2023.12 Lead Author Part 2

Because business is personal. This newsletter is dedicated to your own alignment journey.

Your lived reality is really your perception of your life. This is just as true for the person you speak with next. Embracing this through your awareness, actions, and speech changes almost everything.

Hi ! 👋

Last week, we explored the concept of shifting our perception of life from happening "to us" or "for us" to life happening "through us" — as the lead author of our story. Today, we'll dive deeper into this “perception spectrum” to examine how embracing your role as the lead author of your life can create profound impact, both personally and professionally.

Something to keep in mind as you are reading this newsletter:

It is common to be in different places on this perception spectrum of life in different dimensions of life — professional, family, social, health, financial, romantic, etc. 

What is your intention when perceiving things as happening to you, for you, or through you?

What are you getting from your choice of perceiving things this way?

As I asked last week: What is your intention going forward regarding your perception of life regarding a particular dimension?

Getting curious like this can help you shift your perception in any dimension of life to a perception in greater alignment — with yourself and what you want going forwards.

So here’s the biggest gift of the life happens “through you” perception: engaging as the lead author of your story, day to day, when relating to experiences, to your inner world, and to others.

If you are the lead author of the story, you are not the story.

You are the one choosing to write it. You own your intention, recognize your capacity to choose, and listen to your discernment. This is the formula for living a life, personally and professionally, most aligned with you in every dimension of your life.

Why is that? Someone who lives as the lead author is not seeing themselves as their experiences (the story) or as a character (in the story) — both of which create an artificial ceiling on their ability to deepen their alignment, connection, and impact. The lead author avoids placing themselves in the narrative. As the lead author, they exist outside of any narrative through owning their intentions, recognizing their full capacity to choose, and listening to their discernment. Here are some examples of ways in which we place ourselves in the narrative (consciously or unconsciously):

• The hero

• The villain

• The screwup

• The evil one

• The savior

• The fighter

• The victim

• The survivor

• The warrior

• The bad one

• The good one

• The titan

• The traditionalist

• The perfect one

• The underdog

• The rebel

• The nerd

• The best one

• The righteous one

• The problem

• The lucky one

• The unlucky one

• The patient

• The caregiver

• The martyr

While people often take actions aligned with these characterizations, engaging as lead author means relating to yourself & others as more than a role or characterization.

Take a moment to reflect how you’ve related to yourself or others in each dimension of your life — professional, family, social, health, financial, romantic, etc. 👀

While I have seen myself as a variety of characters on this list, I don’t anymore (most of the time). This is something I’ve been shifting for years. And a lot changed as a result. My ability to deepen alignment, connection, and impact skyrocketed. 🚀

Want to know why?

A person who engages as the lead author neither places themselves as a character, nor do they place anyone else as a character either. For if we relate to someone else as the evil one, the villain, or the problem, we automatically place ourselves in that narrative too.

For example:

• If that person is the problem, what does that make me? The hero? The fixer? The one subjected to the problem?

• If someone is the villain, who am I? The warrior? The fighter of the good fight? The victim? The survivor? The hero coming to save the day?

• Characters abound. No longer are we the lead author rather, a mere character that is reacting to the characterization we just crafted — the narrative happening to us or for us.

And vice versa, when we view ourselves/act as a character, we automatically place others as characters in the narrative along side us.

Now, pretty much every one of us has done this. Hello, we’re human! 👋 We have moments or years, in different dimensions of life, as relating to ourselves or others as characters. When we do this, we are not showing up as the lead author of our life — rather, we show up as life happening to us or for us, as it would for a character in a chapter.

When I realized this years ago, I was equal parts disturbed and amazed. 😳 🤩

• 😳 Disturbed that I spent years moving through the world in a way that didn’t truly support me —without even knowing it. Life was an uphill climb and often a battle back then.

• 🤩 Amazed that another way was available to choose. Another way of relating to myself and others as I move through the world. I could live in a manner filled with more inner peace, deeper connection, increased sense of freedom, and a greater internal feeling of safety — all without hustling for worthiness, dignity or respect from anyone.

I started switching to lead author as my way of moving through the world, relating to others, and relating to myself. I realized, I didn’t want to perceive life as happening to me or for me. I wanted something more aligned with intention, choice, and discernment. I wanted to be the lead author.

Lead author, not the author. This means acknowledging co-authors who work alongside you, influencing your decisions and experiences — yet ultimately, you’re the lead author with the responsibility to steer your life's direction and write your own story.

What this shift from character to author looked like:

Instead of unconsciously relating to myself or others as a warrior, survivor, victim, underdog, hero etc. in any life dimension, I brought my awareness to it. As I become aware of my perception, I recognized that relating to myself and others this way is a complete choice.

We are not forced to think a certain way, we choose to for whatever reason. Once I realized this too was a choice, I chose to align my perception to something that deepens alignment, connection, and impact.

When we engage in any dimension of life as a character or relate to others as characters, we automatically relate to life as happening to us or for us — as characters do. Goodbye lead author.

Yet all it takes to get our lead author lifestyle back is to stop minimizing or suppressing yourself and others. Seeing more fullness of yourself enables you to see the fullness of the other person — beyond that which a character could hold. You are, everyone is, so much more than their experiences, victories, failures, thoughts, emotions, and actions. Being the lead author gives us greater understanding of what it really means to engage yourself and others with intention, choice, and discernment. It allows us to show up with curiosity.

So recognizing where you are on your perception spectrum is crucial. When you do, you can choose to shift to ways of engaging that deepen your alignment, connection, and impact.

Conversely, when intentional action and curiosity does not happen, what does happen? Real thriving becomes an uphill climb, often many battles — and it’s rarely realized in every dimension of someone’s life: professional, family, social, health, financial, romantic, etc. I lived here for a long time.

Shifting your mindset to view life as happening "through you" can be empowering and transformative. As the lead author of your story, you recognize that life unfolds through your actions, choices, and responses to the situations & experiences you encounter. So if you want to cultivate a perspective that acts like rocket fuel, propelling you to a better future while enabling you to more fully enjoy the ride, you found it.

Going into this week, what would it look like to engage more as the lead author in each dimension of your life? What would it look like to further embrace your role as an active participant and co-creator in your life? And what would it look like to do this while also acknowledging the interconnectedness of your experiences with the people and circumstances around you?

And where does reflecting on this and taking intentional action in each dimension of your life on this lead? A deeper sense of purpose, adaptability, and resilience by taking ownership of your life while remaining open to the influence and support of your co-creators.

And where else would this lead other than good things? For starters, personal growth, self-awareness, and a deeper appreciation for the richness and complexity of your life's narrative.

Imagine what leading this way does professionally (from both a “culture” and a performance management perspective) — pure rocket fuel for lasting success and impact. 🚀

So again, this week I invite you ask with curiosity: 👀

• What would it look like to engage more as the lead author in each dimension of your life?

• What would it look like to further embrace your role as an active participant and co-creator in your life?

• And what would it look like to do this while also acknowledging the interconnectedness of your experiences with the people and circumstances around you?

Until we meet again,Rachel

P.S. I welcome any thoughts you’d like to share — I read them all, always. Just click reply. 👍

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