As leaders, we can sometimes get so much in our heads that we become overwhelmed and stressed. What we need is to unleash these thoughts in our heads. And what better way to do that than journaling? Our guest in this episode attests to the power of journaling, seeing as how it helped her succeed. Karin Lubin is back to tell us all about it and how leaders can effectively journal. She is the co-founder of Quantum Leap Coaching and Consulting—a consultancy specialized in helping individuals and business leaders to take ‘quantum leaps’ into living and leading from mindful purpose, passion, and authenticity. True to their teachings, Karin discusses why journaling can be a reprieve from this grind culture and even help you realize your purpose and potential. She then shares her Journaling Bundle with us, which contains her holistic process to the practice. Join this powerful conversation as you add this additional tool for your mental health as an intuitive leader.

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Journaling: An Effective Practice For Intuitive Leaders With Karin Lubin

We are welcoming back a previous guest because we loved her so much the last time she was on. We were like, “We have to bring her back.” To introduce the panel I mentioned, we are going to start with Char. She is a former HR professional turned entrepreneur. She runs multiple businesses. She is a career coach and consultant. We also have Wendy, who works with the team at CompTeam. She specializes in talent management and development. She is very familiar with the TMA Method.

We also have Sam. He is the person who brings us this forum each and every week. He is also the Founder and CEO of CompTeam. He is a compensation expert and rewards strategist. We have Howard, who is also a team member at CompTeam. He is a compensation advisor, rewards strategist, and consultant. We also have Sumit, who also is a consultant and HR strategist. He helps different companies with various areas of HR practices, from leadership, organization, strategy, and lots more.

I want to also introduce you to our fabulous guest speaker. Hopefully, you tuned into her last time she was here. If you didn’t, you can always go back to that episode. We do have Dr. Karin Lubin joining us. She is the Founder of Quantum Leap Consulting and Coaching. She has teamed up with her husband on that business. She helps professionals and entrepreneurs become greater by going inside and deeper through coaching and training.

She has workshops, and she has her own seasonal journals. Wendy was telling us that she has all of the journals. I’m excited to hear a little bit about how that is helping her. We are talking about how to effectively journal for leaders. Karin, it is good to have you back. I loved the last time you were here. I can’t wait to see what we have got here now. Welcome back to the forum.

Thank you so much. It’s fascinating. When I started creating these journals, which was 6 or 7 years ago, I was working with small business entrepreneurs. I would ask them, “How do you feel? How are you doing?” They looked at me like, “What?” Seriously, they look at me with, “It is so good. It is so bad.” The communication and the words that we want to use stretch out and embellish how we are feeling so that we can communicate more effectively. As small business owners, we all know that is important because we want to be able to communicate effectively.

If I may, I love Jules to start off with the benefits of why we might want to journal. I just want to say, Sam, your team is phenomenal. I want to put out a shout-out to anyone here that CompTeam is a different group of people. They are so much more multilayered. They are not just doing one thing. They are doing many levels of support for businesses. The whole concept of what you do, Sam and everyone, Char, Wendy, Sumit, Howard, and Jules, you all stand out as unique and different. I want to put out a shout-out that you guys have to check out CompTeam. They are amazing.

Thank you. We are different and unique.

I’m glad you know that. Let me say why journaling is important. I’m going to say this first for you as an individual, but then I want to bring it to leaders. The first thing about why we journal is to manage stress. I don’t know about you, but sometimes there is a feeling of anxiety and a little overwhelmed. You are too busy. You are trying to scramble. Journaling can help you manage stress.

Journaling can help you manage stress. Click To Tweet

The other thing is that when you download whatever is in your head, I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can think about something, and it goes around in my head a little too much. This way, when you download it and you put it onto paper, I believe that paper and pen are helpful. When you use a pen, that is your left brain. When you write it down and write down your feelings, that is your right brain. You are doing this whole-brain approach. When you write it down, you get to see things from a different perspective. Suddenly, things are not in your face. You have a little more of a separation. You can see what it is that is going on for yourself. A different perspective can be helpful.

I was thinking of Josh Wöhle. He is the CEO of Mindstone, and he was going through how important it is to continue learning. One of the tools that he brought up was he says, “At the end of the day, I take all of my learnings of that day and I put it in my journal. I write that down.” That is a way of being able to have it solidifying his mind, come back to it, revisit and refresh himself on those concepts. He finds that very powerful.

I’m glad that someone else is doing that. That’s the third thing that I was going to talk about, which is understanding, reflecting, and self-awareness. The reflection that you do is important because you can take that and bring it to the next day. The other part is when we are managing stress, which means we are also boosting our immune system because health is important. You were saying, Sam, earlier that health is wealth. Part of health is our mental health. Physical health is extremely important but so is mental, and they go hand in hand.

When we talk about health, we are often thinking about it physically. Now more than ever and what the past few years have taught us is how important mental health is. There are a lot of people out there that are struggling with mental health in a variety of different forms. They are stressed or over-stressed about significant issues. It is something that can help us.

We get bombarded left and right by social media. Sometimes it is hard to turn it all off, disassociate yourself, and think.

You are each now saying the next thing that I was going to say, which is to slow down. Howard, you are right on. I’m reading a book called Rest is Resistance. It is a good book to read. This woman, Tricia Hersey, talks about the grind culture. We in a capitalist society are looking at how we have to work and work constantly. We never stop. Our bodies have become the industrial lives of the society that we live in. Our bodies are now not even seen as human bodies. It is like, “How much can you push?”

As a leader, when I was in public education, I remember pushing my teachers and employees. I wish I had not done that but I did, and I learned the hard way. To take time for journaling, which is fifteen minutes. We all have fifteen minutes. Howard, rather than looking at social media, open your journal and reflect. That will boost your immune system and you will breathe, which is important.

The last thing about journaling is that you allow your creativity to flow when you slow that moment down. It is like taking a shower. Sometimes a download comes and you are like, “Oh yeah.” You are outside, walking in nature or whatever it is that you all do to take care of yourselves. Slow it down. Give yourself a break. That is important.

Let me talk about how journaling can be effective for leaders. Many of you have heard of lots of different leaders. You talked about one, Sam. Robin Sharma is my go-to leader. I love his work. He wrote this book that I couldn’t say enough about, The Leader Who Had No Title. He wrote other books but to him, journaling is a best practice.

He says there is groundbreaking research done on elite performance and ultra achievement. It is are confirming that journaling on a regular basis boosts mental focus, increases self-confidence, elevates your mental attitude, and increases the level of happiness that you feel. Don’t you think that is going to be helpful as a leader?

Journaling regularly boosts mental focus, increases self-confidence, elevates your mental attitude, and increases the level of happiness you feel. Click To Tweet

I’m taking a quote from him. You all want to check out Robin Sharma. He says, “I write in a journal daily. This extraordinary ritual has revolutionized my mindset, transformed my heart set, and generally influenced my life exponentially.” There are people from Harvard Business Review who talked about how extraordinary leaders are people who journal.

That is coming from Forbes. I saw the article, Sam, that you shared. All of that is powerful when you take fifteen minutes, it is not a lot of time, but we often don’t think we have that time. That can completely change your attitude. You can see things. Do you have any questions, Sam, or any thoughts on that, or anybody?

To add to that, it’s taking that time to take a break. You are talking about the industrial complex or the grind culture. That is the thing that comes to head in the HR world. There is a lot of talk around the quiet quitting and these things. People are stepping back from that grind culture a bit, but making that purposeful. It doesn’t mean that we have to drop our productivity. As we take time to pause and arrange our thoughts, we stop stumbling forward. We can take things in a much more rationalized way, reflect, and take a purposeful way forward.

I received an email from a business. It is a graphic design company. It was cool because the founder of the company said that they are now doing four days a week instead of five. He said he is doing that to give his team more time off so that they can do the things that they love, which includes any other passions that they might have, but also downtime. He said. “When they come back for the four days, they are more productive. They get more done. They feel better and have a better attitude.” This is a guy in his late 40s who is doing this. I was so impressed. I thought, “Fantastic. Somebody is listening to these people and recognizing that the grind culture isn’t necessarily the best for humans.”

I think about this phrase we used to say in marketing, which is, “Sometimes it is the white space that is important.” To relate that to the way we learned, it is the integration that is so key. What you were talking about is when you are in the shower, or you are taking a walk, all of a sudden, you are integrating.

We can sit in class all day, but it is that time outside of class when our brains and heart start to put everything together. We start to integrate and draw more connections. That is when the good stuff comes. My husband, Wayne, worked for a grocery chain where you were lucky if you got one day off a week. They usually got two, but they were never together. I saw how he could never get caught up. I love that this guy saw that we could be as productive in 4 days as 5, and we could be better. That is huge.

Circling back to what Sam was saying, when you have a moment to reflect, you get greater insights. You get to focus on what your goals are for the day. What is important today? You get to integrate whatever it was from the day before into perhaps the goals that you have today. The journals that I have created are seasonally based.

The reason I did that is because I believe that seasons give us a lot of beautiful metaphors that we can look at when we look at each season. Many people are also connected to nature like the outdoors. I also took that as another way to connect to something larger than yourself. If we think we are the only ones that can feel isolated and disconnected, nature can be a great example.

That doesn’t mean that it is for everyone. I know a lot of people who seem to find nature stress-reducing. There is a lot of eco-psychology now based on therapies and forest bathing. Tons of research shows that nature is effective in reducing stress and helping people to get greater insights, release those old thoughts that maybe aren’t serving them, calm you down, and you are getting good exercise. There is a good thing going on there.

 

You said something there I want to dig into. You said, “Forest bathing.” Can you tell us what that is?

Forest bathing started in Japan. It is a process where you are guided through a forest. It is a slow walking meditation where you are guided on a forest path. There are moments when you are connecting with nature around you and doing different things. It is now popular in the United States. There are a lot of people who are forest bathing guides. That was based in Japan. Science and research were done to show that they wanted to keep their people healthy. Think about Japan for a minute. They work very hard with little breaks. They are constantly working. I work with a lot of Japanese people. They go from 7:00 to 10:00 every day. Forest bathing was an important tool to help people because of the stress and anxiety that people were feeling.

To clarify, is that a meditation process or is that actual physical going in a forest?

It is physical going in the forest.

Talking about Sumit, I think he lives in the city. Sumit, do you have a lot of forest access in India?

It is a concrete jungle that I live in. Concrete forest bathing is unfortunately what happens.

There is something to that. Starting in Japan, they are looking at their culture. They have parks and temples with a lot of natural forests around them. I’m sure, Sumit, in India, there is that as well, but it might be a different beauty and form. Instead of forest bathing, maybe it is just looking at your temple and walking around the temple. It could be a completely different experience.

Without going into a spiritual place, because I believe nature can be a spiritual experience, there is something about connecting to something larger. I will leave it at that. Seasons show us the resiliency of the earth. Now we are in the fall. We have this harvest. The leaves are falling. The leaves are starting to create compost. It is going to build the soil. It is getting colder because it is going to be winter, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. In winter, there is this opportunity to go within because that is what the earth and nature are doing naturally, the plants, animals, and everybody. Why aren’t we doing that? How can we do that?

You look at spring. The things are starting to seeds that we are planting. This is all metaphorical. What seeds might you want to plant? What ideas? What creative projects might you want to start? In the summer, you are blasting out, and then you are harvesting in the fall again. You are harvesting what you have, your projects. I’m talking as a whole team. There is this natural progression that happens. Does it happen exactly in fall, winter, and all this? Not always. It is still this natural progression of how ideas get planted, and then we move and expand on them.

That’s a great metaphor. Sharing a little bit of personal experience, what I have figured is despite living in the city, having somebody along who has a completely different perspective helps you in unlocking the beauty. My daughter is turning five soon. I enjoy going out for walks with her because she will spot something. She was like, “Lok, there is such a pretty caterpillar right there.” She will make me stop, bend, and smell the flowers.

It could be things you never even think of noticing. Look at the patterns on the leaf. It could be a different species of bird. Whereas if you are out walking the dog, you might be looking at your phone or be worried about what is going to happen in the next client meeting. Having someone different from you in terms of mindset and experience helps to use the example you were giving. In a sense, my daughter is my forest bathing guide.

That’s the sweetest thing. She is your opportunity to get out of the headspace of whatever the work thing. She is helping you move into more of an open place or authentic place at that moment with her, which allows for that inspiration, for that slowing down, and for all of these things that are important. What I like to think of also is how journaling can support you as well.

There are many forms of journaling. There is journaling with blank. No pages, nothing in it. The journal that I have created, in which there are four journals for each season, is directed. You are prompted specifically. Since you don’t have Sumit’s daughter to take you around, I have in the journal certain things that are highlighted to guide you and take you through a process to get you to all the items of the benefits of why you journal.

If you are a leader, you want to think about what was the impact of this. There is a question in the journal about that. There are certain things that I take people through to also give you, at the end of the day, an opportunity to reflect on what were the things that you want to take with you, what you notice that you are maybe not paying attention to, and what are the things you are paying attention to? Why are you not paying attention to those things? Take notice. Maybe that is a hard thing.

We are humans, whether we are a leader in our families, in nonprofits, in sales teams, or wherever we are leaderful. I always like to think we are giving ourselves the opportunity to demonstrate leadership in our own lives and around us because we are modeling it all the time. Whatever you do as a team, you are modeling to one another and to everyone listening. You model consistently, whether you know it or not. You might want to think about what you are modeling.

 

Let’s talk about resiliency as a leader. I don’t know about all of you. We talked about this grind culture and the industrial complex. In HR, especially, I see that silent resignation or disappearing from your job. It is because there isn’t a built-in sense of resilience. We have to do it ourselves, and then we have to have better boundaries.

I like that you said that. It’s very important.

I believe that there are many qualities to building resilience. One of them is being authentic. When I talked about an intuitive leader, one of them was being real. Being authentic through journaling is also important. You write down what is going on for yourself. There is the self-reflection piece and the compassion piece for yourself or maybe for another. It could be a relationship with some form of spiritual guidance. For each of us, it is going to be different. These are qualities to help you build inner resilience.

When you journal, who are you connecting to? Yourself, most importantly. I don’t know about you, but when I was probably at the peak of my career, I didn’t take the time. I wish I had. I’m learning from past experiences what didn’t work for me and what now does work for me. It is very different. Connection to myself through journaling is super important.

Once I connect to myself through my journaling process and get clear about what’s going on for me, if I feel agitated and I don’t have a clue why, I’m talking to all my team members, “What the heck? What is going on?” I checked in, wrote, and figured out, “I’m agitated because something happened in my family. I’m upset and I don’t know what to do.” I go, “Got it. That is what’s going on.” I check in with my body. It is right here in my chest.” Noticing these little pieces can allow you to relax more. I figured out what the situation was, and now I can figure out what action I want to take.

Often, we don’t go to that place. As an effective leader, you want to know what action you are going to take. For me, it might be that I will have a conversation with somebody in my family or tell somebody in my sales team or my HR department, “I’m not having a good day. This is not my best day today. I’m going to do the best I can.” There is authenticity, and then you move on.

Taking action is a big one. Gratitude is another thing for building resilience. Taking action is resiliency. In the journal that I have, at the bottom, there are six little lines. It is, “What are you grateful for?” Robin Sharma, Leader With No Title, does gratitude. He is a big believer in gratitude. Why? It is because you are looking at the positives and solutions. You looking at not what is wrong. You are looking at what is right. How many of us like to be with people who are always looking at everything that is wrong?

Trusting your intuition as a leader. We don’t talk about intuition as much. When I talk about intuitive leadership, that is a big part of listening to yourself. How do you listen to yourself? You can have a conversation, but when you write it down, that is when you get a little bit of that separation, and you can go, “That is what is going on. I am going to trust this. Something is off with the zone. I feel that. I don’t know what is going on. My action is I’m going to check it out. Char, how are you doing? Can I talk to you? I have noticed something. I feel every time I talk to you, you seem to be holding onto something. Are you okay? Is everything okay?” You check it out. Communication and resilience, that is how you build resiliency inside and outside.

A big part of intuitive leadership is listening to yourself. Click To Tweet

It sounds like you need to be talking to me. I got a lot of stuff going on in my business right now. I don’t necessarily talk to everybody about it. As an HR executive and top management strategist, it is a precarious situation because you know so much about what is going on in the organization, all the skeletons in the closet at all levels of the organization. You see the good, bad, and the ugly.

As HR professionals, we don’t have someone to talk to ourselves. I always felt frequently I’m on my own island. Your VP doesn’t necessarily want to listen to the skeletons in the closets, the problems, and the issues. As we always said, “The VP isn’t necessarily there.” I have had various peaks in my career. Your advice is spot on. Journaling would have helped me to mentally deal with the situations.

Since I took confidential information, I can’t share it with anyone else. I had a family member that still worked at the same hospital as me. Certainly, I wasn’t going to talk about the same issues going on with that individual. I also want to echo what Sumit said. The seasons are fantastic, and it is grounded. I had some stressful moments dealing with some major layoffs in my organization.

I was the head of those. It was heart-wrenching because I have a lot of empathy. I went to a pond that was at a park nearby. It was the first time I did that in that thirteen-year career to sit and look at the water and listen to the birds. I love your philosophy. That would have been extremely helpful. In the end, we are going to be asking you how to get your information because I love to take a look at your journals.

I’m happy to. What you said, Char, is interesting to me. There is a place in which there is confidentiality. That is correct. Let’s put that aside. We know that, but are we in control of everything?

No. I felt like I was trying to world hunger half the time.

Even in that process you mentioned as far as the forest walking and forest bathing, you are walking through that environment. You are being intentional about what you are seeing and experiencing through that. That is something that we can do in our business world as well, and the people around us, making sure that we understand, observe our people, see what they are going through, understand that they might be under tension, and explore that to be more successful, and how we are as a leader. That is insightful, which you mentioned, Karin. Thank you.

There is another word I’m going to throw out there. It is called biophilia. It is a science. Biophilia is the understanding that there is an innate connection to all living things. Here is the gap or the thing that is perhaps not serving us. In our industrial capitalist society, there is nothing wrong with capitalism, but the way we have industrialized it could be questioned a bit.

That is when I see the separation. We are in buildings. We are in little cubby holes. We are disconnected from the outer world, even from each other, and from ourselves. This is why journaling can be effective. As a leader, I’m not in charge of what is going on with earthquakes and the world that way. I’m not in charge of nature. I’m not the general manager of the universe. Thank you, Janet Atwood. She is the one who said that to me once. I was like, “That is right.”

Journaling can be so effective because we get to see that, as a leader, we’re not in charge of everything. Click To Tweet

When as a leader, I wanted to know and understand everything, that takes me out. I still have that tendency. I’m not done with this completely. I now find that when I want to understand something, I’m by myself. When I can say, “I could use a little help here.” Char, when you talked about your situation, for me, it is learning how to be more flexible and adaptable.

I had a group of six people. The weirdest thing happened. Three of them couldn’t make it. The internet with these other people was messed up. We were all talking like it was this weird thing happening. I finally said, “After a half hour, we are done. We are going to change this.” I was not going to force something. I couldn’t control what was happening. I said, “Let’s do this another day.” Everyone agreed and we were good.

I say this almost daily. When catastrophes, storms, and breakdowns happen with technology, my colleagues here will tell you that I talk a lot about my technology issues. I also talk about the silver lining. It is common sense. There are always lessons to be learned from those breakdowns and issues that happen.

Another metaphor we talked about a lot is when those firestorms and major critical events happen, those are the things that plant the seed. We learn the lessons that we need to improve, change, adapt and modify to perhaps not only allow those issues to happen again but be stronger and better together, working smarter and more effective.

I try to look for those even when I’m in a state of crisis, even with my businesses now. This world is going to be swirling and changing. Federal law is going to change the laws, the government, etc. All these things and outside factors are going to happen. We have to adapt and modify. What lessons am I going to learn from this shutdown?

In addition to CompTeam, where I learned a lot and why I enjoy doing these forums, I got a whole bunch of people that are my tribe. That is the big cliche term these days. They all have their own advice. Everybody has that side couch therapist. The nuggets of information I get from everyone are different.

Making sure that you have plenty of advisors and diverse advisors from different walks of life and experiences. That diversity brings us the best solution.

Sam, when I hear the word advice, I cringe. If I’m asking people for ideas and wanting their feedback, that is different than me just going up to you and saying, “Sam, you need to change.”

I have a question for you. I was at a friend’s house. We were working on a project with our business. It was a critical issue. Her husband came out to the garage smoking a cigarette. He was pacing and venting about his work. He was like, “I work eleven-hour a day.” It reminded me of my prior life because I always said, “Bring me your issue and I have a tissue.” It was one of my inside HR jokes, which is hokey. Every day, I would’ve someone come in crying. Oftentimes, they didn’t want advice. They just wanted to vent and talk. As an HR person, I had ideas. I was honored to be an HR person people wanted to talk to. That was a good thing. I thought, “Maybe I should change my career coaching strategy and be a venting post.”

What was the question?

Do you think that is a good idea? I have lots of advice. I call HR from the inside out. Oftentimes, people can’t go home and vent to their spouses, families, and dogs about all their stresses at work. Sometimes they need someone to vent and talk it through, not just a therapist. What do you think about that?

There are coaches and there is journaling. Seriously, I’m not joking. That guy was pacing, smoking, and stressed out, which it sounds like. I would be like, “Here is a journal. Follow this.” If it is not somebody who is not as comfortable with journaling, give them a guided or prompted journal, directed journaling. Some people love to journal and have lots of time, or they just want to do their own thing. That’s cool. I love that. Maybe they just need to say, “This sucks,” or whatever it is.

The art of handwriting is disappearing in my view. My handwriting is going down the tubes. I know cursive, I’m surprised, compared to many. I can also do it on word dictation now, even if you talk to yourself and have it transcribed on a document if you prefer more of an auditory experiential thing. What do you think about that, instead of just writing?

Some people are going to be digitally oriented. I’m old school. I also know that it supports the left and the right brain. I’m all about the whole-brain approach. I put in the chat box some questions that you might want to be asking yourself. I’m coming from intuitive leadership. There are five qualities of an intuitive leader. What are some questions that you could be asking? It could be on a regular basis, weekly basis or whatever works.

This is effective leadership here. When I think about being real as an intuitive leader, asked yourself, “How am I real and transparent? Where can I be more in this all areas of my life? Where could I be?” If there is confidentiality, clearly not with whomever, but here, “Yes, I could.” You find support systems. We are not meant to be on our own completely. It’s the idea that we are individuals to the point of capital I in the United States. Nothing is wrong with being an individual, but when we take it to the extreme, which is what I’m talking about, I believe we isolate ourselves.

We are not meant to be on our own completely. Click To Tweet

I agree with the point about being old school and writing things out. I don’t seem to have the best handwriting. I rediscovered a love for writing with a fountain pen. It slows me down. It lets me deliberate a lot more. It is almost as if you can feel the left and the right brain working in tandem. I was also trying to look for a journal that I have been using. This is a guided journal based on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I think it helps. It got weekly guidance, and using it has helped me be a lot more structured. I often lose a sense of time and structure. It is good to keep myself disciplined while also being able to think ahead and be a little creative.

Steven Covey is another great one for journaling. That is wonderful. Thank you for that. Wendy, did you want to say something?

I have all my pens in all my different colors. It is fun when you treat yourself to something like that. They are not expensive. The rainbow is my favorite color. I want to have all the colors, and I have horrible handwriting. I should have been a doctor if that stereotype is true. I remember I got a C+ in handwriting in the fourth grade. I didn’t get Cs in any subject. I wasn’t a bad student. That crushed me, but I embraced it now. I just have bad handwriting. The point of all this is it is less about that. What is important is what you write, but it is also the mechanics of the writing.

For me, it’s choosing the colors, even doodling, drawing lines, drawing arrows, connecting, and stuff like that. That is a piece of it that you don’t get if you do it electronically. I do both for practical reasons. If I’m in the car and I need to make a note, I can talk into my phone and make a note like if I’m on the road or on the go. I went “paperless” many years ago. I decided I was going to go paperless. I don’t have a lot of paper in my house, but I do have a journal and my night pen.

The fountain pen is a big thing right now, like having a nice pen. There is something to that. I love how it slows you down because it does.

I’m with Sumit. My father had immaculate handwriting, as people did back in the day. He prided himself on that. It is almost an art form. That is a great way to connect the mind there.

That is the right and the left brain working together. In the journal that I have created, I always have a daily question for you. You can always modify it for yourself. I have a question right here that says, “How does this season gift me with what I need for my well-being?” As a leader, I might ask, “How do I model this?” I might add a little something there. Going back to the chat where I put the five qualities of an intuitive leader. Being respectful is one of the qualities. You can ask yourself, “How do I show up as being respectful? Where do I not?”

To get a sense of who and what you are doing, be real with yourself. Journaling can allow one to do that. If there is anybody out there who thinks, “I can’t journal because somebody will read it,” you can burn your journal. You can do this and let it go. Change it into flame at some point, shred it or whatever. I want to say, “Don’t let that stop you.”

Being resilient is another quality. We talked about resilience. What areas are you strong in, and where might you want to grow? Looking at the bigger picture and being responsive as an intuitive leader. I like people being responsive. I don’t know about you all, but when somebody doesn’t respond, I’m like, “What kind of customer service is that? What is that?” How do I show that I am responsive? How do you show as a leader?

Reflection or being reflective is the fifth quality. Journaling is a key to this piece, but what have I learned from today? That is what we started with, Sam. You were saying something about the insights or Wendy, one of you. There is an important piece to what you have learned today. What have you learned that you want to continue? What have you learned that you don’t want to continue? Char, you are looking over to the side. What are you thinking? I can tell what you are thinking.

I’m looking at this side because I was thinking of my vice president, the one that I was talking about earlier. He says, “What can I continue? What can I stop?” That whole stoplight type of aspect. It was the first time I ever saw that behavior. I thought it was genius as my leader that he was open to my feedback, and what we could learn from this together, working smarter and better together.

He brought that practice in, which is common since most of us have heard that process now, to be vulnerable and be open to feedback, what he could learn, and what I could learn from being more assertive. We do something called the TMA. I am low in assertiveness, but I have a high tolerance. Sometimes being high tolerance can have its drawbacks too. Those dialogues were helpful to me because he was more assertive, and I was trying to help him be more tolerant.

There is something about boundaries that we want to keep coming back to. When you are journaling, you are also starting to notice, “What action I might want to take regarding a situation?” It allows the leader to say, “That didn’t work for me.” Saying it in a way that is respectful, whether it is at home, in the workplace or wherever it is. That is important that we are also starting to see what we need and want ourselves, what might also be important for us as leaders, and what we need and want as well.

 

Having the psychological safety to talk about it is key.

We do have to have some safety and have built up some trust. That is important.

If you can’t talk about it, write it down.

Karin, I love to close here and see how people can get ahold of you or learn more about where to purchase your journals.

It is DrKarinLubin.com/journaling-bundle. You can see that there are two different journals that I have. There are two sets. You can get one out of four. You don’t have to get them all, but it shows you specifically what the journals are and what each journal focuses on. They each have themes. I also wanted to give everyone this journal resource guide. Sam, I don’t know if you want to have it on your website as something that you give to people or if they go to your website. How would you like to do that?

Send it my way, and I will post it in the chat and on our social media if that is okay.

I would love to do that. This structure gives you specific things for you to do. Find a time of the day that you are always going to journal. Set up the time. For me, it is always in the morning. Maybe you do it next to a window, and you can look outside. Maybe you do it outside where you live. It depends. Maybe it is in a place where you light a candle because it is dark. Whatever you do, make it a ritual or an effective habit for yourself. You can do any other things with it. This little resource guide is going to help you set up a structure. You can even decide if you want a blank journal.

I find myself going to too many places, and I get all distracted. I like short, sweet, and to the point. That is me. Not everyone is like that. This gives you, in this resource guide, Sam, a little more of a structure. People can go bullet to bullet, and then have a structure to start a journaling practice. I do believe it is important as a leader and individual to be clear about what you need, what you want, and how you can do the best for your group, team, and organization. We got to keep doing that beautiful internal reflection. Thank you so much, Sam and everybody.

Karin, it is a wonderful conversation. I look forward to sharing that link with everyone. Thank you once again, Karin, for joining us on the show.

It is my pleasure. Thank you.

Have a wonderful week, and we will see you next episode. Thanks, everyone.

Bye. Thank you.

Keep on journaling.

 

Important Links

• CompTeam
• Dr. Karin Lubin
• Mindstone
• Rest is Resistance
• The Leader Who Had No Title
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• DrKarinLubin.com/journaling-bundle

 

About Karin Lubin

Co-Founder of Quantum Leap Coaching Karin and her husband are co-founders of Quantum Leap Coaching and Consulting, a consultancy specialized in helping individuals and business leaders to take ‘quantum leaps’ into living and leading from mindful purpose, passion and authenticity.

Karin is currently authoring a book on the core principles of high-performing “quantum leap leadership” and “enlightened teams” and strategies to accelerate connection, personal growth & transformation, purposeful contribution, and success.

Karin is also a Global Director & Senior Master Trainer of The Passion Test® Certification Program and The Passion Test® for Kids & Teens and supports 2500+ Passion Test® Facilitators. She has helped thousands discover and more fully express their passion and leadership in this capacity.