Give yourself the gift of reflection and planning
Beyond Neutral
As the holiday season approaches, Paula Reid challenges listeners to step back from the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations to focus on themselves. In this special episode of Beyond Neutral, Paula introduces a simple yet impactful three-step process for ending the year with gratitude and setting the stage for personal success in the new year. Key Takeaways Celebrate Your Wins (2:45) Reflect on your accomplishments from the past year. What personal strengths or capacities helped you achieve these wins? Paula encourages listeners to take a moment to celebrate and express gratitude for...
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A Big Question To Ask Yourself & Season Two Finale!
Beyond Neutral
In this Season 2 wrap-up, Paula takes a moment to reflect on some of her favorite and most popular episodes, such as "Ep. 16: Unpacking Agency," "Ep. 19: Three Step Process to Stop Ruminating" and "Ep. 26: Do An Expectations Audit." As Paula prepares for her summer activities, a time she usually spends reflecting, reading, and planning for the future, she had a thought-provoking conversation with a friend that led to a deeper question. The question she poses to herself and her listeners is: What do you want your contribution to be? Consider this question in any given moment—how...
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Understanding Stress Signals and Self-Soothing Strategies
Beyond Neutral
Throughout season two, Paula explored various techniques for recognizing and managing emotions, from navigating feedback to weathering emotional storms. Today, she zeros in on a crucial element of mastering emotional regulation: understanding your personal stress responses and self-soothing methods. In this episode, Paula dives into how recognizing these personal tendencies is a pivotal first step towards improving your emotional reactions. She reveals her own inclination to spring into action and explains how gaining this self-awareness has empowered her to pause and maintain composure under...
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4 Ways to Cultivate Abundance
Beyond Neutral
Paula wants us to know that the abundance mindset is not about pie-eyed optimism. It is about how we approach a problem, and if we immediately go to a scarcity mindset, this can condition our thinking. We all have a tendency to jump into certain patterns of thinking, even if we consider ourselves very positive people. In this episode, Paula shares a personal story about packing her daughter's car for a move and how her daughter's reminder to adopt an abundance mindset was the catalyst to start focusing on her own patterns of thinking. Despite her optimistic nature, Paula caught herself...
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Challenging Your Inner Narratives for True Transformation
Beyond Neutral
Have you been telling yourself a certain story about who you are and what you're capable of? We all have an inner narrative that can hinder our ability to transform. This inner voice is not necessarily ever going to go away, but breaking free from its assumptions is possible. In a recent discussion, Paula and Mike Rataczak reflected on their latest episode, "#33: Trusting Your Instincts Through Transformations," and shared a powerful message. Mike urges listeners not to avoid confronting their inner voice, which can be both loud and limiting. Paula offers her insights on tackling...
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Trusting Your Instincts Through Transformations
Beyond Neutral
Join Paula and special guest Mike Rataczak in this wisdom-packed episode as they discuss Mike's journey of making a significant career shift. After dedicating over 30 years to Human Resources, Mike made the bold decision to return to school for design and pursue a career as an interior designer. Listen in to learn Mike's decision-making process and the challenges he encountered while embarking on this new path. This episode offers valuable insights into the experience of navigating major life changes, while also providing encouragement and wisdom for those who may be reflecting on their...
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The 3 Essential Steps to Receiving Feedback with Grace
Beyond Neutral
In this episode, Paula embarks on a profound exploration of receiving feedback with intention and grace, highlighting three crucial steps: ✓ Practicing neutrality: By approaching feedback with a neutral energy, we sidestep defensiveness and internalization, paving the way for genuine understanding. ✓ Expressing gratitude: Acknowledging the feedback as a gift of insight is a powerful demonstration of vulnerability that enhances our connections. ✓ Engaging in reflection: Giving ourselves permission to deeply ponder the feedback, emphasizing the importance of self-compassion in...
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The Art of an Apology
Beyond Neutral
Do you owe someone an apology? Have you ever thought about the difference between a meaningful and an ineffective apology? Apologizing can be challenging, as some of us perceive admitting wrongdoing as a sign of weakness. However, Paula emphasizes that acknowledging our mistakes is actually a display of strength. Apologies play a crucial role in maintaining healthy relationships. If you wish to move past a blunder, offering a sincere apology is essential. Paula outlines four key factors for a successful apology, sharing valuable insights on mastering this skill. She underscores...
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The Humble Leader Embracing Growth and Vulnerability
Beyond Neutral
Can you recall a moment when you crossed paths with someone in a powerful position who had genuine humility? I bet it left a lasting mark on you. There's something about humble individuals that stays with us—they possess an incredible superpower. Today, Paula is talking about humility in leadership and life. She's shedding light on the idea that when we arrogantly believe we have all the answers, there's no space for personal growth and learning. Paula is urging us to understand that without humility, we not only shy away from admitting our mistakes but, even more detrimentally, we...
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Navigating Internal Promotions
Beyond Neutral
Do you aspire to advance within your current company? Have you thought about how being an internal candidate might affect how others perceive you compared to an external candidate? Paula wants us to consider all the pieces to an internal promotion. There are many advantages, such as a deeper understanding of the organization, but it also presents challenges. One challenge is the need to reassess your relationships within the company, which some people may overlook. Paula explains that we have to be prepared to broaden our perspective and strengthen certain...
info_outlineDo you find yourself wishing that you could be more assertive and clear at work?
Chances are you have had situations that made you uncomfortable or just made you feel ineffective because you chose not to speak up. Maybe you want to set more boundaries with certain team members who are taking advantage of something or are not producing reasonable results. Whatever it is, the truth is that over time, just being nice will not move things forward for the individual and your work.
Paula makes the connection to the desire to be liked and not having agency. To have agency means you understand that you have a choice in the matter. And if you are only focused on being liked, then you are stifling your true self. For example, if you need certain things done or need a culture change with your team, how can this happen if you can't confidently and clearly communicate expectations?
In this episode Paula focuses on:
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Why your team really wants you to be clear and confident
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How the delivery of your assertive communication is what matters (respectful)
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Why freeing yourself from the focus of being liked is actually one of the “nicest” things you can do for yourself and your team
Show Notes: reidnco.com/podcast
Timestamps:
[00:04:07] Paula: but the problem with that and the challenge with that is that This need to please people really impacts our ability to make clear decisions and to move forward effectively, because you're always trying to split the difference, right? You're always trying to get committee, What you need, but maybe backing off on getting all of it in the way you want it because you also are so concerned with what somebody thinks about you or, you know, are you being kind?
[00:06:47] Paula: And I coached a CEO who absolutely brought this Concern with her, uh, when she moved into this more senior level role in an organization and had always worked with this team. And then she was the person who got promoted to lead the organization and it became really imperative. That they like her. Now, she didn't realize that when we started our coaching engagement, when we started our coaching engagement, she thought she wanted them to respect her. And as we went along in the conversation, and we went along in our coaching engagement, after a couple of sessions, it finally became very clear to her that respect was really secondary to being liked.
[00:10:26] Paula: People like leaders who are decisive, people like leaders who are clear, and people like leaders who step in and deal with tough issues with confidence. So leave the liking part aside, that comes, comes from being respected a lot of times, not always. But a lot of times. Anyway, that is my conversation of the day on, uh, what things get in the way of our agency at times.
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