathy, knowledge around how to show empathy to others. And I've learned how to align my natural talent so that it does show up. People often are surprised when I tell them that empathy is really low for me. I don't claim it as a talent. If we went through the clues to talent, it's not easy for me, it's not enjoyable for me, it's not an area where I thrive from a natural place. So, anyway, it's a whole another conversation, but, you know, a whole another way to kind of look at this.

Lisa: Yeah. Yes, cuz I have all these questions and thoughts around you, the you, because you have—with connectedness and individualization, you have a couple of themes that would easily be in a zone of high intuition. And that does feel a lot like empathy, and I could see the translation of using those couple to really make it easy to—to leap over to empathy.

Brea: Yeah, totally. So, if you've seen some dramatic shifting in your report, or if you see that with a client, that's where I would encourage you to—to start digging. Do these themes feel like talent, or is it a pattern of behavior that you frequently show, but maybe it's coming from other talents, and other places of investment, and nurture?

Lisa: Yes.

Brea: Very cool.

Lisa: I know. I know. So, for me, the only other thing that I would talk about is authenticity because you—if you were not authentic in your results because you were trying to be someone, like you were saying, what—what would they want me to say at work, of course, you're—or you were only trying to show a work version of you, or who you want them—how you want them to think of you, or if you had someone else entirely take the assessment for you. Yes, I've had that happen. I had an executive get the results, and say, "This doesn't sound like me at all." Well, it's because they had their assist—didn't fill it out.

Brea: Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Lisa: And it just goes to show, you know, you can see a lot of behaviors, but the drive behind them is for lots of different reasons. So, you really would not be able to have someone else answer the questions for you, and have it show up, right?

Brea: Oh my gosh.

Lisa: And I know it's kind of funny, right?

Brea: Assistants can do a lot of things, but that's probably something you should do on your own.

Lisa: So, right, in that case, I am so pro-retake. If you had your VA, your assistant, your sister, if you had someone else take the assessment for you, then, yes, you should retake it and do it yourself.

Brea: Agreed. Agreed. I think a really important question when it comes to retaking the assessment is to think about why. Why do you want to retake it? If this is a question you're asking yourself, like, "Should I retake the assessment?" Why? What are you hoping—hoping to learn? What are you hoping to gain? Is it just because you're curious, you know, is it just because, um, you wonder, you know, if things have shifted, or is there—is there something specific that you're hoping that a new profile, or a new set of results, might give you? And that's, I think, a really good question to talk to a coach about. Um, because what I see a lot of times is people retake the assessment, and then, if things have shifted, if things have changed, it can lead to more confusion, and sometimes even like, a little identity crisis, like, "Oh my gosh, I used to have this high, and now it's not as high, and who am I, and what happened?" And so, it's important, um, if you do decide to retake the assessment, to understand why things are shifting, how things are shifting, what's—what might be causing that. Um, and a coach is a really good, you know, a really good person to go on that journey with so that you aren't confused, it actually brings more clarity. But most of the time, I find if people are curious, it's just because of that. They're just curious. And remember, the assessment is just the beginning. The assessment is not the end-all, be-all. So, if we can, it's really, I think, a better use of your time, and your energy, and your money to work with a coach to figure out how to use the profile that you have, to invest in it intentionally, to, you know, to make those talents work for you. Um, don't let the assessment define you, don't let it label you, don't let it put you in a box. Use it as a tool to move forward, to grow, to develop, to—to improve.

Lisa: Yes. I am with you on all of those. So, you just prompted for me this concept of labels. And I think for a closing thought, it's worth saying, look, if you got one like competition, and your CEO keeps saying, "Hey, sales team, we need to stop being competitive against each other," and now you think you need to push your competition down.

That isn't where you should retake. That's where you should work with a coach to figure out how to bring out the really good side of competition, like how you like to help everyone win, like how you're really focused on key performance indicators, and like, all of these elements of competition that would be really good, and not get caught up in how your corporate team uses a word that matches Gallup's labels. This whole thing with labels, if the word gets taken out of context, or isn't the one that Gallup means, sometimes people get really wrapped up in that. And they're trying to pull one up, or trying to push one down. And just like what Brea said, it's going to be a lot more effective for you to work with a coach on bringing out all the good stuff that is natural in you, rather than trying to stuff down these natural elements of you, because that isn't going to go that well over the long term. And this retake, sometimes it's just curiosity. And if it is, I get it. And if it's not just curiosity, it's one of those other things. Pull one up, push one down. Call Brea Roper instead, and work on bringing out the good side, and really maturing the ones that you have. That—that's going to be a much bigger return on your effort, and time, and money.

Brea: Yeah. And if it is just curiosity, again, ask yourself, what am I going to do with this information? Okay, so you take it again, you know, you invest the money, you invest the time, you get the new data. Then what—what is that going to do for you? You know, what—what do you hope that that—that brings? And most of the time, people are like, "Well, I don't know. I'm just curious." And if you're not going to do anything with the new data, then why?

Lisa: Yeah. You're making me think of a lot of customers over the years. Let's say their team charts come out, and it shows Achiever in the top five of a team, which is a very common thing to see. And now you're someone on the team, and your achiever is number 20, and you have some sort of shame about not being achiever enough, and you want to retake because you want to see if you can get it—either you can get it to show up higher, or if it has shown up higher, and then what—what if you retake it, and it's still a 20, then what? Are you just going to go off in a corner, and feel bad about yourself, or just hide it? I mean, instead, the real thing to do would be to work with a coach, and figure out how to get the behavior you want to get out of the natural talents you already have. And it's not an obvious thing. It's obvious to all of us who are coaches, because we're like, "Oh, you can do any work through the ones you have." But people will often first take the assessment and think it's going to fortune tell whether or not they can be valued on a team or not based on the team's lineup. And that's just not true. If you'll work with a coach, and use it in a great way to develop yourself.

Brea: That's a great example that you work at your best. That's the best answer for you. So, invest in that. You know, get more of what works.

Lisa: Yes. I love it. Notice what works about you to get more of what works. And if that label doesn't match up in the perfect way that your company says it, it's totally fine. Yeah, there might be a little bit of political work—work, or, yes, you might decide to call it something else. But really, all of these examples, we're just winding around semantics. It's all just the labels, but getting the outcome focus is really what matters. And I think that is the crux of this retake conversation is what outcome are you trying to get? And you can surely get the—the outcomes you want with the things that are already on the assessment that you have.

Brea: Agreed. Agreed.

Lisa: Okay. So, Brea, if someone wants to work with you on their results, they've taken it, or they've retaken it, and they want to work with you to use these strengths, talk to us about how to get in touch with you and explore these further.

Brea: Yeah. Come to my website, brearoper.com, and let's schedule a call. We can talk about some of these things that—that we've talked about in this conversation, and discuss, you know, should I retake, should I not? Um, and then, we can coach you through it. How about you, Lisa?

Lisa: Yes. Go to leadthroughstrengths.com. And if you're curious, like, you've taken this through your workplace, and it was when you were 21 years old, and now you're 45 years old, and it—a lot of time has passed, and you were in your early—early developmental years, like, a little before the frontal lobe was complete, maybe a retake is in order. If you need to do that, just go to the buy codes link at the top navigation on the website. That's an—if you do find that retaking the assessment, or needing to buy it in the first place, is where you are right now, you can just grab one on the website, leadthroughstrengths.com. Look in the top navigation under buy codes.

Brea: Awesome. Love it. Grow the good.

Lisa: Yes. Grow the good. Go call Brea, and get this thing going, instead of circling around, reassessing. Let's get the action going in your real life, not just getting a new piece of paper, getting a new report.

Brea: I love it. Lisa Cummings, Brea Roper, here to save the world, one coaching conversation at a time. That's it. And that's all. See y'all next time.

Lisa: See you next time.

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

The Fine Print: This podcast is not sanctioned or endorsed by Gallup in any way. Opinions, views and interpretations of CliftonStrengths© are solely the beliefs of Lisa Cummings and Brea Roper.

We hear it all 👏🏻 the 👏🏽time 👏🏿: "Are strengths nature or nurture?"

In today's episode, we weigh in with their opinions on whether our strengths and talents are hardwired into our DNA or shaped by our environment and experiences. And, spoiler alert…we don't always agree. 🫣

Listen in as we explore how nature and nurture play a foundational role in who we are and how we develop. You'll enjoy some fun metaphors and personal anecdotes about the impact of childhood experiences and how understanding our nature can help us navigate our environments more effectively.

If you wonder about the interplay between your natural talents and the influences around you, this episode is for you. Thanks for allowing us to accompany you on your journey of self-discovery and growth, so you can lead through strengths!

🌟

Work With Us!

Brea Roper Communication | Woo | Activator | Futuristic | Connectedness

If you need a Strengths Hype Girl, for yourself or your team, connect with Brea at brearoper.com. She's ready to deliver an inspirational keynote, empowering training, or transformational workshop. If you're looking for an expert guide to support your internal Strengths efforts, reach out today!

Lisa Cummings

Strategic | Maximizer | Positivity | Individualization | Woo

To work with Lisa, check out team workshops and retreats at the Lead Through Strengths site. For 1:1 strengths or life coaching, check out the Get Coached link. For independent coaches, trainers, and speakers, get business tools support with our Tools for Coaches membership.

Takeaways

1. It's nature AND nurture!: Are Strengths nature or nurture? We think it's BOTH! Remember: Talent (nature) x Investment (nurture, environment, experience, knowledge, skills, practice, etc.) = Strength
2. You can't grow what you don't know! Recognizing our natural tendencies and how we can nurture them positively, rather than imposing them on others, is imperative for growth.
3. Watch out for negative impact and blindspots.: Look to your natural patterns to understand why certain experiences have a negative impact on you. Also consider when your natural tendencies might be overstepping others' boundaries.

Take Action

● Identify your talents. If you haven't already, take the CliftonStrengths assessment to identify your natural opportunities for growth.

● Recognize the impact of your environment. Acknowledge how your upbringing and surroundings have influenced you. Consider how the people, places, and things in your life today are nurturing (or hindering) your talent.

● Learn how your CliftonStrengths can feel honored or insulted. Use these insights to nurture your strengths and manage what might negatively impact you.

🎧 Listen now!

p.s. - Don't forget to share this episode with friends who might find it intriguing! Let's spread the conversation about our nature, and nurture together! 🌿

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

AI-Generated Transcript

Lisa: I'm Lisa.

Brea:

I'm Brea.

Lisa:

And today's episode is all about nature versus nurture.

Brea:

This is a really hot button for me. And a hot button, just meaning it's interesting, intriguing. Are strengths nature? Are they nurture? This is exciting. Do you want to start with your answer first?

Lisa:

Okay. I think there isn't a clear answer. And I was very fascinated by this and still am. I think there's a part of us that is just DNA. And it doesn't matter if you drop me off in Antarctica when I was a toddler, I would have turned out in certain ways exactly the same. And I also think a lot of patterns in us come from nurture, come from our environment, our conditioning, the things we hear over and over again, or watch or see modeled in front of us, and they shape us in ways that we don't even realize. And I chased down the behavioral economists at Gallup a couple years in a row. So these are the smarty pants PhDs who create these instruments and just said, Hey, do we have a percentage? You know, can we know what bit comes from what part? And the way I net out their answer is we can't really measure that. And we can't really know. Although We all have our theories. So I thought it was kind of an unsatisfying answer and it probably was to them as well because we all just want an answer like 60% comes from our genetics and 30% comes from this thing and then 10% is this wild card that comes from over here. That would be cool if we could just know. That's where I landed. I think they're probably right that we've We really can't know and it's very difficult to measure. And I suspect, Brea Roper, that you disagree with me.

Brea:

Well, here's the thing. I wonder if we just need to define our terms. Are we talking about strengths? Are we talking about talent? Are we talking about what shows up on people's CliftonStrengths report? Or are we not talking about CliftonStrengths at all? I'd love to really just clarify what are we talking about?

Lisa:

Ooh, okay. So let's talk nature. What's nature to you?

Brea:

Well, where my mind goes is talent. Is talent nature or nurture? And that's where I feel like it is a very clear answer from that perspective because, you know, Gallup teaches that talent times investment equals strength. And at least in my mind, that's a very clear parallel to nature, talent multiplied by nurture, investment equals strength.

Lisa:

Uh-huh. Hmm. I feel like I just need to sit here in a deep pondering moment right now, because what you just said, that part's easy. I don't need to ponder that. I was thinking of it like nature equals DNA and nurture equals environment.

Brea:

Yeah, same, same. So if we say that talent is nature, then yeah, it's baked into you. It's DNA. It's, you know, how you come out of the womb. Nurture is investment. It's the time, the practice, the knowledge, the skills that you learn, but it also is the environment that you grew up in, right? It's the family that you grew up in. It's the teachers that you've had. It's everything else outside of nature that nurtures your nature, either positively or negatively, right? What say you?

Lisa:

Well, I just I think we're pretty close. If I replaced the word nurture with environment. It works for me so easily because of all those things you listed off, country you grew up in, all kinds of elements around you and what you, the actions you've taken toward your growth and that others have even taken toward or away from, especially in your younger, younger years where you weren't the one with agency over that sort of stuff. I think environment, if I replace the word nurture with environment, everything you said, I would be like, yep, we are totally in agreement. The word nurture, trying to associate it with negative doesn't make sense for me, just the word itself. I can play, I can do that for this episode and go, oh yeah, I think we're totally in agreement. I'm glad you did definition. But nurture is a good thing to me. So saying, that there's a negative nurture doesn't, my mind's like, bonk, that's not, that's not true. So I think we're in agreement. And I'm glad you did this because it is a definition thing. So we'll just do nature versus nurture. And then I'll just be like, and put my put my little asterisk on that, as we're talking. And for me, I'm talking environment.

Brea:

Yeah. Well, I think of it like this, you know, I'm the queen of metaphors. So here we go. If you're born a super sleek, sexy sports car, but you really want to become an SUV, right? Like You're never, you're never going to become an SUV. Like you are a sports car. You can drive your sports car up into the mountains or go off-roading. You can do the things that the SUV might do, but your body is just not made for that. It's going to hurt your tires.

Lisa:

You might just get stuck. I've seen one in Colorado last summer. It was high-centered off-roading in a hot hatch little car. It was made for being fast on a pavement and it was out on Cottonwood Pass. It's not where it should be. I don't know how it got to where it got, but it didn't get out.

Brea:

Yeah. So why didn't they go rent or borrow or figure out how to get a different tool to do the same thing? And the opposite could be said for an SUV. You don't want to put that on a race car track and expect it to handle the curves and go at the speed that the race car is designed to do. I think that's where I see it as like, we all are built, nature, we're built a certain way. And you could use the metaphor of bodies as well. Some people have more of an athletic, strong, really muscular build. You've got a football body maybe, or you've got a ballerina body or like a long and lean you know, runner's body. Like, both have muscles, both have skeletons, but they're different. And both of the bodies can go into the gym, and they can both do leg day, and they're going to work out the exact same muscles, but just because the muscles are built differently, they're going to develop differently.

Lisa:

Yes. Yes. This reminds me of When I was a kid, I was obsessed with organizing. And I still am. So I believe it's totally a nature thing. I don't care where I am, I'm going to be organizing things. I want my visual environment to be tidy. And I was the kid, literally single digit ages, probably six or seven, saying, Mom, I'm going to clean out the refrigerator again because it's too cluttered. Mom, I'm going to clean up the cabinets again and organize these bowls. And I had to do it. Even if it wasn't welcomed, I would feel compelled to do it. Totally the nature.

Brea:

Yeah, that's talent. That is the most natural way for you to approach a situation. There's that natural desire. So I think if people take assessments like CliftonStrengths earlier in their life, before they've learned the way that they should behave or the way that other people want them to behave or whatever, then what the assessment really finds is your nature, your most natural patterns, not your learned behaviors.

Lisa:

Right, right. Yes, I agree. Yeah, I won't fight you on that at all. And I think that it translates as you age, it translates into probably more practical uses. But also it can show up in my shadow side. I feel myself compelled to organize other people's things. Like if I'm around a person who isn't as tidy as I am, I want to straighten that thing up or put it in a proper spot because everything should have a home. And there are things like that where it may not be my business to be messing with somebody else's stuff in the house. Those kind of things. But it's driving me like, oh, Oh, that has to go where it lives. In my case, that would be blind spot. That would be overuse of, it would be not my place to mess with somebody else's stuff. And so that comes into the nurture element as well. Because it's like, in this case, there's nature. And it might feel like nature versus nurture, because it's like, Okay, you also have to train yourself that you can't impose your talents on everybody else. You have to know what is your responsibility and where somebody else needs to be able to have their life and their strengths as well.

Brea:

Yeah, that's why having this language can be so helpful because if little Lisa doesn't have that self-awareness yet, and is punished, and I know you didn't say this happened, I'm just making it up for the sake of conversation. If someone punishes you or reacts in a negative way when you move things or deal with other people's stuff, then that will teach the little you that that's not the right thing to do or not the right way to behave, which is not true. It just is misplaced or misdirected in that moment, maybe. So if the adults can have the language and the awareness to say, okay, little Lisa, I see what we're trying to do here, and I love that you want to be organized. Now's not the right time, or we can't actually move other people's things, you know, so maybe you need to ask permission first. Right, right.

Lisa:

And in my case, as a kid, they were like, wow, the refrigerator looks so amazing. We love when you do this. I'm like, get out of the trash can. That's amazing. Yeah, I'm organizing it again. Maybe this is why I overstep as an adult. I never had someone say, oh, you should ask first. Other people use that too.

Brea:

Oh, that's funny.

Lisa:

Okay. I heard of another example yesterday in a workshop of a childhood thing that made me think, oh, this is cool to hear the contrast. So there were two people who led through command and they met in an activity where they were matching up with somebody else who shared the same talent theme and they both grew up in a household full of brothers where they were the only girl in the sibling group. And they came up with the question, is this nature or nurture? Because we really think it's because of nurture because our environment was all the boys around. We had to be bold. We had to be convicted. We had to be the powerful version of ourselves if we were going to play with them. And it's what made us have command. And I was like, oh, this is so interesting because I also had an event where a lady grew up in a family full of brothers. And she said something about how she got to be protected. She got to be nurtured by these brothers who took care of her and looked over her and that it made her soft. And she was convinced this is why she had all the relationship themes. Yeah. Same scenario. And they were convinced totally that it was the nurture. But actually, I think that makes the case that this is nature. They probably would have become who they were going to become either way.

Brea:

Yeah. I mean, as the oldest of eight kids, I can speak from experience, you know, that like growing up with the same parents in the same house with the same siblings, we are not all the same, you know, we do not all act in the same way. So for sure, that's, that's where I feel very, very strongly that we all come out with a certain nature baked into us and the same nurture. the same nurture ring will have a different effect on each individual receiving it because the nature is different. Yeah. Our nature is nurtured. Yeah.

Lisa:

I love it. Instead of the phrase nature versus nurture, that's such a cool way to say it. Our nature is nurtured.

Brea:

Yeah, it's super interesting. And another area that I talk about this is with trauma. A lot of people are really, you know, trying to become more trauma-informed and on their own healing journeys. Why are some negative experiences that we have in our life, why do they affect me in a certain way and they don't affect you in the same way? You know, even if we experience the same negative experience, right? And it's because our talents have different needs. And if I need something that you don't need and the nurture that we're a part of doesn't provide that, if you don't need it, that's not traumatic for you. It doesn't hurt you in any way because you don't need it. So the fact that it's not there is fine. But if I have a really strong need for that because of my talents and it's not there, then that does affect me in a negative way. So it's all very, very interesting.

Lisa:

Endlessly. Endlessly so. So if somebody wanted to talk through this sort of stuff with you, what they need, what they bring, what their talents are at the nature level, how they might nurture them more with your help, how would they work with you, Brea?

Brea:

Come on over to my website: brearoper.com. You can schedule a quick call and I'd love to hear more about you, what you're looking for, and talk about how we might be able to work together. How about you, Lisa?

Lisa:

I am, for this episode, I'm just going to give people a resource on the Lead Through Strengths website. If you go to leadthroughstrengths.com slash honored, or leadthroughstrengths.com slash insulted, you'll see a list based on your talent themes, some things that might hit you at a values level. And I think, although you can get pretty close to this idea of what is innate in you, I think our talents sit on this system of values. And these pages bring it together where they get to explore some things that might make their talents feel totally honored, totally nurtured. And then the insulted page might be the non-nurture representation, where it hits them at a hot button level. And the episode was intriguing and people are listening wondering, what about me and what about my talents and how does it actually show up for my specific talent themes? I think those would be a couple of good pages to check out and run against your top talents.

Brea:

Yes, I've seen those pages and for sure the insults just like, oh, it hits me. I'm like, yes, I do not like the way that that feels. So yeah, it's a great resource. I'll make sure that goes in the show notes as well. Yeah.

Lisa:

Excellent. In your excellent show notes.

Brea:

Okay. Bring us home, Lisa. Bring us home. Wrap it up.

Lisa:

Let's see. I mean, I come back to this concept of becoming more of who you already are and getting really comfortable in that concept. We spend so much of our lives trying to direct and control and If we spend a little bit more time focused on finding who we are at our natural best, I think a lot of that other stuff gets released. The pressure that you might feel to want to control and direct things really just starts to let go.

Brea:

Grow the good, people. Grow the good.

Lisa:

Grow the good. Another fine alliteration to end on. Nature versus nurture, grow the good.

Brea:

Love it.

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

The Fine Print: This podcast is not sanctioned or endorsed by Gallup in any way. Opinions, views and interpretations of CliftonStrengths© are solely the beliefs of Lisa Cummings and Brea Roper.

Throughout our lives, many of us have been told we could become anything we want.

Unfortunately, without understanding our natural talents and motivations, this belief can set us up to pursue goals that may not align with our true selves and capabilities.

That's why we look to our talents: to understand our true desires, and align our aspirations with our strengths.

By embracing the strength-based mindset of becoming more of who you already are, you can achieve meaningful growth that aligns with your most authentic self. This approach fosters a healthier relationship with your aspirations, reduces pressure, and ultimately leads to greater happiness and success.

🌟

Work With Us!

BREA Roper Communication | Woo | Activator | Futuristic | Connectedness

If you need a Strengths Hype Girl, for yourself or your team, connect with Brea at brearoper.com. She's ready to deliver an inspirational keynote, empowering training, or transformational workshop. If you're looking for an expert guide to support your internal Strengths efforts, reach out today!

LISA Cummings

Strategic | Maximizer | Positivity | Individualization | Woo

To work with Lisa, check out team workshops and retreats at the Lead Through Strengths site. For 1:1 strengths or life coaching, check out the Get Coached link. For independent coaches, trainers, and speakers, get business tools support with our Tools for Coaches membership.

Takeaways

1. The Power of "Why": Understanding the true motivation behind your aspirations is crucial. Are you going after things because you've been told you should, or because they're actually best for you?
2. Neuroplasticity and Change: While our brains are capable of change, it's likely not in your best interest to invest time and resources into trying to become someone you're not. Instead, focus on becoming more of the incredible person you already are. Grow the good!
3. Coaching for Self-Discovery: Coaching is invaluable when trying to navigate your self-discovery and growth. Finding someone to guide you through this process can lead to greater clarity and fulfillment.

Take Action

● Reflect on Your Aspirations: Take time to explore why you want to achieve certain goals or become a certain type of person. Ask yourself where those desires come from, and whether or not they align with your true self.

● Focus on Strengths: Instead of trying to become something you are not, identify your existing strengths and how you can leverage them to achieve your goals. Consider how you can use your natural abilities to reach desired outcomes.

● Seek Support: Find a coach, mentor, or trusted friend who can help you navigate your aspirations. They can ask you the tough questions that lead to deeper self-discovery and help you stay accountable to your true goals.

● Embrace Self-Love and Growth: Acknowledge and appreciate who you are while also striving for personal growth. Commit to loving yourself enough to seek improvement and development in areas that matter to you.

Be sure to listen to the full episode for more insights and to reflect on your own journey of becoming. Remember, it's not about becoming someone else; it's about embracing and enhancing the incredible person you already are!

🎧 Listen now!

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

AI-Generated Transcript

Lisa:

Hi, I'm Lisa.

Brea:

And I'm Brea.

Lisa:

And today's topic is around the question, can you become anything you want?

Brea:

I say no.

Lisa:

Whoa. That is decisive. Decisive. Tell us.

Brea:

I mean, sometimes I want to be Michael Jordan. No, I'll never be him. Sometimes I want to be a penguin because penguins are awesome. No, never going to be a penguin. Doesn't matter how much I want it, how much I believe it, how much I try hard, believe hard. Doesn't matter. I'm never going to be that.

Lisa:

Okay, now I have some of these too, like, hey, I wanted to be a pro beach volleyball player, but I'm 5'5 and I don't jump that high and me trying to become that may help me grow, but I'm still not going to become that. But what about something that you want to be more of? Let me give you two examples I hear often. I want to be better at time management or I want to be a person who works out every day. Now, can you be that if you want to?

Brea:

Yeah, I think the word be might be where my hesitation is. Can I show up on time? Absolutely, right? Can I change my behavior? Can I work toward a different outcome, right? If I don't naturally or often show up on time, but I want to do that, can I do that? Sure. Can I be a person who naturally always with grace and ease and excellence show up on time? No, I just don't think that you can change who you are in that way.

Lisa:

What do you think? I like that you were able to find that it was the word be, like the being.

Brea:

Yes, I think it's Tom Rath that said this in Strings of Pride 2.0. You can't be anything you want to be, you can only become more of who you are. I believe that to the core of my being, you know?

Lisa:

This idea of becoming more of who you already are is what we hope our coaching is stepping someone through, that discovery of figuring that out.

Brea:

And that's where I think becoming anything you want or becoming anyone you want to be, it reminds me of, you know, people talk about like rewiring your brain. And I think for me, one question is, can you? which I think is what you're asking now and what we're kind of talking about.

But to me, that doesn't even feel like the deepest question, I think. Should you? Sure, there's plasticity in our brains. Sure, we can change a habit, even a deep habit. I can choose to change what I think about something. Yes.

I think that's so amazing. As humans, we can choose in a way that animals can't, non-living things can't choose in the way that we can. I think that's so cool that we can do that. And should I? Should I invest so much time and so much effort and so much resources into completely trying to change how I approach something? Is that the best use of my time and my money and my effort?

Lisa:

I love where you're taking this because I know the neuroscientists seem to disagree on these areas of plasticity anyway. So be like, yeah, neuroplasticity exists. How much is nature? How much is nurture? We can't really know. How much is it plastic?

How far can you take it? So if they don't have a clear, easy answer, why worry about the debate of can you? We know to some extent you can. But to what extent, if they all disagree with each other, wouldn't it be productive as a human to explore the other question you raised? Should you?

When I hear that question, I think about how then do you get closer to discovering who you really are and how do you get further away from the pressures of who you think you should be and how to even know that you think you should be someone because you might just unconsciously be internalizing these pressures and you don't even know it. So how do you handle that as far as coaching goes to help someone unravel these who you think you should be factors?

Brea:

Yeah. For me, it all comes back to what is the truth? Like, if you came and said, Brea, I want to be a pro beach volleyball player, you know, okay, what does that entail? Can you actually meet the requirements? Do you meet those requirements right now? You know, is there an actual height requirement to be a pro beach volleyball player? Or do you just think that you have to be taller than 5'5"? What's the actual truth?

Or, I want to be a person who makes my bed. Well, why do you think that? Well, because all the gurus tell me that if I'm going to be a successful CEO, I have to make my bed every day. okay, let's explore that because it worked for them doesn't necessarily mean it will work for you or that you have to follow in that path. So that's where I would start is what is the truth, the truth of what you want and why you want it and also the truth of what is and then where do we go from there?

Lisa:

Yeah. What do you think about somebody who's in a corporate environment and they're like, Hey, I want to be a leader because that's the career path they know and they want to be a senior leader. They want to get promoted. What if you're this person who is saying my goal is to be a senior leader?

But how do they even know if they want to be that because that's just the career path they know of and seems available and seems to be where the paycheck is compared with the idea of, hey, is this just because this is a pressure of who I think I should be because it's the only thing I know? So then how do you navigate that situation through this lens?

Brea:

I, yeah, again, I think that is what I mean by we start with the truth. You know, if they say, I want to be a senior leader. Okay, why? You know, what is it about that, that you want, right? Is it the title? Is it the paycheck? Is it the responsibilities, the quarter office? Is it the opportunity for impact? What is it? What about that? do you want? And why do you want it?

And will it actually give you what you want? Because sometimes when we look at an opportunity, we think that there's potential there, or we think that it might be something other than what it actually turns out to be. Sometimes when people are in, let's say, a sales role, crushing it. They are constantly at the top of the leaderboard and they just are such a great salesperson.

And so they're tapped for management. And they hate management. They get there, it's this promotion. But being an amazing salesperson and being an amazing manager of people are just completely different, right? One person is out on the road all the time, one person is at the desk all the time, you know? It's just different skills, different all the things.

Lisa:

You're making me think of that saying about when you're climbing up the ladder and then you realize it was leaning on the wrong wall and you're raising such good questions that they seem confronting. I think, I know I've been confronted with some of those questions. I know, I remember a senior VP asking me, why, why are you interested in this role? Really pushing me on the why and the why and the why behind the why. And I was like,

Brea:

It's not intended in an aggressive way. It's intended in an exploratory way, a discovery way.

Lisa:

Yeah. And this guy specifically, I remember thinking, I wonder if he just wants me to admit there's ego in it. That, yeah, I do like the title. Yeah, I do like the money. There were other elements I was describing in my why. internal motivators that made me feel alive.

If you don't have someone in your life who will ask you those questions, whether a coach like Brea or like this senior VP, if no one asks you those questions and you don't confront those early, you might find you get promoted four steps along the way and then you realize, whoa, I created a life for myself that I am not into at all. How did I get here? What did I do?

Brea:

Yes, it's important to understand why you want that to see if taking the next step is what you should do. Also, there are times in our life when we're like, I just really want to be a pro beach volleyball player, or I really want to be Michael Jordan. I don't. really want to be Michael Jordan, okay?

Like, what is it about that? Why am I attracted to the idea of being like Michael Jordan? Asking those questions and figuring out why does this aspirational identity, why is it attractive to me? Why do I want that? Can help us identify the deeper down things that we can actually attain or achieve or become, right?

Because they are in alignment with who we are. Becoming a pro basketball player is not in alignment with who I actually am as a person, okay? I can never become a pro basketball player, nor do I really want to be. But there are aspects of Michael Jordan, who he is as a person, his intellect, his hard work ethic, his entrepreneurial journey, the impact that he's made. I mean, I could go on and on about him as a person. There are so many things that are in alignment with talent that is inside of me and things that I can aspire to imitating or striving for.

I think that's that's where I'm at is we ask those questions of why. Why do you want that thing? Because it might not actually be that thing you want. It might be certain elements of that that are attractive to you that you can find in a different thing that will be better suited for you and that will actually allow you to grow beyond.

Lisa:

Yeah, absolutely. You're making me come full circle on our conversation and it brings it all together. What you were just talking about, it's the perfect tee up for strengths because inevitably somebody in a workshop or in a group or a team will say, I don't like this one or I wanted to see this other one because they like the word or it reflects a goal they've been working on. Usually that's another definitions issue.

But if you're trying to accomplish something and you back into it from the outcomes level or the results level, this is where the useful conversation is anyway. So if somebody says, Oh, I really wanted Achiever. Oh, I really wanted Includer. If the next conversation is, tell me about what result you would want with that or tell me about the outcomes. What are you trying to achieve where that would come into play for you?

And then they give you some examples and they're like, oh, well, I've been having trouble getting it done and hitting my deadlines on this global team with all these complexities and matrix reporting structures. And they give you this whole example. And then you just ask the question, and what if you use the ones you have, which ones could you lean on? And you get them down a conversation there, and they realize, I can achieve, I can get things done, I can hit my deadlines, and lean on the ones I already have, because those are the ones that are easy for me to lean on.

If you spent your whole life trying to grab your achiever that's down at number 20, you're spinning your wheels and kind of draining yourself. And you could get there, you could raise it up, but it wouldn't be a high leverage way to spend your time. And I feel really confident that we agree on that point. So it's more like backing into it from the result or the outcome. Am I right? Am I right? Do we agree?

Brea:

Well, of course we agree. Yes, this is a very strength-focused partnership here. And that's where I think my sticking point is, again, it's the difference between being and becoming or doing, right? Is this who I am, my identity as a person, or is this just what I do or how I do it? I don't identify as an entrepreneur or a business owner. That's not who I am. That's not my identity. That's how I make a living, you know? That is how I spend a lot of my time, but that is not who I am as a person. This is where this conversation really pokes the bear inside of me is because I grew up like a lot of people, I think, believing that their identity is what they do, what they can do, how they perform.

That's where I get really passionate about this. That's where the mama bear comes out. And I'm like, no, being something or becoming something or believing you can become something that you're not is not true. I think believing that sets us up to fail. I'd love to hear from listeners.

Lisa:

Yeah, we would love to hear and come tell us in a review, come communicate, let us know. And BreaBear, if they are like, hey, this is blowing up my idea of parenting or this is blowing up my idea of my career goals. And they now feel compelled. They've got to work with you. How do they do it? Tell us about how to bring out the Bria bear. Yes.

Brea:

Brearoper.com. B-R-E-A-R-O-P-E-R.com. Just come on over, schedule a call, and let's talk about your outcomes that you want to achieve and how you can do that using the tools that you already have. Beautiful.

Lisa:

I highly recommend. Brea is an amazing coach. And if you want to work with me, Lisa, let's move. I think on mine, I'll talk about the entrepreneur one. If you're like, I am in corporate, I have a side hustle career with training and coaching, etc. And I just need to get my head around what it's like to do and or explore the being. Who do you want to be? How do you want to show up? How does all this work?

I would love to support you in that. We have a membership for coaches where we support you with the skills and a lot of the doing things so you can spend your energy being who you already are naturally at your best. And I can cover you on the operations, the visuals, the decks, the tools and all the things you have to build in those first years when you're getting started. On the website, LeadThroughStrengths.com, check out the link, Tools for Coaches.

Brea:

Love that. And so many people are already finding so much success using those tools. Yeah, it's really fun.

Lisa:

Yeah. Yes. OK, well, with that, I guess we should leave people to to go off and find their moment. And so if you believe you can fly, we're here to tell you today. No, you can't. Sorry.

Brea:

Not a bird.

Lisa:

Not a bird. Go back to being what you are best.

Brea:

Oh, my gosh. Unless you think you are the Wright brothers, you know, and you want to go build a plane, then do that.

Lisa:

There you go.

Brea:

Love yourself as you are. You are amazing and good and beautiful and strong and smart just as you are. But love yourself too much to leave yourself there, right? Find yourself a coach. Find yourself a friend. Find yourself someone else to push you to become more of the amazing person that you already are.

Lisa:

The way you said that was so beautiful. Love yourself too much to leave yourself there. I love that.

Brea:

I promise to all my clients, I'm going to receive you just as you are. And I'm going to love you there. I'm going to believe in you there. But I'm going to love you too much to leave you there. So you can do that for yourself. You can find someone else who does that for you. I know people are listening.

Lisa:

You're worth it. Yeah, they're like making the heart sign with their hands while they're listening. We'll see y'all next time around.

Brea:

Bye!

Let's Connect!

● LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

● BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

The Fine Print: This podcast is not sanctioned or endorsed by Gallup in any way. Opinions, views and interpretations of CliftonStrengths© are solely the beliefs of Lisa Cummings and Brea Roper.