Steph's 3 Things | ** special 2017 round up ** bumper best bits of learning, leadership & life
Steph's 3 Things - 2017 Round Up #5 - 11 December 2017
Welcome to Steph's 3 Things
Each week I'll bring you three bites of content to help you in your journey to level up your leadership, learning and life.
This is my last newsletter before I take a break for Christmas so it's a bumper crop of my favourite things from 2017 - from books to tools to habits. Enjoy!
Leadership Get better
Presence - in July I was lucky enough to see Amy Cuddy on her Presence tour. I've taken the lessons into my facilitation and particularly in helping others bring confidence to their own presentations. Click to read or watch what I learnt.
Trust - I've facilitated several workshops based on Stephen M R Covey's Speed of Trust and I'm always struck by how the definition of trust is so different from person to person. The most interesting question is whether trust is given or earned and how the answer to this uncovers a new level of understanding between team members.
Going there - this year I completed my level 1 and 2 IECL organisational coaching accreditation. What I hadn't expected was the level of confidence this would give me not only in my coaching but in conversations with my team, stakeholders and self. Asking the questions to uncover basic issues and really understand someone else's perspective can elevate a conversation, relationship and outcome exponentially. But, you don't have to go through a coaching qualification for this benefit. Reframe conversations to one of curiosity and see what happens.
Learning Get clever
Language - earlier this year I had a lot of fun brushing up on my GCSE German and French using Duolingo. The app gamifies language learning by simulating the way you learn a language as a child.
Ideas - one of my favourite experiments in 2017 was seven months of exercising my 'ideas muscle' based on James Altucher's daily ideas habit. It was a fantastic challenge that helped me think more creatively, solve problems and ultimately led me to a lot of the topics and ideas I went on to explore and learn more. I'd highly recommend to anyone and there's lots of inspiration online for topics to come up with ideas for.
Creativity - I've been flexing my creative streak this year; including practicing activities like adding more artistic headers to my journal entries, writing handwritten letters and learning how to sketch note. I particularly enjoyed this visual notetaking class on CreativeLive. I won't be getting a job as a visual notetaker anytime soon but I've loved using it as a technique to reflect on learning and show my ideas in a more pictorial way (bonus: it's also improved my flip charts when facilitating).
Life Get more
Journalling - I started journalling in late 2016 so 2017 has been my first full year. Looking back on my reflections is great for self-awareness, learning and growth. I prefer a blank notebook for flexibility but you can go for more structured books like the Best Self Journal to help meet specific goals. Read my journalling starter guide and start this habit for yourself in 2018.
Meditation - I am 127 days into my zen journey on Headspace after a long time finding the idea of meditation hard to connect with. That was until I heard Tim Ferriss explain how he was worried meditation was going to take his edge away, but instead found that it gave him his edge back; reducing the 'monkey mind' and increasing focus. I'm still learning but I've experienced a greater awareness of my habits and actions and gained go-to techniques for managing myself.
Gratitude - Sometimes I journal three things I'm grateful for, sometimes it's in my mind as I walk home. I've found practicing gratitude has made me more compassionate (to myself and others) and has helped me look for those little bits of good in life. There are so many benefits, give it a try and see what you are grateful for.