Soul Moxie LLC- Soulful Leadership for Women

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is on my mind as I prep to launch a 90-day corporate program that kicks off at their corporate retreat next week! How do YOU navigate your triggers when they pop up? Sidebar… EQ is becoming an increasingly hot topic in the biz world.  According to a 6seconds.org article “Employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost the world $7.8 trillion in lost productivity; 11% of global GDP.” Further, “our research shows that when a company prioritizes emotional intelligence, they are 22x as likely to be high performing.” It’s important we understand what EQ means so we can raise awareness to our skill building opportunities. Here are a couple quick definitions: Emotional Intelligence: The capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. Self-Regulation: The ability to control your emotions and impulses. Potential triggers that might challenge our Self-Regulation: Poor sleep Children (highs and lows) Traffic! Uncertainty Aggressive or disengaged co-worker Tech fail Some days we can navigate triggers with ease, other days we get sideways! The difference?  To name a few: Awareness, Self knowledge, “Self-nourishment,” boundaries, and tools! Version 1 When I’m exhausted and my son is “dysregulated,” I’m more likely to get impatient and bossy. It tends to go poorly! (**His behavior is actually telling me he needs “Mama time.”) Version 2  When I’ve cared for myself, remember my tools & boundaries, and show up with love and patience, the outcome is often connection and a win-win. (and upset averted!) With awareness and tools, I can Self-Regulate and RESPOND with intention vs. trigger reactivity. Not only is it better for us personally but it can prevent regrettable moments of miscommunication in all areas of life, career included! #EmpoweredNow© #VitalExecutiveEvolution© #Reflection #IntentionalLeadership #EmotionalIntelligence #RobinBerg #SouMoxie With 8K+ coaching hours, Robin ignites peak performance of Rising and Established Women Leaders (private or corporate), 1:1, in groups or coaching gyms.

Ever have a time in your life when everything seemed to hover in stasis for seemingly months on end and then suddenly BAM it all shifts into motion? At. The. Same. Time? Oy! Up until recently I’d been:  √ pursuing an intensive Executive Coach Certification program (and the extensive legal/materials prep for new engagements) √ immersed in new therapies for vestibular migraine & vision trialing a new medication for my son’s “flared” EoE √ re-connecting with colleagues after years of prioritizing parenting over networking And, nothing was shifting, yet. The waiting. (Oh stasis is hard!) Suddenly… √ I noticed my vision improving & light sensitivity slightly decreasing! √ Ever have a time in your life when everything seemed to hover in stasis for seemingly months on end and then suddenly BAM it all shifts into motion? At. The. Same. Time? Oy! Up until recently I’d been:  √ pursuing an intensive Executive Coach Certification program (and the extensive legal/materials prep for new engagements) √ immersed in new therapies for vestibular migraine & vision √ trialing a new medication for my son’s “flared” EoE re-connecting with colleagues after years of prioritizing parenting over networking And, nothing was shifting, yet. The waiting. (Oh stasis is hard!) Suddenly… *I noticed my vision improving & light sensitivity slightly decreasing! *Within 2 1/2 weeks, I was referred to and started working with two new private clients and began a 90-day corporate engagement! *My son’s recent endoscopy indicates that his new medicine is working! I’m still recovering from the speed of it all! The prep, waiting and receiving phases are EQUALLY demanding. All require care and managing the “stress,” whether uncertainty or fruition stress. Here’s how I get through… My basics: Sleep, foods that are vital (for me), hydration, daily walks, meditation, journaling, stretching, staying connected with friends- if only a quick text or call. My advanced care: *Mindset and visualization work (drop negative self-talk) Break big things into small steps with daily action *Extra rest where possible- even 5 minutes helps *My “team” support— 1+/week: network chiropractic, PT, vision therapy, vestibular therapy, mental health “sounding board,” meditation group, cranial sacral etc. *Breath work!! We need to set ourselves up for stability, peace and success. It doesn’t simply “happen.” How do You navigate all the phases from Waiting to Fruition? (I’d love to know— share what works for you in comments) #EmpoweredNow© #VitalExecutiveEvolution© #Reflection #IntentionalLiving #StressManagement #RobinBerg #SouMoxie With 8K+ coaching hours, Robin ignites peak performance of Rising and Established Women Leaders (private or corporate), 1:1, in groups or coaching gyms.

Please- no judgment or shame here—there’s no “right way” all the time. Sometimes we’re flat out restricted by time, budget, or energy to do proactive “tune ups.” AND, dialing into tune-ups can save our health, teams/families, time, energy, headaches and money in the long run. I just had our Heating/ A/C guy come and tune up and prep our heating system for winter.  Do I want to pay to have someone do this when I could technically just turn on the heat when the time comes? Of course not.  However, doing these pre-seasonal checks unveils potential failures before it’s a 15° morning and “suddenly” the heat won’t work! Tune-ups often prevent an unexpected failure. Tune-ups empower us to do the thing on our terms (vs. unexpected emergency at the least opportune time!) We all know someone who has had a health “emergency” after skipping annual wellness visits for years. We all know a leader who ignored their gut and waited too long to step in with a struggling staff person, derailing the entire team and resulting in termination. Ooompfh. That’s rough! Instead of focusing on the pain, let’s focus on the opportunities. Knowing that we can’t do it ALL, what 3 areas in life/health/leadership would you CHOOSE to tune up? Perhaps explore it through the lens of your values and priorities and choose a tune up that would make the greatest impact for your goals or who you WANT TO BE in the world. When you CHOOSE to embrace MEANINGFUL tune ups, they become a lot easier to say yes to, AND it creates momentum to expand further.  Powerful. Some areas/options: Habits, mindset, communication, self-nourishment, FUN, creativity, home/ auto care, strategic planning, systems/policies, Whole Self approach, meetings: length, necessity & efficiency, marriage, parenting…other? What areas might offer you a powerful tune-up? #EmpoweredNow© #VitalExecutiveEvolution© #Reflection #IntentionalLiving #RobinBerg #SouMoxie With 8K+ coaching hours, Robin ignites peak performance of Rising and Established Women Leaders (private or corporate), 1:1, in groups or coaching gyms.

Sometimes being a Vital Leader looks like being a powerhouse producer and other times it looks like taking a 1/2 day to honor yourself by lay down to rest. The key is paying attention to where you ARE in a moment. I'm in the surrender to "what is" moment. As some of you may know it's been a pretty intense year and 1/2 with a "vestibular migraine" diagnosis and a slew of disruptive symptoms that simply won't allow me to do life that way I'm used to due to extreme light sensitivity, fatigue, dizziness, feeling woozy and like I can't see, to name a few symptoms! Finally, I received a new diagnosis that requires vision therapy, likely allowing my vision to make a full recovery, (vestibular issues hopefully will resolve too?) If I want to be a Vital leader I need to attune to my WHOLE self. I can't push through and dwell ONLY in my "productive" work realm. When my eyes aren't working (can't focus together, ache, make me dizzy), I can't argue. Pushing is futile and makes it worse. So I choose to surrender to what is. We're complex beings. We're not machines. Sh*t happens in life. Challenges, limitations and setbacks WILL arise. How we respond is a choice. Am I incredibly disappointed to not attend the amazing Bluebird Leaders conference in Sept? Deeply. Is it true that I just can't tolerate air travel and the visual demands that come with travel and crowds and bright lights? Absolutely. Perhaps your "what is" will be more subtle, like listening to intuitive nudges or trusting your inner voice when it tells you to go spend time in nature or preserve a few "unscheduled" hours next week. Explore. It is ALL part of a Vital Executive Evolution-- of us all slowly awakening, evolving and tapping into the advanced tools for thriving long-term. A new kind of leader. What might you surrender to in this moment in honor of what's true? #EmpoweredNow© #VitalExecutiveEvolution© #Reflection #IntentionalLiving #RobinBerg #SouMoxie With 8K+ coaching hours, Robin ignites peak performance of Rising and Established Women Leaders (private or corporate), 1:1, in groups or coaching gyms.

Considering bailing on ___________(fill in: job, relationship, friendship, career path?) If you haven't already, I'd urge anyone considering jumping ship to first make the time to REALLY do your inner work. What I mean by inner work is getting clear on various aspects of your Self such as: √ How you set up and live your life √ What you BELIEVE are your values/priorities vs. what your choices say about the values/priorities that you're actually LIVING. √ How your "perception filters" (based on your history) impact your experience of reality √ What you honestly and deeply need and want most to feel content √ How well you're managing boundaries (with self and others) If these kinds of elements are all conscious to you and being well managed intentionally, and you still want to jump, then go for it! If not, you'll likely experience the same kind of feelings/patterns in the future. You can do the work NOW or you can do it later (sometimes by choice, sometimes life forces it upon you). AND when you do the work, know yourself fully, you'll feel powerful beyond measure. You'll be fully in choice! #EmpoweredNow© #VitalExecutiveEvolution© #InnerWork #IntentionalLiving #RobinBerg #SouMoxie With 8K+ coaching hours, Robin ignites peak performance of Rising and Established Women Leaders (private or corporate), 1:1, in groups, coaching gyms, retreats and events.

Intentionally shaping your life isn't "easy;" it takes a great deal of attention and requires consistent "aligned decisions" to craft your desired life. Combine that with external demands and agendas (family needs, partner needs, job /boss needs) and it can feel easier to simply go with the flow and let the decisions be "made" (by others). Or you might enjoy saying yes to opportunities as they pop up for you-- figuring, "Eh this works..." or "It must be showing up for a reason." However, when we give our choices over to happenstance or the needs/wants of others, we are missing an empowering opportunity to CLAIM our lives. Unfortunately, our culture doesn't orient around reflection-- taking time to inventory Life, Self, health, work, satisfaction, needs, purpose and passion. We orient around success & achievement (and their symbols), expert advice, cultural norms, "hard work" and for women especially, serving others. If you haven't really chosen your path (yet) it's no wonder. (It's not your fault!) And yet, simply in the process of reading this, you are waking to new possibilities. I'd love to give you full permission to unplug from your daily life's constant pull and set aside some reflection time to check in with yourSelf. If you're trying to make a decision, reflect on which path best aligns with who you want to BE in the world (as a person, friend, partner, parent, leader) and choose that. No one truly knows you better than YOU. No one can decide your best path like you can. The best path is the one YOU choose. You got this! #EmpoweredNow© #VitalExecutiveEvolution© #Reflection #IntentionalLiving #RobinBerg #SouMoxie With 8K+ coaching hours, Robin ignites peak performance of Rising and Established Women Leaders (private or corporate), 1:1, in groups or coaching gyms.

This morning while listening to a course by Vaz Sriharan on Insight Timer, I was struck by his invitation to shift mindset around CHALLENGE and consider it as a "rite of passage" instead of a source of suffering. Can you reflect on a past experience in life/career/relationship that was challenging, yet actually led to immense growth? Perhaps it even served as a gateway to a whole new way of seeing, experiencing or living life? If someone asked you, "Would you CHOOSE that challenge?" you'd likely say no. However, if you could reflect back and ask yourself, "Would I choose the learning or breakthrough that resulted from the challenge?" chances are good you'd say yes. We can't always choose the circumstances or timing of our growth. We can't avoid difficulty, discomfort, and even the experience of suffering. We CAN choose how to face it. We can either think "Why is this happening to me?! What have I done to deserve this _________?(experience, setback, illness, difficult person) OR we can dig deep and lean into the possibility "I trust that this is happening FOR me" and embrace it as a rite of passage into the next phase of our development. Honestly, sometimes just naming a challenging and embracing the notion that we might be on the verge of a breakthrough can serve to shift the whole experience! #VitalExecutiveEvolution© #SelfEfficacy #Mindset #EmbraceChange #ExecutiveLeadershipCoachForWomen #EmpoweringWomenLeaders #RobinBerg #SoulMoxie With 8K coaching hours, Robin ignites peak performance of Rising and Established Women Leaders (private & corporate).

Looping back to components of Resilience... Self Efficacy is a huge one! Have you ever really wanted to achieve something but based on past negative experiences and feedback from non-supporters you got stuck believing that you COULDN'T DO IT? The biggest distinction between CAN'T and CAN is often BELIEF. Once you understand what creates your Self Efficacy foundation, you have the power to shift it! Simply stated, Self Efficacy is about your agency in your confidence and belief in yourself to "live" the behaviors, practices, motivation that you CHOOSE to achieve your goals. Complex! Self Efficacy is shaped and impacted by several elements: DIRECT EXPERIENCE: personal successes (or failures) and how they impact your belief in your future capability. VICARIOUS EXPERIENCE: If you see someone like you achieve a goal, you're likely to believe you can too. IMAGINED PERFORMANCE: How well/poorly you imagine yourself doing something. VERBAL PERSUASION: What others believe and tell you that you can/cannot do PHYSIOLOGICAL FEEDBACK What your body/emotions tell you --i.e. negative sensations/emotions associate with failure, positive sensations with success. **** Good News--You can shift nearly all of these! **** Although you can't control others, you can stop spending time with people who don't believe in you, (or directly ask that they only share supportive words!) YOU CAN: Set up small goals to cultivate new "success experiences" that motivate you! Spend time with people who are doing what you aspire to do. Immerse in a new culture! Craft and practice powerful visualization that your brain can't help but believe to be possible, pulling you forward. Learn biofeedback and clear up stuck physiological energy/ideas from negative past experiences so you can begin anew. We have agency here. What opportunities do you see? #VitalExecutiveEvolution© #SelfEfficacy #Resilence #ExecutiveLeadershipCoachForWomen #EmpoweringWomenLeaders #RobinBerg #SoulMoxie With 8K coaching hours, Robin ignites peak performance of Rising and Established Women Leaders (private & corporate). Thanks Dr. Shelly P Harrell re: resilience components

How we define Executive Presence and Gravitas seems to be shifting/expanding. (Hooray!) Gravitas is a combination of (oh so many!) traits and "ways of being" which traditionally have spoken to: decisiveness, seriousness, a sense of "gravity," intellectual strength, bold confidence, commanding attention and respect. However it seems that a new facet of Gravitas is gaining recognition--a sense of "steady" with CALM confidence. In my experience, calm confidence is a quiet power that arises from knowing who you are, trusting yourself and abilities, and the capacity to activate "inner" stability regardless of your circumstances. (Leaders who exude stable, calm confidence, make us feel steady too.) An excerpt from Syliva Ann Hewett's Executive Presence 2.0 (in a Feb 2024 Chief.com article) "...in the wake of the Great Recession and the Covid-19 pandemic, the ability to appear calm, confident, and steady in the face of an economic storm has become far more important [than a huge personality and forceful presence]." Would I appreciate steady, calm and confident leadership in the midst of change and challenge? Yes please! I'm happy to report that these traits can all be developed! You CAN: √ learn about what "causes"you to thrive √ explore strategies to keep your nervous system at ease √ develop methods of staying grounded and unshakable √ gain tools to navigate and shift your relationship with stress √ unveil and leverage new strengths to enhance confidence So if you have been thinking "I can't be a great leader (with Gravitas) because I don't exude powerful 'commanding' energy," think again. The time to lead with a fresh approach to Executive Presence has arrived! Embrace the new facet of Gravitas--keep cultivating your ability to embody a sense of stability and calm confidence! #VitalExecutiveEvolution© #EmpoweredNow© #Gravitas #ExecutiveCoachingForWomen #RobinBerg #SoulMoxie

Your Mindset (attitude/thoughts) is NOT set in stone.  It gets shaped in many ways over time— whether through your wiring, your environment, circumstances or habits. AND we can slowly recalibrate our thoughts and attitude over time with practice, awareness and choices. Ever have times in your life when you felt blue (or stuck in negative thinking) and just wanted to stay in bed? I have!  When I notice I need some self-intervention, I step into my resiliency plan (regardless of how justified my negative thoughts might be.) Time for a little “self-reprogramming.” Example: The moment I wake up, I listen to an uplifting guided meditation that gives me somewhere positive to focus— on possibilities, letting go of limitations, as well as exploring new ideas, such as the brain science of how body position and adding a giant smile (even when you don’t feel like it) can boost energy and confidence. Then I might immediately go for a 20 minute walk and get my endorphins going. Add a little electrolyte /Moringa powder drink and a breakfast that includes protein and veggies. Transformation via my first 5 choices of the day! (This works for me. What’s your personal recipe?) There are innumerable CHOICES that we make every day that shape our energy, our mindset and our ability to be resilient. Life will always throw us curve balls but are we READY to field them? What’s your resiliency plan? What will you do, listen to, watch, read? What helps you shift your attitude and energy? (It’s not the same as numbing out to Netflix or Social Media.) And yes, body chemistry plays a role— you might need to choose some expert guidance- via mental health, serotonin/hormone support or Functional Nutrition….  Bottom line, your choices inform your mindset and choosing NOT TO GO IT ALONE can be exponentially empowering! #Mindset #Resilience #ExecutiveLeadershipCoach #Support #LeadershipCoachingForWomen #VitalExecutiveEvolution© #SoulMoxie #RobinBerg