Joelle K. Jay

book club

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The Inner View

Have you ever lost clarity on the way to your vision? You feel like you need the answers. Before you can gain they clarity you want, you need to take a preliminary step: you need to ask the right questions.

Your ability to ask yourself powerful questions will allow you to uncover thoughts and feelings that influence your ability to be successful. You don’t just answer the questions; you explore them. Exploration is not an interview. It’s an inner view.

There are three steps to exploring your “inner view.”

Step 1: Identify the Topic

As your first step to getting clarity, you identify the topic. What do you need to get clear about? What’s the issue, challenge, desire or goal that’s worth exploring now? What is your purpose for seeking clarity at this time? It could be a decision about your career, a particular outcome for a project, or a new way to approach a goal. You are going on an exploration; think of this step as defining the territory.

Step 2: Ask Open-Ended Questions

Once you’ve defined the territory you want to explore, you mentally walk around in it, allowing your mind to wander around as you find out what there is to know. You do this by asking open-ended questions.

Perhaps the most obvious place to start is with the all-powerful question, “What do you want?”

Here are some more questions to help you see what else there is to learn as you explore.
• What are the biggest challenges you face?
• What’s the best-case scenario? What’s the worst-case scenario?
• How would you like to see this play out?
• What else is there to know?
Open-ended questions like these help you find what else is important to you to keep in mind.

Step 3: Explore the Answers
After you have an idea of what you want and some questions to stir your thinking, give yourself time to explore your ideas. This could take the form of journaling, discussion with a trusted friend, colleague or advisor, or quiet reflection. Exploration (especially self-exploration) is a process. Give it time.

Remember: You don’t have to have all the answers. But you do have to ask the questions.

And for a free resource to guide your thinking, use the worksheet, Your Inner View. A copy of this worksheet is also available on the website (www.theinneredge.com).

Please join us for The Inner Edge Book Club! This month we will be taking a more in-depth look into of Your Inner View as one powerful strategy for gaining better clarity in your life and leadership. For more information, click here or email info@TheInnerEdge.com.

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Leading a Life – Not Just Living One

Are you leading your life or just living it?

When you’re just living life, you experience the everyday frustrations of most people. Maybe you work too much, but you still don’t feel like you ever really get on top of things. You get stressed. You don’t work out as much as you should, or you might not have any down time at all. You get testy in traffic and short with your kids. You don’t get to spend as much time with your spouse as you might want. As a result, you often feel guilty. When you’re at home, you think you should be at work; when you’re working, you think you should be at home. But this is a busy time, you tell yourself. Right now life’s a little crazy and I just have to get things done. Even though you’d say you’re happy enough, most of the time anyway, there are plenty of times you wonder if life is passing you by.

When you’re leading your life, you experience everyday as a gift to be opened. You know what’s coming today, because it will be just as you planned it – or even better. You spend your time on the things that are most impactful and most important to you. At work, you’re able to tackle the challenges with confidence and ease. You feel focused, accomplished, and relaxed. At home, you feel content and at peace. No need for guilt, because you’ve made your decisions wisely and in alignment with your values. You spend time with the ones you love, and you still have time for yourself. You may be busy, but it’s a good busy. Best of all, you’re having fun! You’re invested in your life, and you feel rewarded every day.

Whether you’re the CEO of an international organization, a business owner or executive, an entrepreneur working out of your home, a stay-at-home parent, or a person just trying to get along in the world, you have a choice. You can lead your life or you can just live it. If you choose to just live it, you are leaving life to chance and risking a life of less than: less than you’d hoped for, less than you could be, less than you wanted. If you choose to lead your life – to really take responsibility for it, to take charge, to take control – you are choosing a life of possibility. You discover that you have more time, more joy, more success, more happiness, and more peace of mind. When you choose to lead your life rather than just live it, you experience a life of more than you ever thought was possible.

Learning to lead your life – what I call personal leadership – won’t just improve your leadership. It will help you expand your life.

You can test your Personal Leadership IQ by taking the survey, Your Inner Edge: A Self Assessment, available for free at www.TheInnerEdge.com.

Please join us for The Inner Edge Book Club! This month we will be reviewing all ten of the Practices of Personal Leadership – an overview of exactly what you need to do to be a better leader and lead a better life. For more information, click here or email info@TheInnerEdge.com.

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What’s the Edge?

There’s a little confusion about this simple word, the “edge.” When I say getting an edge, I don’t mean elbowing out the crowd or being edgy or going over the edge. I mean, as I say in The Inner Edge, being your best. Not the best – your best.

You don’t get to be an exceptional leader by trying to be like someone else. I don’t want you to become a great leader by changing who you are. I want you to become a great leader by becoming more of who you are.

So remember, you’re looking for your edge. As my mentor Dr. Heidi McKenna used to call it, your “growing edge “- the place where you have the opportunity to be malleable, to be changed, and to grow.

Getting an edge means understanding what will give you the edge at this time. It might mean sharpening your vision. It might mean shoring up your weaknesses. It could mean developing your strengths. It could mean getting a promotion. It might mean starting a business or gaining more market share with the one you have.

If this helps you achieve what you want to achieve better and faster, and in a way that’s more natural and enjoyable for you, then you’re getting the edge.

And if you’d like to learn more about how to get an edge and be your best, join us for the Inner Edge Book Club. Just go to www.TheInnerEdge.com and click on Community, or just click here. We’d love to have you.