Baseball, Flow, & The Bear ?????

Welcome to the Kickin' it with Kristen newsletter! I aim to deliver relatable stories, practical insights, and valuable resources you can use every Monday. If you want to learn more about Down-To-Earth Insights LLC and the Leadership and LinkedIn Coaching I provide, schedule a free?20-minute introductory call!

Each newsletter will feature four sections: Aha! Moments, One Thing..., Insight for the Week, and Ask Kristen.

??Aha! Moment?- I have found that some of my most significant learnings have come from sharing and hearing. Aha! Moments and the insight they brought someone. Weekly I will share a personal Aha! I had and what I learned from it. I hope you find them valuable in your journey and that they inspire personal reflection and growth.

?1???One Thing I...?- I will share "one thing" I learned, read, watched, and accomplished during the week that I learned from and or it was new to me.

???Insight for the Week?- I may share a thought-provoking quote, question, or personal reflection on something that occurred during the week tied to leadership, self-improvement, or overall well-being.

??Ask Kristen?- Submit a question to me, via LinkedIn Messager, on leadership topics, LinkedIn, or personal productivity. I will select and feature a situation or question in a future newsletter along with my coaching or guidance. All questions/situations will be shared anonymously.

???Aha! Moment:?Not Our Best Players ??

Last week I was sitting in the stands watching a middle school baseball game. To put it mildly, the team was struggling. We weren’t hitting well, pitchers had difficulty finding the plate, and several fielding errors occurred. I overheard someone in the stands say, “What do you expect we aren't playing our best players?”

I found myself thinking about that statement long after the game ended. I wonder if we had won, would they have said, “We won because the other team was bad.” or “We got lucky and won without our best players.”

Whether it's a sports team or a team you lead, it's important to remember it's one team. Of course, some on the team are more consistent hitters, better at pitching, or more focused when playing defense. Some are willing to play whenever and wherever needed, give 150% every practice knowing they may never start, or can always be heard encouraging a teammate. My point is that they all bring something to the team and are all needed to be a team!

The boys on this particular team have pushed each other every day in practice, showed up for one another, encouraged one another, and, I'm sure, given each other a hard time when something didn't go as planned. It's a fact that some will start, and some will be asked to be ready to come in as needed. Both are important to the success of the team. As fans, our goal should be to recognize the team, celebrate them, and help them learn.?

The bottom line on that day was that the team lost as a team, just like they won the next day.

As a leader, it's essential to ensure those you lead understand their role and, more importantly, understand and value every team member's role. You need to give everyone a chance to succeed and to fail while providing coaching to help them grow. Make sure you celebrate the wins, losses, and learnings along the way! #leadershiplesson #coaching

Did you have an Aha! Moment last week? Please share it in the comments so we can all learn from it!

?1??One Thing I....

????Learned?- I am taking a class on the neuroscience of flow. Basically, flow is the feeling of "being in the zone."?You are so focused that you lose track of time and do fantastic work. Time slips away, you forget to eat, and you just knock out the work.?It's the best feeling! Anyway, in this class, we started to talk about what keeps us from getting into flow….distractions!?Here are a couple of interesting facts:

• On average, we check email 36 times per hour
• On average, we are interrupted 56 times a day
• Refocusing after one distraction can take up to 23 minutes.?
• Average knowledge work switches tasks every 3 minutes and does an average of only 11 minutes of focused work a day.

We were challenged to eliminate all the distractions we could control.?Things like turning off all notifications on your phone, laptops, & devices; deleting social media apps from your phone; only having one browser tab open at a time, and many others.?The goal is to learn to mono-task and become really great at doing only one thing at a time! #productivity

I guess I must try and break my habit of watching mindless TV and scrolling on social media, not to mention many others! Are you up for breaking some habits and focusing on learning to become a great mono-tasker?

???Read?-?I'm not going to lie; I'm intrigued by Chick-fil-a's news this week. The Honey Pepper Pimento Chicken Sandwich will be at a store near you on Monday, August 28th.?This marks the first time they have changed up their original chicken sandwich. And you can order a side of Pimento Cheese to dip your fries in!?I think I know where I'm having lunch next week.

???Watched?- I finished Season 2 of "The Bear" on Hulu. If you haven't watched it, I would recommend it. Season 2 was a great reminder that change is hard and that everyone will process change differently.?It also shows how if you empower your team members to pursue their personal passions, the results will be incredible.?Finally, if you have prepared your team for critical moments, they can succeed without you. Make sure you check it out! #preparation

???Accomplished?- As an introvert, networking takes a lot of energy and focus!?I officially completed four weeks in a row of sending out ten networking requests every Friday.?I had an 80% conversion rate, meaning 80% of those I sent a request to ended up scheduling time with me. #networkingtips

I would love to hear what you've learned, read, watched, and accomplished last week. Share below!?

??Insight for the Week

Since I was little, I have loved Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends.?Here are my favorite quotes that I think of often.

“I always get to where I'm going by walking away from where I have been.” — Winnie the Pooh

“A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference.” —?Eeyore

“The things that make me different are the things that make me, me.” —?Piglet

“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.”—?Christopher Robin

?Ask Kristen

Have a question for me about your current leadership challenge or situation? Submit your question/situation by sending me a?message on LinkedIn. I will begin featuring submitted questions in September.