Stefan’s Weeknotes 03/08/2024
Inspired by the weeknotes of friends and coachees including John Fitzgerald, Steve Messer and Nour Sidawi - I thought I'd give it a go.
Here's a dive in to the success of this past week.
I start with what I've been up to and then the successes; because it's easy to look into the dark rather than the light. Isn't it?
Hope you enjoy it; comments, observations and thoughts welcome.
What have I been up to?
(Question inspired by @James_ Arthur_Cattell week notes)
It's been a busy week.
Training rides including a fab ride out with the crew at Adrians Bike Shop and my mate Andy Hoath - Engineer Extraordinaire
Coaching - An Academic Adventurer and Acrobatic Pilot, A brilliant creative female leader, A digital design leader and a Public Affairs leader.
Meet ups - Fab meet up with Sara Truckel (Read more here), David Lynch whom I know from my days at Santander as well as John Fitzgerald Digital Leader in the charity sector and cyclist
Taking Will to rugby and Vera to dance; I'd be happy for that to swap round - but hey you cant have everything ;-)
And gutted a doible booking meant I couldn't make the IOW Chamber Networking event at Liz Earle with a short talk from Helen Curel, Head of Isle of Wight Operations – Liz Earle and Martha Henson, comms officer for the IW Biosphere https://iwbiosphere.org/. The Isle of Wight won UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status in 2019 and in celebration of the 5th - I'll find another way.
What's been good about this week?
This week has been a funny kettle of fish; but the ups have definitelty been the meet up with Sara Truckel and the discussion about our difference and who is our ideal client.
Whilst I have a gentle heart, I've always been one to stand up to bullies. It's felt for a long time like the bullies in the world have been driving us towards oblivion and the desire to help good people lead great things is based upon addressing that.
The chat with Sara made me start to think about how I can be more, what I'm calling 'up spoken' rather than 'outspoken', by supporting the need to explore the arguments from all sides of a 'critical challenge to the world' and create strategies for saving this planet.
It's also been great to slow down a little on the training front on the bike as I was becoming a little jaded; that's allowed more time to speak on rides and laugh out loud. Must do more of that.
The final thing I'll mention is the coaching session with a female leader this week; her words at the end of the session really touched me and I'm gonna lean into working with more leaders who wouldn't usually look at executive coaching because of its implication of exclusivity.
You can read what I write about that session here on linkedin.
Oh and I sold three pieces of artwork and two t-shirts in 4 hours at the little boat this week; i just opened the door and saw what happened - the creative chats were inspiring - I'm gonna do more of it.
What am I grateful for?
I am grateful for the network I have and the momentum that's growing towards some real lines of sight in my work.
I'm grateful for Dominique who makes life full of sunshine and I'm grateful for the self confidence to be rather than chase - a lot more than I ever have in my life.
I am grateful for the space to type this on a saturday morning before a kids party for vera and a 'kick about' with Willoughby.
What could have gone better?
This week I had less mojo for my bike training - but it's simply because i've been pushing on a number of fronts and the fact that you have to have what i call 'ebb and flow'. Like my coaching clients - I'm human too. As I say "If you keep pushing; one day you can't" and remember "...80% of progress is seen in rest". And its true; we need to apply that to leadership and life more dont we?
Apart from that the only other thing that springs to mind is me being able to explain a little better how I work to a prospective new client. My coachees tell me that what they love about me is my non formulaic approach which is obviously underpinned by loads of 'stuff' and experience. Getting that across momentarily caught me on the hop - so you know what - I sat down and thought of a metaphor for it; more of that another time.
Building trust in something until you've experienced it - is an understandable need and I'm looking forward to 'winning them over' and stretching myself to get it across. More social media posts beckon.
What am I reading?
This week I am reading a piece by Dr David Spindler - last week I talked about his podcast appeareance on Rich Roll's show and this week I'm determined to read more.
I'd love to speak with him too; busy guy.
Massive crossovers between elite sports performance and leadership performance - I'm excited to do enough life laundry that I can complete a sports psycholgy degree/MA to go alongside my coaching quals. I'm reading his thesis here:
Here's a snippet.
"Success in elite endurance cycling requires a combination of physiological and psychological attributes. However, compared to physiological processes, much less is known about the psychological processes that govern performance at this level. Over eight chapters, results from five investigations are presented that explore the psychology of elite endurance cycling"
If you know of a good course thats highly practical and focused upon modern up to date principles - drop me a note at stefan@stefanpowell.co.uk
What am I wishing for?
This week I am wishing for enough energy and focus to give the kids a great holiday experience; it's about experiences not £'s and so I'm determined we go camping for a few days within the next couple of weeks.
I'm also wishing for the balance that will create the ability to maintain consistency on my bike. I know it's about making it happen but the wish is the gentle hand on my back I need.
And I'm wishing for the two people I spoke to about coming on board as one of my coachees to say yes - I love what i do and I'd love to work with them.
I'm also wishing for this heat to signal more recognition that this heat isn't really normal and that it won't take many more degrees for it to feel way too hot for the majority.
We need to focus more on adapatation to whats changing in our climate and to then 'reversing' where we can.
Don't worry - I have a plan for next week.
A Last Word
Psychology - "...the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behaviour of humans and nonhumans, both conscious and unconscious..."
I've used it as the basis of my leadership and coaching for so many years and it's time to take it next level. Why?
This quote:
"Watch your thoughts. They become words. Watch your words. They become deeds. Watch your deeds. They become habits. Watch your habits. They become character. Character is everything".
I want to help more people to become the amazing leaders for good they already are but don't yet believe they are and this crossover with sport and my passion for cycling brings new light and life to my work.
Which reminds me of a song that my daughter and Vera and I are singing as I type this; I give you John Mayer.
Love to you all
Stefan
What I do: Help good people lead great things
How I do it: Executive and Leadership Coaching, Mentoring and Advocacy
Who for: Talented Good Folk
Why: Because Doing Good is Good
What else: I'm also an endurance racing cyclist.
