Innovation Made Easy

Mindfulness and meditation are practiced today by only 5 % of the world's population. 

95% of people either cannot see the point or are not committed enough to stick to this ancient practice.

Why? 

This was my question and now I have the answer.

This week I am reframing this activity, breaking it down to its basic component and I am sharing with you why I finally got myself and my clients to adopt it. We have the compelling reason we want to get the new habit to stick.

Spoiler: I am not asking you to sit for four hours on the top of the Himalaya - I promise you.

Tune in with your curiosity hat on and find out more!

If you are not physically fit, you will be physically stressed when climbing a steep mountain. When you are not mentally fit, you will be mentally stressed when facing challenging life and work circumstances.   Mental Fitness is the X-Factor that allows you to achieve peak performance, wellness and self-confidence!  

This week I am sharing with you my journey on how I learned to master my time and look forward to Monday Mornings as a key starting point in my weeks towards achieving my goals.

It all starts with defining what you want to achieve and be clear about your individual ambition.

Work by quarters: what are your top 3 priorities? Those three priorities become then your compass for keeping track where you are going and if you are staying committed towards your goals.

What do you need to do for those three priorities to be completed in the given time? How can you increase your odds to succeed? How do you let math support you and don't allow the drama tot take over.

Tune in and listen to this week's episode about time mastering!

Look around you: everything that you see was first just an idea.

If you believe in the sentence seeing is believing, let me challenge you on inverting the sentence:

BELIEVING IS SEEING.

Yes because you first need to imagine something, a goal, a destination, an objective, before you can actually commit to reaching it.

This week I talk about this amazing tool we all have in our arsenal which is visualisation of a goal.

Tune in and find out how it works, the science behind it and how to apply it in practice. 

And then take action: apply it straight away so you can see this powerful tool in action for you.

Warmest,

Chiara

So many people strive to be more influential and wish their opinions was more heard and considered.

But is there a myth about influence? Are we not overcomplicating it?

In this week's episode I deconstruct influence in different tactics and I am sure you will be positively surprised of actually how much influence you are already exercising. 

Start where you are: understand what is already working and clearly define which areas (tactics) you feel you would like to try and practice more to become better at it.

How often do we find ourself confused by how our actions have impacted others and the only thing we can say is... "I did not intend this to happen! "

This week, I discuss how you can be more effective translating your actual intent into the impact you meant to start with, and avoid any misunderstanding or avoidable hurt feelings on the way.

Why do we sleep? And do we need to sleep for 7-9 hours to be fully functional? 

How many people do you know that I don’t make an effort to learn how to learn? 

Should it not that be a subject in schools ?

Can you imagine a more high level of skill to pick up in life? 

This is what I’m going to discuss in this episode and talk about it in a way that is simple so I can understand and apply it.

This week I discuss the difference between recognition and appreciation, and why we want to practice both. 

Everybody wants to feel they are appreciated for what they do, but even more for who they are.

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about company assets is not usually people.

And this week I would like to stress the importance of People as a company assets and then, for individuals highlight how our brain is our most important asset.

If you agree with me on this point then you will naturally follow my train of thoughts around questioning how much we spend and invest in our brain power to maintain its capacity and maximise the output from this asset.

Yes we do that very much in the first 20 years of our life, but what happens then?

In this episode I also explain (in very simple terms!) the difference between two parts of our brain, to help you become more aware of your thinking patterns and provide you with insights and inspiration to leverage that amazing asset you have: your own brain!

For true, lasting change to take place, you sure will know that learning - reading a book or attending a two days' training - won't be enough.

How often do you hear people at work saying

"This person is not good."

"He/she is a poor performer."

The trouble I have with sentences like these is that they don't leave much room to change and new possibilities.

Already by changing the sentence to something like...

"This person is not performing very well in the current circumstances." you will notice immediately how it gives hope to change and opens up to a lot of possibilities.

In this episode, I introduce this formula

Performance = Potential - Interference

And I go through the three elements of the formula one by one.

Because I know that the potential of all of us, in the different roles we have in our life, is enormous, but that there are thoughts, habits and attitudes, as well as skillset that affects and reduce the potential impact we could have in the world.

So listen in as I unfold these concepts and inspire you to greater and deeper awareness.

What makes your or my identity? What aspects are there that define our identity?

As leaders, being explicit about how different aspects of our identities and lived experiences have informed who we are, what we value, helps us understand how we perceive situations and how we interact with other people. 

Spending time in understanding our own identity also means reflecting on our place in the world, in society, and in organisations. 

To truly get to a deep understanding of who we are, we want to examine those aspects of ourselves that are part of our "normal" as they might be the result of the dominant culture we live in or grew up in.

Join me in this week's podcast where I discuss the importance and value of increasing curiosity towards our own identity as a way to live more intentionally and with greater mindfulness in all aspects of our life.

Humbleness is noble but can damage your visibility and - in the long run - also your motivation. 

Bragging is also not recommended since people that brag are seen as inconsiderate and not believed to be better performers than their humble colleagues. 

How do we strike a balance between those two behaviors? 

I discuss what you can consider and reflect upon in this week’s episode.

Asking for what we 'need', asserting our desires can feel incredibly difficult, at times.

To be direct about what you need or want can be misinterpreted and you might be coming across as selfish. 

However, knowing the difference between passive, aggressive, and assertive communication can help you to ensure that you communicate with confidence, clarity and care for others. 

Tune in to this weeks episode to get my steps on how to practice assertiveness.

I want you to ask yourselves, “why should I grow?"

"Why should I go to the next step and do the next thing and pursue the next goal?"

" Why should I even bother trying to become self-actualized, or fulfill my potential, or learn something new?"

" Why should I even listen to my own desires when I can just settle in here, and be comfortable?” 

In this episode I discuss the reason and try to convince (if needed being) why growth matters. 

And if it resonates, I want to encourage you to not take a little step today toward self-growth, to take a huge step, to stop comforting yourself with false pleasures, and to put a line in the sand and make a decision to grow.

It matters. I know it does.

Do you find yourself feeling out of place in a meeting or even in a relationship and doubting your skills you’re right to sit at the table? 

If you’re suffering of imposter syndrome you are letting self doubts and self criticism influence you.

Despite external evidence of your achievements, those experiencing these thoughts remain convinced that they do not deserve everything that they have achieved and in fact it can go so far as they self-sabotage their success.

But impostor syndrome has also its positive sides.

Balance and self-awareness are step #1 for us to master our mind and use it to the best of our ability.

Everybody seems to wanting to be self-confident. 

And yet, so many people are not actively working towards its attainment. Self-confidence is not something we are born with. When we try new things but we know how to handle our own mind and the emotions that our thoughts will provoke - that's when self-confidence supports our ambitions. Self-confidence is about knowing that things won't always go the way we thought, and being fine about it. Having our own back, not make it mean more than what it is: an attempt where we have an opportunity to learn. If you are somebody who is insecure and has low self-esteem and a low opinion of yourself, and also high demands from yourself, I want to tell you that the only thing you have to do to generate self-confidence is practice feeling your emotions. Leaning into those feelings of discomfort, fear, and desire to run away when the turn up, and be curious about them. 

Because they are just emotions. 

And you can handle any emotion. 

What work do you do that doesn’t seem like work?

In your work, what produces the highest ratio of abundance and satisfaction to the amount of time spent?

What is your unique ability?

Gay Hendricks' book 'The Big Leap' clearly made an impression on me. I love how he talks about the 4 zones and how committing to staying in our zone of Genius can be beneficial for our growth and for the world.

Tune into this week's episode as I summarize the concept of our Upper Limit and distill the 4 zones of: 

1. Incompetence
2. Competence 
3. Excellence
4. Genius

Ultimately, it’s about identifying what comes most naturally to you, and then capitalizing on that, rather than identifying what has come naturally to other people, and trying to teach yourself those skills in order to mimic and recreate their genius. You can absolutely be successful in the zone of excellence. But to take your life to the next level, you cannot keep playing by other people’s rules.

Executive Presence is what you tell the world, what you signal to the world and is the result of three distinctive factors: 

1. Your gravitas. In Latin gravis means ‘serious’. It is about your seriousness. Your dignity. Your gravitas is about how well you know your stuff. Cold. Do you know your stuff three questions deep? This is about your expertise.

2. Your Communication skills. Your style. Can you get your message across? Do you know how you be heard? No matter how profound your gravitas, if you can’t get your message across, it is going to be very difficult.

3. Your presence - how you dress how you stand. If that is not right it will stay in the way for your gravitas to shine.

I know for some of you the above list might feel daunting so I wanted to give you a very easy tip to increase your executive presence and convince you why this small detail can make such a huge difference.

Slowing Down.

Tune in to listen to the full episode and reflect with me on how you can increase your executive presence to have the highest chances of being heard and be the leader your world needs.

Decisions - should we take a lot of them and train the muscle ? Or should we limit the number of decision and avoiding decision fatigue ? 

My question is why do we get fatigued in the first place ? 

Decisions are the ultimate power we have in our lives and that is a blessing and a curse:

• Afraid that things are not going to turn out how we thought can paralizes us and make us avoid taking the decision, procrastinating and lingering in doubt
• We can create the lives we want by be intentional and deliberate about who we want to be and what live we want to live - we don't need to live out of the decisions we have made in the past.

Tune in to think through this important aspect of our human life with me, and let me help you equip you with questions that can lighten up the whole decision process!

We used to write a lot of letters and we don’t do that anymore or at least not as often in this fast communicating world - where quick SMSs, calls and emails have replaced writing beautiful long thoughtful letters. 

And I would like to give you an opportunity to actually take fountainpen and paper and start writing a letter to your future self, as well as writing a letter to your future you. 

• what would she say to yourself 
• what does older you do?
• where does he/she live?

Tune into this week's episode as I unfold the importance of the relationship with ourselves across time and what a powerful yet simple tool it can be to take a different perspective on our NOW.

“Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.” 

Eckhart Tolle 

This episode is about taking care to deliberately create and manage time.

Persistence is a state of mind and can be nurtured fostered and maintained through six main causes.

Tune in as I unfold each cause one by one and give you guidance on how to foster your own persistence to stay focused and achieve your goals.

In this week’s episode I talk about 6 types of outcome that I believe are good reasons to have meetings.

Spoiler: A meeting should rarely be held simply to inform participants or stakeholders. 

The exception to this practice is when the information is highly sensitive or complex, or stakeholder buy-in is needed. 

Meetings primarily centered on information sharing should be replaced by an email or memo. 

Join me in this conversation as I distill the 6 main outcomes you want to define ahead of time which will influence:

- the structure of the meeting

- the role of each participant

- who should attend.

I have spoken about journaling before on this podcast and I a big supporter of this daily activity because that was the first activity I have introduced in my life when I started my journey to regain power and self-confidence in myself.

And I know that a lot of people are struggling or are quite dismissive with this activity.

So I am here today to talk about it in a different ways. I want to bring to the surface some of the obstacles that might have been the reason for you to not embrace this activity and I trust that by listening to this excuses you will become more aware of your choices and give it another go.

SMOG = Should - Must - Ought to - Got to 

Do you find yourself using those terms automatically and unconsciously a lot? 

Do you hear yourself saying sentences like "I must talk to my boss", "I should exercise more"... 

How do these sentences make you feel? 

Do you feel inspired, engaged and excited to follow up on this wishes? or do they drain your energy and leave you depressed and anxious?

The power of words and the effect they can have and how we live our life is immense and I want to encourage you to start paying attention to the words you’re using as they have ultimate effect your results.

We don’t have to do anything! We always can choose to do the things we choose to - consciously or unconsciously. 

It’s always a choice.

Tune in into this weeks' episode as I share with you how we can clear the SMOG.

Do you listen to respond or do you listen to understand? This question inspired by the book of Steven Covey is something I ask myself often.

It takes time and commitment to become a better listener and, as you improve the skill, your efforts will be rewarded.

As you become a more effective listener you might be surprised to find people will seek you out more to share their thoughts and feelings!

You’ll also notice you’re involved in less conflicts and get recognised more often as a honest and trustworthy person.

Attentive listening is a unique skill that people respect and admire.

Tune in to listen to the full episode!

Reactions are done on impulse, without putting much thought into it or considering what the end result may be. A reaction is a reverse movement or tendency, or an action in a reverse direction or manner. 

Responding can be defined as saying something in reply. Response is more thoughtful and done with reasoning. 

Many times, depending on the situation, we can go into ‘fight or flight’ mode. This is an acute stress response that can lead to over-reaction. 

As leaders, knowing the difference between reacting and responding can be a great deal as it can have a huge impact on how you show up in your world. 

Reacting is fuelled by our emotions. And I know it might seem that the circumstances are causing you to feel a certain way which leads to a reaction, but there is actually a thought between what you observe, and how you feel about your thought. Often that thought is so fast that we are not really aware of it: it is automatic and driven by memory of your brain related to similar experiences that you have already accumulated and so  your subconscious thinks on your behalf and the result is an emotion that provokes you to react in a certain way. 

But we can decide instead to respond, to be more intentional and focus more on the question 'who do I want to be?' and 'which result do I want to have?'

Tune in to explore how we can show up as our ideal us in this world by rehearsing our future.

What is judgement?

It is evaluating something and deciding what to think about it. It is about deciding if what we see/hear/experience is good or bad, whether we like it or not.

Essentially, it is having an opinion about someone or something. And we all love have opinions, don't we?

Our brain loves to judge because it helps us quickly evaluate and categorize the world. 

But when is judgement not serving us? What about those situations (and there are many of them) where we just judge ourselves or others automatically without paying attention? 

Tune into this episode to reflect with me about the role of judgement as survival mechanism and how we can be more deliberate and intentional about how we use it in our everyday life.

In many cultures, we are tought to believe that rationality is what we should tap into when we are making decisions about anything that is of high importance: like business decision, but even when it comes to choose what to eat for lunch. 

But what about that "inner voice," that gut feeling, that little something instinctual from within that tells us how we feel beneath those thick layers of logic?

When we make space for intuition, when we stop the chattering of the rational mind, this is when we get our intuition back. 

The rational mind doesn’t nourish you. You assume that it gives you the truth just because the rational mind is the golden calf that our culture worships doesn’t make it true. Rationality squeezes out much that is rich and juicy and fascinating.

In this week's episode we’re talking about people pleasing and seeking other people‘s approval. 

This is a very natural behavior and it comes from our instinct for survival: being part of a group increased our chances of survival back in the days. Today this behavior often goes at the expenses of us showing up with our own creativity, with our full potential, and letting our own self down for the fear of feeling rejected.

Tune in into today's episode where I talk about what is behind this natural behavior and how we can free ourselves from it with awareness and understanding.