Are we paying attention to how we think and make mental transitions? And are our teams at the mercy of our mindsets? Do we, as leaders, have expectations of our teams that stem from strength or weaknesses in our ability to transition mentally?

This episode explores times of war, peace, and personal stress as initial examples of ways that we can pay attention to our thinking. Do our teams understand how we think and approach things? Are there any current misunderstandings due to miscommunications that track back to how we think?

Leaders have strong influence on the team's operations. Knowing how we transition mentally, and maybe learning how our team members transition mentally, can help with more clear communication. Please, take the next 5-10 business days and be mindful. Pay attention to thoughts and mental transitions.

What kind of mover are you? Have you paid attention to your patterns of planning, packing, and moving? What patterns spill over into your leadership practice?

Listen as Dr. Shaunta Scroggins shares some personal lessons from reflection and observation about her moving history.

Our homework is to be thoughtful and grace-full in assessing ourselves. Look for change, growth, and patterns. Is our behavior constant or does it change when it's moving time? How much of our behavior is core to how we handle, manage, or lead other kinds of transitions?

Click here for the link to a search result on "emotion wheel."

This episode emphasizes finding the best ways to use language during emotional transitions.

If ever asked how you feel, a tool to help communicate with simplicity and clarity is the emotion wheel. Dr. Scroggins explains how learning to find her words, and asking for time to do so, grounded her during transitions.

Let's practice saying what we mean in every situation, so that when important transitions arise, we will confidently speak up and know we are being authentic!

This episode confronts the leadership trends of planting one's practice in only one model without room for growth and agility. Someone has to lead, AND there should be collaborative moments for team member contributions. We need both.

Models referenced: situational, servant, transformational leadership

Books referenced: Turn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet and Servant Leadership Characteristics in Organizational Life by DeGraaf, Tilley, and Neal

YouTube Interview with Captain Marquet: https://youtu.be/PbqTbGHd5K8?si=GmkQAvaBRiBO1-Fc

This episode is about how we relate to time. Have we thought about how our earliest conditioning has helped or hindered how we transition with time? Deadlines, synchronizing schedules with others, making appointments, keeping appointments, deciding when our time is wasted or best spent, and more. What were your earliest lessons about time? Who taught you?

Take a day, a week, and pay attention. Pay attention to howyou show up in your life. On an average day,

1. Do you wake up at your alarm or turn over?
2. Do you have slow mornings or does your day begin with a rushed flurry of activity?
3. Do you eat breakfast?
4. Do you have a morning meditation or prayer time?
5. Do you arrive to your work early—whether in a physical location or your home office?
6. What about meetings?
7. Do you take an offsite lunch?
8. Do you work into the evenings on most nights?
9. What about your deliverables? Do you plan your work and work your plan? Or do you work under pressure close to the deadline?
10. Do you volunteer? Serve in a faith community? Take classes for continuing ed, a certification or degree?

Books referenced in this episode are 86400: Manage Your Purpose to Make Every Second of Each Day Count by Lavaille Lavette and Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Listen to episode 8 in season 1 for a review of Essentialism.

This episode is a review of Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey.

Leaders, how are you resting in your transitions? What were you taught about rest? What do you believe about rest?

Some say, "I'll rest when I'm dead." Others say, "I'll rest when I finish this or that."

Tricia Hersey, founder of the Rest Is Resistance framework, shares other thoughts about rest. Much more than an exhortation to rest, this book faults capitalism and white supremacy--starting on plantations-- as the generator of what we know today as grind culture. Full of reasoning, anecdotes, inspirations and calls to action, Hersey has inspired many to set a rest practice with intention.

In this episode, we are flung back in time to our 22-year-old selves. Were we leaders? Dr. Shaunta shares a recent experience in memory when reconnecting with a former boss and his wife. She realized his leadership and impact on her life and leadership practice at the end of this meeting.

Today we take a journey and consider if there's an I.O.U. anywhere for you. Is there anyone for you to thank? OR, how can you live your thanks by creating room for others?

This is a review for How to Walk into a Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away by Emily P. Freeman.

In this season where we focus on transitions, this book provides a coach, guiding questions, appropriate anecdotes, and thought-provoking perspectives. Entering and exiting are the modes of our life. We are always moving in one of these directions. Where Emily P. Freeman applies pressure and places significance is the how. How we enter and exit rooms matter.

This is a faith-driven book for everyone. There are explicit references to God for believers in Jesus Christ. But if you are not a person of faith, there is much to be gained for personal reflection, growth, and practice.

If you have read this book, leave a comment with how it helped you. If you have not read this book, consider adding it to your library.

Lead well, read well.