Have you ever been to the doctor and been asked to rate how you’re feeling on a scale from frowny face to smiley face?
Today I ask you, “How’s your energy, my friend?”
Congratulations!!
The journey from where you are to where you want to be starts with one small step: identifying where you are.
Sounds simple, but it's all too easy to get lost and frustrated trying to go from where you think you are, where you wish you were, or where you think you should be, to where you think you want to be, or where you think you should want to be.
Instead, identify where you actually are and accept that as your starting point.
From there, you can create a more meaningful and deeply fulfilling vision of where you actually want to be. With awareness of both the vision and the starting point, you can take conscious, aligned steps to close the gap.
Energy Leadership™ is a powerful tool for identifying where you are energetically. It's a practical, 7-level framework for shifting your energy and perspective — and the action that follows — in any moment or situation.
😎 It’s like having 7 pairs of glasses that you can look through, and you get to choose which pair to use to inform your next step.
(Note: What I share here is my interpretation of the copyrighted work of Bruce D. Schneider and the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). The "win-lose" spectrum that you'll see in the energy level graphics is quoted or paraphrased from Bruce’s work. The emoji scale and remaining interpretations are mine, integrating my specific lived experience of EL and general lived experience of life itself.)
Here's what life looks like through each pair of glasses:
While it might seem at first like the “goal” of EL is to race up the scale to hang out at Level 7, it's not a race and there's no finish line.
The true goal of EL is to grow in awareness.
Awareness of how you show up.
Awareness of your default tendencies and the beliefs you hold.
Awareness of how those defaults and beliefs are working for you, and what you’re creating with them.
If you want to create something different, from awareness you can step into conscious choice.
The EL framework takes off the blinders you might not even realize you’ve been wearing so you can see more choices in any moment.
Where before you might only have had one or two pairs of glasses, now you have access to seven.
👓👓👓👓👓👓👓
This is not a graded exercise. It's not about "reaching” a certain level and proclaiming yourself enlightened. You will move up and down the energy scale over and over in the course of a moment, an hour, a day, a life. The question is, how consciously will you do that?
This is the journey of a lifetime, and that journey is made from taking one small step after another. 👣
"Sounds awesome," you say. And how do we make this more tangible?
Here’s an example of what it looks like to apply EL to everyday life:
Let’s pretend that you're driving home in traffic after a long day of work, and someone speeds past you and cuts you off.
Here's how you might respond at each level:
😞 Level 1: "Sigh. This always happens to me."
Sees life as happening TO them, defaults to "woe is me."
😡 Level 2: "That MF-er! What a jerk!"
Sees life as a constant fight, defaults to conflict and blame.
🙂 Level 3: "Whew! At least I didn't get in an accident."
Rationalizes to feel better and release stress.
🤗 Level 4: "Maybe they're rushing to the hospital, I hope they're ok!"
Focuses first on the wellbeing of others.
😁 Level 5: "What's the opportunity here?"
Easily identifies ways to move forward powerfully. Loves turning inspiration into aligned action.
⏸️ Let's pause for a moment.
Levels 6 and 7 can be a bit esoteric, especially if you're not very familiar with how they feel. You've probably experienced moments at these levels. When you get really grounded in Levels 1-5, Levels 6 and 7 start to open up naturally.
Back to our traffic example:
😍 Level 6: "I am always guided to the perfect people and the perfect experiences at the perfect time to support the expression of my highest potential. What a beautiful part of the journey!"
Embodies a deep sense of inner peace no matter what happens. From chaos and turmoil to celebration, meets every situation and the full range of human emotions with a permanent underlying joy for the experience of life.
😇 Level 7: "I AM the other person. I AM everyone gathered in this illusion called 'traffic.' I AM consciousness experiencing life as a human. I AM."
Recognizes oneness with everyone and everything, experiences complete non-judgment and absolute passion for every aspect of life, and sees through the illusions that humanity has created to define and describe the world we "appear" to live in.
While we could explore the nature of consciousness and reality forever, the practical skill here is cultivating your ability to tap into this being-ness energy at any time. It's hard-wiring your connection with the cosmic intelligence that IS you and is always available.
At any one moment you experience a unique mix of all these energies based on your level of awareness and consciousness.
The more you practice living and responding to life at higher levels of energy, the more you can consciously access all the levels below, rather than defaulting to them unconsciously. You have more choices in any situation, and you begin to choose with effortless flow how to show up in each moment.
Way cool, right?
Pause and celebrate! 🎉 You've learned what Energy Leadership™ IS.
(I mean it: pause. Take a breath in. Let it out.)
Did you do it?
Yay!!
Now what?
👣 Remember that the journey from where you are to where you want to be starts with one small step: identifying where you are.
Identify where you are energetically with the Energy Leadership™ Index assessment.
This unique assessment provides a current snapshot of your energetic baseline. It reveals your current mix of energy levels when you’re in the zone and also when you’re under stress — so you can discover what’s working for you and what default reactions might be getting in your way.
You are not "stuck" at your current baseline. You get to choose how you show up to this adventure called Life.
Ready to get started?
Take your online Energy Leadership™ Index assessment through ONE SMALL STEP! After you take the assessment, you'll receive a video debrief from me that walks you through the results at your own pace. You'll also receive a workbook you can use over and over as you apply what you've learned to real-life situations.
With this practical Energy Leadership™ framework, reclaim the power to shift your energy and perspective in any moment or situation, so you can rock your leadership and rock your life — one small step at a time.
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