Simplicity - Stefan’s Week-notes 20/10/2024
Inspired by the weeknotes of friends and coachees including John Fitzgerald, Steve Messer and Nour Sidawi - I thought I'd give it a go.
Inspired by the weeknotes of friends and coachees including John Fitzgerald, Steve Messer and Nour Sidawi - I thought I'd give it a go.
Here's a dive in to the happenings of the past week. I start with what I’ve been up to, to frame the week and then the successes.
Why? Because it's easy to look into the dark rather than the light; isn't it?
Hope you enjoy it; comments, observations and thoughts welcome.
What have I been up to?
(Question inspired by @James_ Arthur_Cattell week notes). It's been a busy week.
This week I got out on the bike, on the road and it was glorious. Two weeks after my crash and the back is starting to say ‘yes please’ and it was good - oh so good - to feel the sun on my face and to feel the pedals turning beneath me. The coastline smiled back at me as I whizzed along the Military Road. The aim of my ride? Fun - thanks @Joe_Staunton of @ceyresteperformance for reminding me.
Coaching sessions included:
A Leader in the Design space - navigating stakeholder management, leadership and both working at and seeking change at the right ‘cadence’.
A ‘Head of’ - looking at transformational change in their ‘more than a side hustle’ chairing of an international charity; along with how to bring new talent and thinking into an organisation which still has the founders sitting on the trustee board.
An elite athlete and coach; exploring the balance between ambition (wants) and ones ‘foundation stones’ (needs)
A Clinical Psychologist, writer and leading light; looking at managing their ‘foundation stones’ and finding ways to give flight to the voice inside.
Mentoring - this week I held my first mentoring session for the fabulous 93percentclub who define themselves as “representing the 93% of people who went to state schools in the UK” introduced to them by the fabulous Adam Bedford - I had the wonderful opportunity to begin working with a lead in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion space - exciting times lie ahead.
On top of this I wrote two proposals for 2025 strategy days I’ve been asked to facilitate and ran my 2nd day of the 10 week Digital marketing programme I run for my great friend @Angela_Mcllelland on behalf of the Liverpool City Region
I also found the time to write a blog on the fourth of my life pillars; Sustenance which sits alongside 1. Work 2. Rest and 3. Play. You can read about my introduction to the ingredients of Love, Understanding, Nutrition, Community and Home here:
What's been good about this week?
The great news is that I got out on the bike and hit a PB whilst ‘not trying’ - that was a great feeling.
Over and above being able to ride again - I really felt very purposeful and proud of the outcomes of my coaching sessions this week.
The consistent theme which ran through all of my work this week was empowering those I work with to bring their voice, ideas and thoughts to the table and to make choices about how and when they do that. All good people wanting to lead great things or to get in the position to do so; I must say I loved every minute - especially the emotional moments.
Beyond the cycling and the coaching sessions, I really loved the day I ran on marketing for @Angela_Mclleland; such an energetic vibrant space - with 20 different businesses in the room, adapting and connecting to the diverse range of delegates and the finding of ‘truth’ for all attending - is such a high. I was tired but elated after this weeks session.
To top it all off, I got to speak with one of my heroes and one of the greatest endurance athletes in the worlds Sean Conway.
As you know, I completed my first 1000km Endurance race this year and Sean is an absolute legend in this area holding multiple world records including the record for the most consecutive full distance Ironmans in a row.
In 2023 Sean completed 105 Full ironman distance triathlons which involves completing a Swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles, run 26.2 miles and repeating that for 105 days solid. No rest days.
Sean is an incredible speaker and a writer too and as someone who sees life, leadership and business as an endurance sport, it was great to chat all things motivation and mindsetting with him.
Having watched his appeaemce on Rich Roll Podcast for about the 20th time; I reached out to him, explained what I do and he said yes.
What a thoroughly nice fellow and legend. I am looking forward to chatting with him again soon.
What am I grateful for?
It’s been an emotional week this week with a couple of my clients really leaning into some ‘stuff’ this week and it reminded me of how grateful I am for all the fabulous people who have mentored, coached and helped me to get to where I am today. I do feel truly blessed and thought i’d mention some of the key people.
Mum - You taught me fire (Stand)
Dad - You taught me humility and grit (Commit)
Ms Alison - RE Teacher - You helped me see my worth (Believe)
Stuart Walker - You convinced my university that I had a heart and mind of gold (Advocate).
Tony O’Neill - Head of Law - You created space for me when I needed it (Shield)
Ian Duncan - Nationwide - You called me cub and helped me turn into a lion - showing me how to lead (Lead)
Helen Cunningham - You reminded me of the importance of communicating your value and results
Karl Bevan - Your coaching programme and ongoing mentoring have been the foundation of all the coaching I do and it was an honour to coach you last year (Coach)
Victorio Diez Garcia Ippoliti - You shielded me when I fell down (Friend).
Charlie Weeks - Counsellor - You helped me glue myself back together when I was shattered (Help)
Angela Mclleland - You asked me to bring me to the room (Breathe)
Dominique - You show me what true courage and love is all about (Love)
Will and Vera - You show me what it is to put others first (Purpose).
You all empowered me to have the opportunity to work with such a diverse bunch of clients who rock my world and inspire me to be more too. Thank you
Social media gratitude…
A blanket thank you this week to everyone who has liked, commented and shared my posts this week
Likes, comments shares and signs ups make these 3 main differences:
They help me get seen on linked and on instagram by ‘leaning into’ their algorithms.
They mean that others, outside of my immediate network, get to see my work, know I exist and contact me to find out more about my work, chat about the great thing they are leading, or wish to lead, and just maybe ask me to coach them.
They makes me feel valued and motivates me to do more.
Thank you all for helping me to do more of what I love.
What could have gone better?
This week, the one thing that could have gone better this week is sleep.
I have not, for the life of me, been able to get to sleep and when I have I’ve woken again three or four times after.
I’ve a lot on my mind - financial settlements post divorce etc and the little boat to empty in time for handing it back in January and so, I’m working through my life laundry and refining life.
More importantly than that, I know that I usually cant sleep when I sense a crescendo coming of creative, life and work elements coming together and when growth is taking place.
As a way of leaning into this, I did what I usually do and I asked myself 3 questions;
Why cant I sleep?
How do I get more sleep?
How do I commit to and maintain that?
I’ll report back next week about how thats gone; for now here’s a great piece on sleep hygiene from the fabulous sleep charity.
What am I reading?
This week, I’ve been reading this article on “Psychological strategies to resist slowing down or stopping during endurance activity: An expert opinion paper” which I loved.
As I’ve said, I think of leadership, life, love and business as an endurance activity and recognise stopping and slowing down are viable options; but what if you didn’t need to - what would be required?
Its always nice to have a theoretical underpinning for what experience has shown you - it helps with the explanations and I like these couple of paragraphs in particular:
“Recent research (Hardy et al., 2019) showed that when recreational exercisers used motivational self-talk in a third-person pronoun perspective (e.g. ‘You can do this’, ‘You’re hanging in well’) during a 10 km cycling time trial, they performed 2.2 per cent faster than when they used similar self-talk in a first-person perspective (e.g. ‘I can do this’, ‘I’m hanging in well’)”
And
“Research findings generally suggest that motivational self-talk is a useful psychological strategy for resisting slowing down or stopping. Particularly relevant to this paper, Schüler and Langens (2007) examined the effects of using self-talk during a psychological crisis in a marathon. They argued that a psychological crisis is characterised by strong desire to give up, and thoughts about the benefits of stopping (e.g. resting, relaxing) and the costs of continuing (e.g. unbearable exhaustion), and typically occurs after 30 km. Schüler and Langens (2007) found that self-talk relating to self-encouragement (e.g. ‘Stay on. Don’t give up’), anticipation of positive consequences (e.g. ‘I will be proud of myself if I can do it’), and self-calming (e.g. ‘Stay calm and you will do it’) were effective at buffering against the negative effects of a crisis on performance for runners who experienced a big psychological crisis”
We’ve all said ‘bad’ things to ourselves and felt the effects’ lets not be so dismissive of staying some good stuff instead.
What do you need to start saying to yourself to keep going and to stop yourself from choosing to stop when you dont really want or need to?
If you’d like to chat …
…about your own experience of trying to keep going; get in touch here
What am I wishing for?
This week I am wishing for anyone reading this who needs it, to find the strength to reach out and ask for help.
As Debbie Sorenson says in her wonderful piece How to ask fro help:
“the ability to ask for and obtain help is a valuable life skill. Over time, carrying a heavy load without enough support can lead to burnout – the exhaustion and disengagement that results from the chronic stress of having too many demands and not enough resources. A lack of perceived social support has been associated with poorer mental and physical health outcomes”
If it’s leadership, coaching, confidence or life juggling - i’m happy to help; and or I can signpost you to someone in my network if it’s not me.
A Last Word - Simplicity
This week, I’d like to leave you with the word simplicity; the catalyst for which came from one of the sessions I ran this week for Angela M.
Paul Coehlo said that “the core of beauty is simplicity” and the session I wrote and run on @Daneile_Golemans empathic concern really brought the simplicity of what you do and why, home to me.
In the session I ask the group of business owners to consider the level of empathy they have for their customers, what it would mean to find empathic concern for them (and their customers).
As part of that, I look at how we express ‘that’ in your work and marketing and I go first in letting the group ask me to complete the exercise.
The question “what is the problem your customers have and why do they have it?” really got me in the heart. My reply was something like:
“the problem many of my clients face is that they are struggling to bring to fruition the great thing they have in there mind and the reason they are struggling is that whilst they are brilliant people, they lack some element of confidence or bravery, are being oppressed by the system around them and they need to learn how to deal with the bullies that hold them back”
The simplicity of what I said out loud hit me in the heart as I fully absorbed how that had been my journey too.
I help people understand themselves and be understood, by creating a space in which they can be who they really are and see how they can bring that to the world. Thats what the people I listed above have done for me.
I love what I am doing, because I am helping people become free.
I value people and I want people to value themselves.
Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for an elaboration on what I call my consistent critical leadership factors which can be used to help others do that too.
Thank you for reading my week notes.
For now, let me leave you with 5 questions:
What do you wish you were free to do?
What would it mean for you to have that freedom?
What do you need to grab hold of to have that freedom?
What do you need to let goo of to have that freedom?
What would you need to believe in order to take the next settowatds that freedom?
Have a great weekend and Love to you all
Enjoyed reading this? Consider doing one of these:
Get in touch - If any of this topic resonated with you and you have something you’d like to share with me or if you’d like to discuss working with me on this topic - stefan@stefanpowell.co.uk works really well for me.
Connect with me on linked in and read my long form posts on the rotating topics of Work, Rest. Play, Sustenance and Love every Thursday
Sign up to my newsletter ‘Be The Waves” here - which collates each weeks long form post on a monthly basis and you’ll get to read it later in the month
I’ll continue this in 4 to 5 Thursdays time when I continue the topic of ‘Rest” in my Thursday Journal.
Book an inquisitive session with me to find out more about what I do and how I do it or run a challenge or thought you have passed me.
For now; thank you
I am…
An executive coach who specialises in helping good people lead great things.
Good people care about others, our planet and beauty. Great things are changes for the betterment of society and all that lives within an around it.
It sounds big and fun - it is.
I'm also an endurance racing cyclist and a go. getter.
You can read more about me and what I do; how I work here