Some Ways I Am Prioritizing My Health, Which Lifts Up My Leadership

One thing I have realized very quickly as I grow older, is that how I feel in my skin and in my guts affects everything I do. The way we feel in our bodies affects how we show up in every aspect of our lives, whether it is relationship, career, parenthood, or friendships. It shifts our confidence in the most incredible ways… like what we believe to be possible. But if we feel like garbage, then how we feel about ourselves can also take us down in an instant. Think of your body like a car and try not to wait until the check engine light comes on before you do something about it.

I have always been obsessed with healthy habits but when I went through one of the hardest times in my life (my mom’s passing), I clung to those habits desperately to boost my mindset and strength back up again. I still cling to these habits as the mountains and valleys of leadership seem to ebb and flow. I realize that everyone has their own version of healthy habits but I define it as the way I want to feel every day and how it helps me to show up in the most joyful, passionate, and purposeful way possible. If we feel like crap, we don’t feel like doing much of anything. Bottom line. So…let’s start to look at how you feel from the inside instead of always trying to change the outer influences of our leadership and see what happens.

I wanted to share some of those habits and steps I have been working on to feel my best, vibrant self, in hopes that maybe some of these things will help you too.

The first thing to ask yourself is how do you want to feel. This is very different then how do you want to look to yourself or others. This is not a vanity thing either. Think about how you feel now and how it affects your day to day life. For me, when I really took inventory of how I felt each day, I realized I was always feeling bloated, foggy, puffy, and heavy. I had this sort of brain and gut fog that made me feel tired and ‘eeyore like.’ When I really thought about it how I wanted to feel, I realized I was nowhere near the energized, passionate, purposeful person with clarity that I wanted to be. It all came down to my gut health.

So much of my thoughts were about success, vision, and goals that the outside world could see but I never thought about the feeling that I was after. I was way more focused on what it should look like vs. how it should feel. Think about how you want to feel as you move through each day. How do you want to feel when you get up and go to work, when you chase your dog or your children around, when you spend time with yourself, etc? To add to this thought, think about how you want to feel and then think about your why. If your why isn’t strong enough, then it won’t stick. My why has now shifted from I want to lose weight, to I want to feel energized and more clear so that I can enjoy each day and chase after my kids until I am old and gray. Going even deeper, my why is so my kids know that living a healthy lifestyle isn’t an option and that moving our body and fuelling it properly is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Think about how you want to feel and why you want to feel it. I promise it will give you clarity and sustainability!

The next healthy habit that has infused energy, passion, and purpose into my leadership and personal life, is the intention to stay curious. Stay curious to how you are learning about your health, your body, and your mind. Experiment with what you are adding to your daily routine or what you are eating to fuel your body. Keep track of it and take note of how it makes you feel. Read the books, follow the influencers who are curious about gut health, talk to your colleagues or friends, etc. By staying curious, you learn. And we all know that learning keeps you growing and sustains the habits. Stay curious about your leadership and have the nerve to dig into learning and it will rejuvenate you in this area too! For me, I knew I wanted to implement a very specific system into the my own leadership and how I lead a school. I researched, stayed curious about it, and finally implemented it with curiosity rather than the pressure that it has to go right. It had it’s twists and turns but I stayed curious and shifted as needed until if finally became a success. If I had put the pressure on to get it perfect and right then I would have quit trying to implement something that I knew would be a success. Stay curious and give yourself the grace that things will never go as planned and that is ok. If you are interested in learning this system, I will have a course launching next year called School Administrator’s Academy that is a step by step system to leading a school using this problem solving system. Stay tuned!

Thirdly, think of how your healthy habit or leadership strategy that you have chosen to implement in your personal life or career will feel in the future. This is called future pacing. Think about how your habit will feel one week from now, three months from now, or a year from now if you implement it every single day.

Future pacing yourself helps you visualize and live the vision for a brief period. Think about it, to be a persuasive speaker or leader, you have to communicate with your audience in a way that will help them imagine and experience what you are speaking about. The same goes for your own self talk. You need to make a promise to yourself and keep it! Schedule in gut checks to help sustain the healthy habits. I do a lot of future pacing when I come across food that I really want. I am a foodie through and through! I love all kinds of food, but my guts do not. I have to constantly future pace myself when I come across a food that is delicious but I know does not agree with my guts. I have to future pace myself a few hours from when I ate that food and remind myself that the pain is not worth it and it instantly helps me to make the right decision for my gut health. I future pace myself to how I want myself and the audience I am leading to feel after a professional development day or a big meeting. Then I create content that feeds that feeling.

Last of all, find a community in nutrition, mindset, and movement. I need a runway and a little hand holding or cheerleading sometimes to hold me accountable. By runway, I mean the things we are doing today prepare us for our tomorrows. Every decision matters! If I put out my why for my goal out there for others to see then it helps me stick to it and it inspires others. Having a community around me makes me feel more vibrant because I am learning from the people who have figured it out, done the research, and are cheering me on. It makes me want to do the same for others. I talk a lot about my health journey with colleagues as well in hopes they will join me on the runway!

I know these things may not have been what you were expecting to read about when I said I was going to talk to you about these habits I have implemented that have changed my life. Health is so much more than what people see. It is waaaay deeper than that. Jenna Kutcher says to go three layers deep with your why so you can keep going when it simply feels too hard. Go as deep as you can with your why for your health and it will change the way you lead your life.

Download my free guide to help Reframe the Way You Show Up here! Also, don’t forget to join our private facebook group called Principals and Leadership!