Hello friends. I hope this episode finds you well and welcome to the darn good leadership podcast. This show is all about being a strong and effective leader when they can make positive impacts on your teams and communities. And this show you're going to get ideas, inspiration, and practical advice. You can take action on to be a darn good leader. I'm your host, Emily Holting and the end. Of 2022 is approaching. I cannot believe this year is so close to coming to a close it's crazy. And as we reflect back on the year, I'm also reflecting back on season one of this show, we've covered lots of areas over the past 18 episodes together. But if I had to choose one topic to really hone in on one topic that I feel is the biggest takeaway of this year. in one topic that is the most meaningful to help set yourself up for success in the new year, it would be this. You have to get really comfortable with being uncomfortable. This is something I spoke about way back in episode three and the lifelong learners episode, but having the ability to be comfortable with being uncomfortable is a skill that will certainly help set you apart from others. And make you a better leader in every possible way. So somewhere in the midst of social media, Instagram, Facebook tic-tac oversharers. I think there's this false sense of reality. Put out there that life. Work relationships and leadership is just easy. That things should always be wonderful and blissful that money and success happens overnight. And then everyone is entitled to good things all the time. And that my friends is just the upside down of what reality really is. Life is full of constant changes and challenges. It's like that game of whack-a-mole of that I used to play at like Chucky cheese or Dave and busters. If you know what those things are, the moment you deal with one change, or you knock a challenge out one or two others, or sometimes three even pop up. All at once, right in its place. It takes relentless work. If you want to see success. And the moment you get that success, it requires relentless work to keep that success. The good news is the more you recognize that life isn't a cakewalk, the better you will become at facing every day and happily greeting those changes and challenges. Head-on. So Storytime. 20 years ago, I can hardly believe it. I took my first bar class. Now this is not bar as in like the bar exam. If I'm going to become a lawyer and this isn't bar as an alcohol, I'm talking about BARR as in B a R R E. It's a workout that takes notes from ballet, yoga, and Pilates. And if you watch the bar class, you might think, well, that doesn't look too hard, but then if you take a bar class, you will no doubt swallow those very words. The instructor I had, there was a little terrifying to be honest, but I mean that in the best possible way. She would hold everyone in the class accountable and not let you make any excuses for yourself. She knew what each person in that room was capable of. And she would not allow you to fall short of that in her class. Now, I'm not a rookie at workouts. I've danced, swam, run lift, but bar class is a different beast. There is something called the shake zone where the muscles in your legs become so fatigued that they begin to shake uncontrollably and very intensely, like seriously, they have a life of their own. And it's. It's insane. This is, this is a good thing. You know, you want to hit the shakes zone in this class and you were encouraged to do so, but dear God, when you experience it, It is wild. Now when you are in the shakes, own your legs, but basically everything burns. It's not painful, but it's incredibly uncomfortable. The instructor, every time we call out to the class, you will become a master of being uncomfortable in this class. And boy did I. Through this uncomfortableness is where the change in your mind and your body begins. That class really taught me how to embrace being uncomfortable and almost, almost like wanting it to happen. you didn't have a good class unless you experienced those moments where you were incredibly uncomfortable and you were like, yeah, yeah, that was a great workout. Another example of this is cold showers or a cold plunge. And if you haven't read or heard about all the amazing benefits of cold showers, well, I'm not sure what you've been doing the last 10 years, but do a good Google search on this, or look up a man called a Wim Hoff. And you will be blown away by all the goodness cold showers will do and bring. So why wouldn't everyone just do cold showers? If it has all these amazing benefits. Well, easy. It's freaking uncomfortable. It's freezing cold. People want a nice warm, steamy shower, not a fridge of one. But if you commit to doing it, that is where the change and your mind and the benefits begin. Another example. We all know that working out is good for us. So why don't more people do it? Because it's uncomfortable. You either have to get up super early out of your warm bed Or you have to stuff it into the middle of your day, which is always awkward and just very inconvenient, or you have to make it happen after work. When it's always so much easier to just sit on the couch and turn on Netflix or social media. Another example is eating well. We all know that this is a key to improving our health, but it's uncomfortable. This is why fast food and calorie dense food is called comfort food because it's comfortable. It's easy, a fast food drive for a quick click of a button for grub hub. Door dash is way easier. Sometimes preparing something nutritious for yourself. It's the same thing for leadership. Good leadership does not happen overnight. If you want to be seen as a good leader, this is something that you have to consistently practice and work at and correct and iterate on and reflect on and improve and learn about. And so. All of these things require you to be okay with being uncomfortable. And the last example of sharedness is success. Success. Isn't just a flash in the pan or a one hit wonder. Success takes time. It takes consistency and it takes real dedication. These things aren't easy. These things require you getting uncomfortable. It means saying no to fun things at times, and being able to reap the benefits later, it's choosing delayed rather than instant gratification, which is uncomfortable. So, what are some things you can do to begin mastering the art of uncomfortableness at work? Well, I've got three of them here that we're going to talk about right now. So let's get into it. The first thing you can do is saline into the hard conversations. So as a leader, you need to be able to articulate your points clearly and concisely. And so where you have opinions where you disagree, where you need to make your case, you need to be able to constructively disagree or debate and better yet back up your points with real data and facts. You also need to be able to professionally confront coworkers about issues or concerns. So if you're seeing something that you don't like, or you don't agree with, you need to be able to have those professional constructed confrontations at the moment that you're seeing them. Another part of leaning into the hard conversations is clearly setting boundaries and expectations about work and operating behavior. Many of us are now operating with less people. So ensuring we are clear about how we can work smarter and not just longer and harder. And unsustainable hours is really important. You also need to be clear about what you're willing to tolerate, because that's going to set the tone for culture. How can we ensure that we aren't tolerating bad behaviors? So that's all about leaning into the hard conversations. The second thing you can do to get uncomfortable is to get out of your comfort zone. Pushing yourself out of the status quo. We all know that doing the same thing will get you the same results. So do something different. Think outside the box, step into new territories experiment, be willing to fail fast. This is where the learning and growth begins. Be open to new ideas, new tools, new methodologies, new approaches. I don't just get stuck on doing things the way they've always been done. See, what else is out there. And to that end, try to listen more than you speak. Allow your team members to share and experiment their ideas with you to. Don't give your people the answers, coach your people on how to figure it out themselves and coach them to use their critical thinking skills. This is what you, as a leader need to be doing. You need to be coaching them into figuring things out, problem solving and becoming a real leader themselves. You can make sure that you are setting the what around, what is important, and then let them drive the how. Also, if you're working with a team, make sure you aren't the loudest voice in the room so ensure that you are listening more than you are speaking. The third thing you can do to get uncomfortable is to set audacious and bold goals for yourself. We've all heard the saying, do things that make you happy? Well, I truly believe that setting goals and then progressing and crushing your goals has to be one of the most satisfying things there is out there. This to me is what life and living is all about. Heading into 2023, I want you to do three things on these three areas. The first one, which was around leaning into hard conversations. I want you to identify one conversation you need to have and have it by the first week of the year. The second thing, which is getting out of your comfort zone. I want you to do one thing that gets you out of the status quo before the end of January. And the third thing, which is around setting audacious and bold goals. Is, I want you to set three Beehag goals for yourself for the year. Beehag stands for big, hairy, audacious goals. Once you have them, then you're able to break them down into sizable chunks throughout the year. Then you can ensure your habits are aligned to them. You can ensure that you're consuming information that aligned to them. And then you can hold yourself accountable by sharing them out with your family, your friends, your peers, your team members, your boss at the mez professional growth goals for yourself. But these are really, really important for your own leadership journey and growth. On this note to give you an example of what I've done. At the start of 2022, I wrote down two big hairy goals for myself. The first was the launch, a podcast that would get at least 500 downloads before the end of the year. And the second goal was to become more customer facing in my role, which has always been more internally facing. Well, here we are at the end of the year. And I'm so very pleased to announce that after five months of being launched with darn good leadership, The show has been downloaded over a thousand times. And at the moment of this recording, I just hit 1,062. Honestly, at the beginning of the year, this seemed like such a pipe dream because I knew nothing about podcasts. I didn't know what kind of software I needed. I didn't know what kind of artwork I needed. I hadn't researched all these different things. I didn't know what I was going to name the thing, let alone how I was going to do topics and editing and all the things that you just don't know until you get started. The fact that I set the goal allowed me to go after it. And that's half the battle right there. A huge thanks to all of you for helping me reach that first goal. And for listening and tuning into this show. On my second goal. Well, and the last quarter of the calendar year, I was presented a brand new opportunity at work to lead customer success and support. The world works in mysterious ways that I will say for sure. So now I'm getting to interface with customers in a way that I would've never even envisioned at the start of 2022. I get to work on improving our customer's engagement experience and journey. So this is such a rare and exciting opportunity. And again, setting that goal, putting it out there, allowed me to go after it and be open to this opportunity that then presented itself to me. The podcast and this new role, we're 100% big changes and presented plenty of challenges, but honing my skills and mastering the art of being comfortable. In the uncomfortable. Has allowed me to lean into these opportunities. Face them head on, has allowed me to become a Buffalo in the storm and has enabled me to reach my goals. As 2022 comes for close. Don't let a year, ideally go by, take the reins, get in the driver's seat of your professional growth. I do that by mastering the art of being comfortable in the uncomfortable. Have those difficult conversations notice when you're in your comfort zone and then get the heck out of there. And set those be had goals for yourself. The bigger, the goals, the bolder, the goals, the better. So let's get after it together. Cheers everyone to a wonderful 20, 23. No doubt. It's going to have its challenges. No doubt. It's going to have its changes, but I hope that presents you with opportunities to tackle it in stride. People'd be bright, be a leader who doesn't shy away from being uncomfortable and instead embraces it like a beast. Wishing you a very Merry, happy new year. Cheers.