Empowering ourselves

Hello and welcome back to the empowering part of the TRUE Leaders Programme. So in the previous video, we thought about what empowering is to us. What does it mean to feel empowered? And we're going to build on that in today's video by talking about, and thinking about giving ourselves power.

And this is one of the really bizarre things, is that often, we take away our own power, our own control of how we do things because, well, why is that? And maybe that's your stretch today, to think about why that might be, or maybe it's a case of just accepting that sometimes you do that. Maybe this isn't something that feels as pertinent for you, but it certainly does for me. And one thing that I find really helpful is the idea of giving yourself a permission slip. And that's what I'd like us to think about today.

So what is it in your life that you perhaps, hold yourself back from? What is it that you would love to do you more of, or be more? What is it that you're holding yourself back? And what would it take to give yourself permission to do that thing, or to be more of a certain trait that you hold within you, and how might it feel to do that? And think about the benefits of how it might feel to do something like that.

I mentioned about embracing who we really are when we were talking about understanding ourselves. And this piece today builds on that, and it's about empowering ourselves. So what is it that for you, you would love to empower yourself with? Is there a particular project or particular thing that you would like to do more of, in your life? Is there a particular characteristic that you love about yourself? But you sometimes keep it a little bit hidden. Is there something that you just like to embrace a little bit more? Something that you really enjoy doing but don't do very often or would like to bring more of. What do you want to bring more of into your life? And that could be your work in life. It could be your home life. It could be a specific part of your life that you would like to enhance in some way. And what I'd like you to do is to think about giving yourself that permission slip, that might actually be written down. And it might even be, as silly as it might seem, one of mine is about embracing silliness. So, maybe you write yourself a permission slip or maybe, you remind yourself I have permission to do X or be X. So that's what I want you to think about today. That's what I want you to stretch into. What is it for you, that you would like to give yourself permission to do or to be? It's about being kinder to yourself. It's about putting yourself forward to something that you sometimes hold back from. Is it about doing something that's just for you? Is it about doing something that's for other people as well, but that you get benefit from? Is it about just being calm? Is it about being more active or being more relaxed?

So what is it that you would love to be more of? And that's what I'd like you to focus on today. So the first part is choosing just one thing, I don't want it to be too much, just one thing that you would like to give yourself permission to do or be. And then building on that, that's the stretch piece for today, is what specific things can you put in place to help you with that? So that could be specific actions to start doing it, or it could be support mechanisms around you. You might get things ready so that you can take your opportunity. You might speak to other people so that they know that you've committed to giving yourself permission to do X Y Z. So what do you need to do to start moving towards that place where you always have that permission? It might be specific actions or it might be specific things that you can get prepared for. If you're going to do something and you need to get something in order to do that first, maybe you need to book something, or maybe you need to get some equipment for whatever it is that you want to give yourself permission for. And that could be something as simple as having a face mask while having a bath, or whatever that is, setting aside time in your calendar to put yourself forward for that new role, or to embrace a new skill, or start learning something, or just relaxing. Maybe it's about taking things out of your calendar.

Whatever that thing is, today's task is about giving yourself permission and empowering yourself to do whatever it is where you want to be or do more of what that thing might be. So that's today's one. Tomorrow, we'll move on to empowering others. But for now, I really want you to embrace this and I really want to encourage you to empower yourself. I'll see you again in the next one.