GirlBossGuide: Lessons for Ladies who Lead

Working from home, you will likely find that you are either super productive or you are having trouble focusing and finding your ‘zone’. Deborah recommends a few productivity hacks, such as the Pomodoro timer technique, Robin Sharma’s 90-90-1 principle and using the ‘importance vs urgency’ matrix. You can also read Deborah’s article for Future Females from November 2018, titled “Multitasking is a Myth”

Tip 3 of 5 top tips to master working from home (WFH) Deborah shares the importance of taking a 10 minute break once every hour and of ensuring that you move around and get your step count up. During this global pandemic, there are so many free resources available to stream or watch on any device and keep your fitness levels going while you’re at home. Just google “free online workouts” or visit makeyourbodywork.com for their top 50 best free online workout resources - anything from Yoga to bodyweight to cardio and fat burning workouts - all free and all online.

If you’re working from home (WFH) and practicing social distancing during this coronavirus pandemic, you might be tempted to spend the day in your PJ’s and work on your bed. Deborah advises against slipping into this bad habit and instead, recommends a really awesome morning routine that you can follow to ensure you keep fit and stay motivated- and look great on all those video conference calls you’re suddenly having to join.

Coronavirus lockdown and social distancing has many people working from home (WFH) and facing new challenges in creating a balance and distinction between ‘work’ and ‘life’. Deborah has been WFH for 12 years and shares her top 5 tips for sanity. Power Tip 1: Space is Sacred. You need a designated workspace and you need to clear away all the work clutter at the end of the day, to ensure that work isn’t literally spilling over into every area of your life.

Deborah has been social distancing for a week now and is already feeling the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic that is Covid-19. Amidst all the fear, confusion and anger, Deborah reminds listeners to focus on what they can control during this time and to seek out the positives. This too, shall pass.

All the convenience of the last decade has fundamentally changed the way that humans interact. As we enter 2020, Deborah invites you to let go of some of the people and relationships that no longer serve you and to commit to cultivating relationships with people who light up your soul and make you shine - curate your tribe!

As irritating as that old phrase is, most of the time, if we look back on our lives at the times we didn’t get what we really wanted, we find that things worked out better than we could have imagined at the time. The challenge is to just lean into life and trust that things always work out as they’re meant to.

After recently participating in a global 10 day gratitude challenge, Deborah shares some of her learnings and the importance of being more mindful of all the things we have to be grateful for, on a daily basis. Deborah talks about the free app “3 good things” that sends daily prompts to record 3 good things that happened or that you have to be grateful for, and encourages everyone to give ‘this gratitude thing’ a proper go!

After a rather long absence from the podcast, Deborah is back and explaining the 3 main reasons for her absence and the lessons she has learned in the process. Firstly, if you’re sick, you need to rest and recuperate and you shouldn’t be working or sending a sick colleague emails about work. Secondly, it’s impossible to do it all because there is a finite number of hours you have at your disposal and you need to choose how you spend that time and not feel guilty about it. And the final lesson is about being true to yourself and knowing what makes you happy at work and what drains you and doing more of what makes you happy.

Sometimes we forget that we have the power to make choices to change our situations and our lives. If you become aware of something that is causing you stress or making you unhappy, you can actively work towards changing it by either making some adjustments to improve it, or by walking away completely. Deborah reminds you to refer back to the GROW coaching methodology (discussed in an earlier episode) you need to make some changes in your life.

It’s ok to be sad or heartbroken or disappointed or to feel fear in a moment. Recognize the emotion. Sit with it for a while. Feel it and let it go. Don’t allow an emotion to control you or define who you become.

In our world of ‘always on’ we have all become socially conditioned to expect instant gratification. We are losing our ability to have patience and to understand that some things take longer than others. Deborah invites you to be realistic about your goals and the things you want and how long it would go to achieve or attain these, and to then actively practice patience in waiting for things to come to fruition or to unfold as they should.

After a 4 week absence due to illness, Deborah is back and sharing her very personal insights on the importance of looking after our own health and wellbeing and being selfish with our time. Money cannot buy us health and it cannot buy us more than the 24 hours we have in each day, so choose wisely and take care of yourself. For additional inspiration, watch the video by Jay Shetty about this very topic.

Instead of assuming that love is romantic or familial, Deborah encourages listeners to distinguish love-based actions and emotions from those that are fear-based and to act from a place of love, more often. For additional reading, check out Scott Stabile ‘Big Love’ and Sonia Chocquette ‘traveling at the speed of love’. Let’s make the world a better place by showing more love to all living beings!

You need to believe in yourself and your abilities, fiercely and unequivocally. Don’t let the fears of others - or your win negative self talk - get in the way of achieving your goals or taking risks to change the world. You are amazing and should be grateful just for ‘you’ every single day!

Are you still stuck on an event from the past? Something ended and you don’t really know why? Deborah talks about what she calls the ‘myth of closure’ and how you can move on by accepting an apology you will never get and making peace with an explanation you may never hear. Turn the page and move on with the story of your life after a chapter has ended, without clinging to needing some explanation or validation.

How many projects have you started and not finished? How many of those projects still belong on your to-do list? Deborah invites you to follow this inspiring mantra: stop Starting, start finishing and start where you are. No more procrastinating and no more feeling bad about all those unfinished projects. Do what you can with what you have and start where you are.

Your fear and self limiting beliefs are the only thing standing in the way of a world of opportunities for growth, Discovery, success and abundance. Deborah invites you to start a personal SWOT analysis to really start looking at the things that make you amazing and set you apart and to then identify just one opportunity that you can grab right now. The worst that can happen, is that someone says ‘no’. And there will always be other opportunities- the more you put yourself out there, the more you will see this to be true. What are you waiting for?!

The shadow side to being kind and empathetic and always willing to help others, is that we take on burdens that are not ours to carry. In this episode, Deborah reminds you that there are certain things in life which are possibly causing you anxiety and stress and overwhelm right now, which are not your job and not your responsibility. Identify the things that you’re objectively not responsible for and remind yourself that it’s ‘not my job’ and let it go, instead of adding more to your plate.

Deborah shares a very personal story about the importance of not internalizing the behaviors of others and not taking things personally. It’s important that we see people for who they are and meet them where they are on their journey and that we choose our battles wisely to conserve our emotional energy. Never take anything personally. It’s not a reflection of you - it’s a reflection of them.