Leading From a Beautiful State

There are only two states from which to live your life.?

There’s the Beautiful State and the Suffering State.?

There is no third state.?

But when you live and lead from the Beautiful State, amazing things are possible.?

So what are these states and what do they have to do with leadership??

First of all, when I say state, I am referring to your current mental, and emotional condition. Both of these combine to create a sort of climate, from which you exist in any given moment.?

The Suffering State?

The Suffering State is characterized by negative emotions such as stress, worry, anxiety, fear, people pleasing, and anger. In the suffering state you are constantly living in either the past or the future bur rarely in the present. From the Suffering State your performance is compromised and your leadership is impaired. You never bring forth the best version of yourself when you’re in the Suffering State.?

I used to live a lot of my life in a Suffering State. I was always worried about so many things and constantly stressed about meeting the demands of both work and life.?

I would never had used the word suffering back then to describe it, but compared the other state it really is a place of suffering.?

The majority of people spend up to 80% of their lives in a Suffering State and when you’re a leader, this is not good because a lot of people are counting on you.?

The Beautiful State?

In contrast, the Beautiful State is characterized by gratitude, happiness, a sense of calm, a passion for your work, optimism, confidence, and creativity. In the Beautiful State there's no inner critic to nag you, no running chatter in your head, and you’re at peace with yourself and others.?

The Beautiful State is a state of connection. It’s a place where you’re connected to self, to others, to your work, and even to nature.?

?This might all sound a bit woo woo, but it’s true.?

These two states produce completely different life experiences but where they really matter is when dealing with life’s inevitable problems and obstacles.?

Problems and Obstacles?

As leaders we are constantly dealing with problems. But problems and obstacles are external things, while the two states are internal.

In other words, your state doesn’t have to be impacted by your external problems, but your external problems will definitely be impacted by your state.

Because more than anything else, the state you’re in when you run into a problem is one of the most decisive factors in determining your future.?

You see, when you live in a Suffering State, you’re less creative, less resilient, and you make poorer decisions. Leading from a Suffering State, also lowers your effectiveness at producing results and getting the best out of your people.?

Have you ever have a boss yell at you out of their frustration? That’s the result of their Suffering State and it most likely didn’t do a lot for you at the time.?

But when you lead from a Beautiful State you have a completely different outlook on life and the problems that you inevitably face in business. Living in a Beautiful State doesn’t eliminate your obstacles but it changes the way you approach them.?

So how do you start spending more time in a Beautiful State instead of a Suffering one??

There’s a few steps to this but let’s briefly look at the first two, awareness and a decision.?

Awareness

Leading from a Beautiful State involves first becoming more aware of your states throughout the day. It’s learning to recognize when you’re in a Suffering State, when you’re stressed, when you’re uptight, when you’re compromising your authenticity, when you’re worried. Mose of us will have a unique signature to our Suffering State.?

The awareness itself is partly curative, because from here we can begin to change it.?

The Decision?

The next step is to make a simple decision: I will no longer live in a Suffering State, instead, I will live in a Beautiful State, no matter what.?

By making this proclamation you’re letting your brain know about your intention so it can begin to alert you every time it catches you in a Suffering State.?

Because every day spent in a Suffering State is a day wasted.?

There are more steps to this but I’m going to save that for part II.?

In part II of this article I will show you how to move out of a Suffering State and into a more elevated state that will improve your leadership and how you feel about your life.?

But for now, just start paying attention to your states, and make a decision to live in a Beautiful State every day.?

So, remember…?

There are only two states from which you live your life.?

There’s the Beautiful State and the Suffering State.?

There is no third state.?

Let’s be beautiful.?

#leadership