Back to School, Back to You
On several recent site visits with Executive Leadership Teams to discuss the Well-Being Coaching Initiative, I began our time together by asking, “What does Well-Being mean to you?” Each leader offered their unique perspectives which included:
- To be able to leave work at work
- To be aware of and take care of my needs, emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually
- To engage fully at work
- To feel good, positive, healthy, and happy at work and home
- To feel like I have done enough to support my people in an environment where they feel safe
- To provide my staff with the skills and tools they need to take care of themselves
Understanding what well-being means to you is important so you know the reason for getting back to yourself. Your clarity gives you the inspiration to integrate, prioritize, and sustain behaviors that support you to feel the way you want to feel. This is the gap well-being coaching addresses, not by telling you what to do, but by supporting you how to make different choices so you can actually do it.
Well-Being requires you to prioritize yourself by honoring your capacity and needs every day that drive your choices. You make these choices, big and small in moments throughout the day and when you are focused on your well-being, you realize every choice affects every choice. You choose to go to bed earlier instead of watching another episode on Netflix to get up earlier and begin your day with you, whether it’s spending quiet time reflecting or getting in a workout at the gym.
What do you need to get back to? Getting back to you is personal because well-being is personal. What you choose is defined by what helps you feel connected, engaged, and energized in your work and life. When you wholeheartedly embrace the practice of prioritizing yourself, you will experience your best self and so will everyone else.
The WBCI has been foundational to me as a leader- It doesn’t get rid of any of the stressors life is throwing at me between the many hats I wear. Instead, it shifts HOW I respond to the stressors life is throwing at me. It shifts from being reactive to focusing on my well-being to being proactive and daily committing to my personal well-being. It is this little shift that has made a huge impact on my personal and professional life.
Well said Erin Bull! Our Well-Being requires us to shift from reactive to proactive and you are an excellent role model, personally and professionally!
A good reminder that every choice we make influences our next choice. Thanks!
Absolutely true Neil.
Well being means making enough time to do the things I need to do, and to do the things that I love to do.
Absolutely Kelli! Well-Being encompasses our needs and loves!
To me, well-being means living a life rooted in fullness, joy, and contentment. It is about experiencing life holistically and embracing a sense of abundance.
Well said, Kristi! What we are rooted in is our foundation and we always have a choice.