👋 Hi, it’s Mic. Welcome to my weekly newsletter on creating leadership practices that will accelerate your impact, ensure consistent high performance from your teams and ultimately foster cultures that enable you and your people to thrive!.

🧑‍🌾 If you’re looking to transform your impact and build a set of leadership practices for life read on.

Self imposed pressure is an influential driver of outcomes and procrastination. Some of the time, self imposed pressure, is very useful and sets us up for great success. We stick to a plan, discipline and focused effort which invariably accomplishes something. Success, only partially within our control.

The rest of the time self-imposed pressure comes with PROCRASTINATION, the all caps being as loud as it sounds and feels in our head. Ultimately a source of fear. I will fail at this thing so I may as well avoid the icky feelings associated with it and do other things.

The truth is that icky feeling, the ‘swamp on the path through the enchanted forest’, is something we must blow through. Were it a real physical experience we would muscle through the icky swamp to get back on path.

I deploy the Pomodoros method. Take 25 minutes of focused effort in the direction of the thing I am avoiding, and no matter what I will achieve progress that is likely good enough to get through the swamp to the other side. Each time I practice this, it’s a win. I’m rewiring my brain around the ‘ick’ the fear and getting closer to my goals. Win.

The other win is what we learn about ourselves so its easier to recognize the next time.

What I notice is a voice that sounds like my Dad’s demand for excellence - and it sound harsh, nothing is good enough. So I notice and I thank him, and then I can see how much he’s helped me achieve excellence in so many ways: academic, build a great career, run an organic farm, build a life filled with love and gratitude. Now I can view that pressure as an invitation and with greater ease rise to the occasion …and use the Pomodoros method again and again.

Thanks Dad and to all of you for reading and especially my clients who inspire my writing - I hope this is helpful to you reader

I work with tech leaders on: getting to the next level, creating the conditions for consistent high performance for themselves and their teams. If you’re interested in how I can support you or your team, learn more about my coaching or book a free coffee here.

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