Leadership introspection and breathing yourself away - reflections from Marshall Goldsmith

Take a breath and wash away the past self. That's one core lesson I learned from Marshall Goldsmith, one of the world's most successful leadership coaches. Every breath is an opportunity for renewal. With each breath, you can let go of the previous version of yourself and enter the present moment. Then, the next breath will cleanse any lingering trace of the past.

This lesson can be applied to leadership, personal life, and any situation. Rooted in Buddhism, it's easy to understand but may be harder to implement. Internalizing it through direct experience is key to truly believing in it or discarding it as not valuable for yourself. Breathing is a free tool that can have a huge impact on our sense of self in everyday life.

When you breathe your previous version of self out of the way, you are dropping into the imminent present, the situation and circumstance in front of you. No matter how psychologically challenging it may feel, you have the capacity to overcome such challenges within you if you inquire deeply enough. That is also the key lesson Viktor Frankl explains through his book Man's Search for Meaning.

Breathing can be liberation and suffocation depending on its pattern and intensity. Breath gently, and you can affect your physiology by calming yourself down and immersing yourself in the present. Breath heavily with heavy inhales, and you can increase your sense of alertness or anxiety in the present moment (how the lungs work).

At the end of the conversation, Marshall Goldsmith suggested asking yourself a few questions each day to reflect on your life path and decisions. He suggested scoring each question from 0 to 10, or 0 to 1, or whatever metric you prefer. The important part is to answer them with a simple, straightforward system in order to stay consistent. Here are some of the questions I found most useful and started incorporating into my daily journaling:

1. did I do my best today to set clear goals?
2. did I do my best to make progress toward achieving my goals?
3. did I do my best to find meaning?
4. did I do my best to be happy?
5. did I do my best to build positive relationships?
6. did I do my best to be fully engaged and present?

And then you can breath yourself away from attaching your identity to your answers, and just begin again.

SIMILAR READINGS:

• Attention, not time, is your most valuable resource
• Do what’s urgent, skip what’s important - the urgency trap
• Give up control to take control - Ricardo Semler and leadership
• How you can influence your mindset to live a more examined life