I invested my time and money from my business in coaching for myself.And I will tell you, if you ever work with a coach and they don't have a coach themselves in some capacity, then that may be a warning sign.
This year specifically, I am being coached in a program that is designed to help me grow my skills to serve organizations better. with how I partner with clients, solve their problems, and create impact for leaders and organizations as a whole.
And that investment from the business that I prioritize for my own development is over $15,000 a year.Welcome to You Belong in the C-Suite podcast.You are ambitious in life and in your career, but something is missing.
you want to bring more of your passion to what you do.Because let's be honest, you pour a ton into your work and it needs to mean more. I'm your host, Laura Igle.I'm a mom, wife, PhD, coach, advocate, introvert, and indoor rowing fanatic.
I'm passionate about living a life that's in line with my values.We'll give you the actionable tips and tools you need to lead with your values, make a difference, and have career success.
The world needs more diversity and authenticity in the top jobs at organizations.Your leadership belongs there.You belong in the C-suite. What gets you up in the morning?What drives your decisions?What do you stand for?
No idea, not even sure where to start.I use my values to guide my life and career.It's the basis of how I've built boundaries for myself and stuck to them.Are you ready to dig into what matters to you?
Go to thecatchgroup.com to download your free values worksheet.That's thecatchgroup.com to download your free values worksheet, to get to your core values and take action on what matters most.
Welcome to this week's episode of the you belong in the C-suite podcast.I built the values first framework to use with leaders, teams, and organizations. To make it simple, I built the framework with an acronym that spells out values.
In the Values First framework, the U in that word stands for uplifting others.And to uplift others, you need to ensure that you support yourself, peers, and the team to hold and prioritize their values.
One way to do that is to model your values to others.So today, I am doing just that. I'm going to model my values to you in a different way than I have before.I want to be super transparent about how I invested in myself this year.
So this is me modeling transparency on how I've prioritized a few of my core values, specifically my core values of growth and my core value of balance.
Some of the things I'll talk about today are examples of how I prioritized my values by investing time, investing money either personally or through my business, or investing my energy.
Some of these are boundaries that I've kept for myself to prioritize my values, to show care for the things that matter most for me.
The L in the values first framework stands for life boundaries, not work life boundaries, but life boundaries, because you are a whole human with a whole life.
My intent is to model my values and hopefully inspire you to invest in yourself through the prioritization of your values.So before we start, I just want to say I live a pretty privileged life.I was born into a middle class white family.
My parents are still married.So I've had their financial support throughout my life, their emotional support, all the things.
I got to go to college that mostly didn't have any undergraduate debt, a little bit when I finished that, but it allowed me to pursue graduate school and then get my PhD, which I funded with scholarships and financial aid loans.
Then that enabled me to advance my career.That plus my achievement orientation led me to be pretty career focused.With that privilege and hard work, I'm in the position now to live a life that my early career self couldn't even have dreamt of.
And not everybody is in my position.Some of you that are listening to this didn't have the support systems that I had growing up.
Even now, I have the support of living near extended family, having supportive friends, and an amazing spouse that is truly an equal partner.That said, I'm still going to talk about the step that I prioritize for myself and my values.
And I'm going to do so unapologetically because it shouldn't be a taboo topic. I wish I had heard more leaders talk about this kind of stuff.And so I'm going to talk about it here.
And I've worked too hard to build boundaries, to invest that time, money and energy.And I want to be open and transparent about that.So I'm modeling that for you today.Remember, these are decisions that I made for myself.
You can make different decisions for you or you could do the same for yourself and prioritize your values.And I hope you really do. First, I want to share the things that I did to care for my value of growth.
I'm going to talk about three topics in this category, coaching, therapy, and rowing.Yes, coaching, therapy, and rowing.First, let me tell you about how I define my value of growth.Growth is my own growth.
Now, you know, I am a coach and a facilitator and a consultant by profession.And I do that every day for my clients through my value of development, developing others.But growth, growth means my own growth.
And I've shared this quote before, but I heard it in an episode from Amy Porterfield's podcast called Online Marketing Made Easy that resonated with me deeply. And it's if you aren't uncomfortable, you aren't learning.
So my value of growth means I'm learning and evolving.So that often means uncomfortable.And I want to hold myself accountable to being uncomfortable so that I can stay growing and evolving.And here's how I do that first coaching.I invested my time.
and money for my business and coaching for myself.And I will tell you, if you ever work with a coach and they don't have a coach themselves in some capacity, then that may be a warning sign.
This year specifically, I am being coached in a program that is designed to help me grow my skills to serve organizations better. with how I partner with clients, solve their problems, and create impact for leaders and organizations as a whole.
And that investment from the business that I prioritize for my own development is over $15,000 a year.And I will tell you, it is worth every penny.So how does it help me live my value of growth?
It gives me access to peers, leading companies that are doing similar things in their businesses, so I can learn from them. It gives me content to try out new things, maybe that I wouldn't have tried before because I didn't feel confident doing it.
It gives me the space to share my wins and my learning moments, those uncomfortable ones, but in a supportive space.
It helps me identify blind spots in my business that I've been ignoring or not placing a priority on because maybe it isn't my favorite thing to do.
I also get to get real time feedback that's helpful, not only for me, but ultimately it helps me get the impact that my clients need.
And for this example, I'm caring for my value of growth by investing my money, my time and energy in that coaching program. The second thing that I'm doing to care for my value of growth is prioritizing therapy.
Really, I could have put this one in multiple buckets of living my values, but I purposefully put it here because truly it is uncomfortable sometimes.So I know I'm growing.Here's my take on therapy.Everyone can benefit from it.
I need a coach and I need a therapist.They are for two very different things.And although sometimes the topics intersect, I think they serve different purposes.But I am a big pro-therapy person.
I have a therapist that I sometimes see weekly or sometimes it is every other week depending on scheduling. but lots of things come up in therapy.
But the best part about it is that it gives me a way to prioritize and process emotions that I've tucked away or pushed down.I don't know about you, but sometimes that's what I do.
If someone asks me how I'm doing, even if I'm not fine, you'll probably hear me say, I'm fine.You know, that meme of the dog standing in a room where everything is on fire.And he says, It's fine.I'm fine.That's sometimes how I feel.
So therapy gives me a space to not be fine.And in therapy, my therapist will call me out when I minimize an emotion or gloss it over or change topics quickly.So I don't have to feel a feeling that is uncomfortable.
And instead I sit in the uncomfortableness of that feeling. if only for a few minutes to really feel it, and then it passes and I can process it.And in that room, I'm uncomfortable, but I'm growing.
The third example that I'll share of investing in my value of growth is in rowing.So I've talked about it a couple of times on the podcast.There's a whole episode about rowing and leadership.We'll link it in the show notes.
But this one also could probably be put in with balance, my core value of balance too.But for this conversation about growth and being uncomfortable, I'm putting it squarely within my core value of growth.
Again, because sometimes I'm uncomfortable there.I'm uncomfortable because I'm still learning.I'm not a super seasoned rower on the water yet, and I'm still learning and putting myself out there every time I get in the boat.
For example, this summer I signed up for my first regatta.That is a fancy word for a rowing race. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but I knew that it would give me an experience that I hadn't had before.
So I leaned into that discomfort and signed up.And it was definitely a growth experience.It wasn't just uncomfortable.It was sometimes pure chaos. I really did grow.
I'll highlight that experience in an upcoming episode so that you get all the learnings from that too.
But I use that as an example to say that I invested my time, my money, and my energy, and even sometimes sleep because you have to get up pretty early to row.And I did that to put myself in uncomfortable situations for my own growth.
and not just physically, but really rowing is more of a mental thing.
And I have gotten better incrementally in my skill as a rower, but that confidence, those mindset shifts that I've had on the water more mentally have given me confidence that's translated to other parts of my life too.
So to recap, I've invested time, money, and energy to prioritize my value of growth, to really invest in myself, through coaching, therapy, and rowing.Next, I want to share how I invested in my core value of balance.
Remember, I don't believe in work-life balance.Balance here to me means being centered, setting my pace, and knowing when I don't feel balanced.
And usually it looks like ensuring that my introverted self gets the quiet time or the time outside to move my body that I need.I'm going to tell you about three things that I did this year to create space for the value of balance.
The first one that I'll talk about is about literal space, a location.Well, I guess it's two locations. My husband and I decided at the beginning of the year to invest in our house.
Every year we schedule time at the beginning of the year to build out our individual goals and our family goals.We had wanted to update our kitchen.Well, I know I had wanted to update our kitchen for a while.
And in our conversation this year, we decided this was the year to do it. And of course, with any renovation, it grew to include other things.We added some stuff in the living room and game room.
So it got a little bit bigger than we originally anticipated.And you know that I'm an introvert and for introverts, your home is kind of your safe place.And I was so excited to give our space more intention.
We hired a designer and project manager because we knew it was too big of a project for us to handle.And we love the design so much.
Brittany Lyons was our designer, and she was on one of our first podcast episodes in the early days, episode number 10.I interviewed her on the topic of self-care through peaceful, functional design.
And that was exactly what we were going for, to create a peaceful and functional design.We scheduled it to start in the summer.We planned vacations, be out of the house for it.
However, as so many Renos do, we had a few setbacks and it pushed the timeline back and we ended up being out of our house longer than we anticipated.
And that was way more stressful than I thought it would be, especially for me, who likes being at home. In addition, we often work from home, and I realized that I, in fact, cannot work in the house while contractors are renovating.
It gets noisy, and I can't concentrate.And to ensure that, I decided to prioritize a dedicated place that I could go work that was not at our house. So I got a dedicated office at a co-working location that I use occasionally.
And that was the best decision I ever made through the whole process.Well, not the whole process, but it was a pretty great decision for me.And it's worked out so well that I'm keeping that office space.
So for this example, to really live my value of balance, we made changes to our physical space.We invested money and energy into that. But I can say that I care for my values along the way.And the end result was so worth it.
Our downstairs is functional and peaceful in a place where this introvert can go and feel centered and balanced.The second thing I did to invest in my value of balance is something that I'm totally owning.And I do not feel guilty about this.
And I love that it has become something that I totally look forward to. I decided to get monthly facials and that's like a thing I do now.
So maybe that's something you've never thought of, or maybe I'm just late to the party on this, but it's kind of one of my favorite things to do.It's time just for me.They play soothing music.
I get to smell really great scents from the products that they use.And it's finally helped me to actually stick to a skincare routine.Every time I come back, I feel refreshed.
My husband jokes that when I come back, he can tell I have a totally new face.The face that he sees is a balanced one for sure.So I am now investing my time and money to feel more energized and at peace with that as well.
And the last thing I want to share is something I know I'm late to the party to.But first, let me tell you about the pain point of it and why at times I don't feel balanced or centered. So clothes, like what to wear.
Some days it is super easy for me to figure out what I want to wear, while other days I have the hardest time.Generally, this has been a trend for me over my career.
My younger sister has helped me in the past by being my personal stylist and going shopping with me to just pick out things that are current that fit my style and most importantly fit my body.I've had body image struggles for many years.
My weight fluctuates here and there and when clothes don't fit, it kind of sucks.And so I'm not always in the most body positive space when that happens.Clothes should fit me, not the other way around.And I know that.
But sometimes that's still a pain point.I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one that feels this way, especially when it comes to workwear.But
It can be a real confidence hit or a confidence boost when you feel good in the clothes that you're wearing.So back to the thing that I invested in.Last year, I could not figure out what to wear to this wedding that I was really looking forward to.
So my sister suggested that I rent something on Rent the Runway.I had forgotten that that even existed.For those of you who don't know, Rent the Runway is a company that you can rent clothes from.
You can pick out something on their app, they send it to you, you try it on. and you wear it after you're done you return it.
You pay a fee to rent it and you can buy it if you want but usually people rent the clothes and then send them back when they're done for like an event or something.There's lots of companies that do this now.
The benefit is that you don't have a bunch of dresses in this example in your closet that you invested in you only wore like one time.
So I used Run the Runway for that wedding and then realized that not only do they have like things for special events, they have regular clothes too. Of course they do.And this, my friends, has taken the pain out of figuring out what to wear.
Even with weight fluctuation, this simple thing, changing how I get clothes, has helped me live my value of balance.
I'm not spending a ton of time trying to figure out what to wear or going shopping because I choose several items to be sent to me and then I can send them back when I'm done.
I can use the pieces for going to a client site, teaching a class, or just for regular casual clothes. It was also a pretty big game changer for me when I realized I could also use this for some of our vacations.
So some of our summer trips when we went to cooler climates, I didn't buy new clothes.Instead, I just rented what I needed depending on where we were going and the temperatures.
If my body changes, I can go up a size down or a size up to make sure that the clothes fit my body right now. Doing this simple thing took a struggle out of living my value of balance.
I was able to create a boundary and changing the system that was outsourcing how I got close. To get closer to living my value of balance.It was simple, but it has been a game changer for me.
So to recap, I invested in myself and my core value of balance by creating spaces at home and work that I can find peace and be centered.
prioritize alone time by getting monthly facials, and I outsourced a pain point to create more balance in my everyday by using Rent the Runway to create easy ways for me to get dressed, decreasing pain points and increasing my balance.
I am transparently sharing these things with you to model how I invested in myself and how I cared for my values this year.Many of these things are really working well for me, so I'm going to continue them
and continue these approaches and strategies for next year.And it's fun to kind of just explain some of these things on how I decide to spend my time, money, or energy.And you can do the same.
I don't feel guilty about any of these things, especially about prioritizing myself. Because doing that enables me to live my other core values of family, development, and advocacy.
Because I invest my time, money, and energy into my own growth and balance means that I'm able to show up better for my family, my clients, and the groups and causes that I volunteer for.My impact in those places is greater.
Yours can be too, but not if you aren't caring for all of your values, not just the ones that serve others. So how are you investing in yourself?What's working?What's not working?
How can investing in yourself be a way that you show care for your values, the things that matter to you?How will you prioritize you and invest in yourself as you close out this year and start next year?
Prioritize one thing, even if it's a small action. You may be investing in yourself already, and you should celebrate that.Celebrate it by doing it even more.You may also need to recalibrate something.
What's one thing that you can do to invest in one of your values?How can you use the Values First framework to support you in that process, whether it's building a boundary or modeling it for others?
I'd love to hear from you, so let me know how you are investing in yourself by sending me a note at hello at thecatchgroup.com or sending me a message on LinkedIn.
If part of the investment in yourself includes clarifying career goals or even needing a community to hold you accountable, I can help you do that too.
Join our waitlist for our group coaching program, which will start in Q1 of 2025, or set up a quick connect with me to talk about one-on-one coaching.Investing in yourself, aligned to your values, can mean the big things or the small things.
Either way, the commitment to you and your values is the important takeaway here.You deserve to be invested in, unapologetically.Remember, your leadership belongs here. You belong in the C-suite.
I want to thank you so much for listening to the You Belong in the C-suite podcast.If you are enjoying this content, please remember to rate and review on Apple podcasts. By leaving a review, you're helping others find this content.
We will be featuring five-star reviews on air in upcoming episodes.Editing and support for the podcast is done by S&E Podcast Management.To get more tips and tools to help you live a life guided by your values, go to thecatchgroup.com.
Keep your boundaries and take care.
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