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Hi there, Maureen Chiana here, founder of the Mindsight Academy, neurocoach to executives, leaders, entrepreneurs, and a neuroleadership trainer using insights from neuroscience to help you deliver results by learning to work smarter, be in control of your brain, manage yours and other people's emotions, change behaviors, flourish, and exceed expectations. I am so pleased to be back here with another episode of Lead to Excel podcast. I use this opportunity to wish you a fantastic, blessed, joyous, healthy 2021. I know many parts of the world are still battling with the pandemic, and that's why I've titled this podcast Hope in Crisis, and I really wish that it blesses you and empowers you, and you take a lot from it to put into action that would really make your life a truly successful one this year. You trumpet my successes and hold me in my sorrow, ever whispering, rise up, rise up. I looked in the dictionary for the definition of hope, and it says, Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. Hope and the ability to generate it for yourself and others is the most powerful and valuable practice in both good and challenging times. It's this practice that builds the capacity for resilience, and resilience is the one thing that is so needed at this time. If you practice hope in good times, when more challenging times arrive, it's easier to see possible solutions and new ideas, but hope fortunately can be developed even in the most trying times. You might be feeling frustrated, unfocused, or afraid of failure. Maybe 2020 left you feeling knocked down or even hopeless. The last months have been quite interesting, and I want to reassure you that with clarity, focus, and determination, you can emerge stronger, wiser, and extremely successful even in these trying times. The fact is that you can choose how you respond to your past or to the current situations. You can choose to be miserable or you can choose to be hopeful. You can be depressed or you can be happy. You always have that choice, that opportunity for control. Even the most difficult times in our lives are opportunities to experience hope, buoyancy, and happiness. Victor Franklin in his book Man Searching for Meaning quotes the words of Niche and it says, He who has a why to live for can bear almost anyhow. He describes how the prisoners who gave up on life, who had lost all hope for a future were inevitably the first to die. They did not die from lack of food or lack of medicine, but from lack of hope, lack of something to live for. By contrast, Franklin kept himself alive and kept hope alive by summoning up thoughts of his wife and the prospect of seeing her again after the war. Saying yes to thrive in spite of the current uncertainties allows the human capacity to creativity turn life's negative situations into something positive or constructive. In other words, you can make the best of any given situation, which can be turning suffering into great success, the ability to grab opportunities and to change yourself and experience significant personal development. Pain causes many people to stop or even retreat. It's hope that will keep you going. Hope will enable you to keep pushing ahead. In my new workbook, and I'll put the link in the description, I discuss the five key elements to ensure you saw high even in tough times. And the first skill that I talk about is self-awareness. That's your ability to recognize your true self. You can start by answering these questions. What did you do previously that was successful? What enabled you to achieve success? How can you use those enablers today in your life, in your career, or even in your business? Answering these questions will enable you to foster hope and have a hopeful view about your situation. The key is to be intentional about fostering hope for yourself and for your team as a leader. I hope these questions prompt new ways of thinking for you and change any limiting or negative thought processes that you're already having. The second skill that I go through in my workbook is your ability to reframe. Reframing is the practice of creating a new way of seeing a situation. Because in every situation, whether you realize it or not, you're choosing to frame the reality of what is happening and you're choosing what is most important. Then you take a specific action and behavior. So practicing reframing will open new ways of thinking and behaving for you. Thoughts that limit possibilities such as can't, won't, must, no way, it will never, should and always? All these must be changed. Reframe them. How can I frame this situation in a more positive and progressive way? What does that new frame offer in terms of alternatives and new paths forward? Who can I talk to that might help me reframe this situation? This is not a time to try and figure everything out yourself. Connect with other people. Get a coach, get a mentor, have a friend, but just be careful who you're connecting with so that you're not connecting with someone who will pull you down. To create hope in your life, the first thing you have to do is dream. Dream of your future. Dream of what you want. Imagine your life as you feel it ought to be lived. Aristotle says, Hope is a waking dream. Don't let ego be a hindrance to you. Ego is able to convert anything to its own use. Ego has an incessant need to be seen in a positive light and will eagerly hijack whatever flow of consciousness it can use for its own enhancement. That's why it's imperative to develop self-awareness to avoid being misled by your subconscious brain into believing that your perceptions are reality. There's so many ways that you can adopt to maintain hope in times of crisis and uncertainty. Having an optimistic mindset is one of those. And having an optimistic mindset is essential in this current climate that we're in. And this isn't passively hoping for the best, it's intentionally practicing an optimistic mindset. This requires effort by framing adversity in a healthy, realistic way and taking ownership to find solutions. That's knowing exactly what you need right now. And you can start by reminding yourself every day that this situation will not last forever. Remember to express gratitude for what you do have even in these times and for the choices that you can make to focus on yours and other people's well-being. Remember that you're still in the driver's seat of your life. You're still in the driver's seat of your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions, and what you do will make a huge difference. This way of thinking will give you the motivation to keep pushing through. It's not where you're coming from that matters, it's knowing where you're going. People often ask me, how can you be so optimistic? I hold on to this scripture. God is doing a new thing. Can you not perceive it? It's springing up even now. It's having that positivity, it's having that belief that there are opportunities, that there is something better coming, that there are great things in store for me. If you've listened to a lot of my podcasts or teachings, you hear me talk a lot about the fact that whatever you focus on becomes your reality. And here are some ideas to help. Remember that hope is not always about the here and now. Rather, it's more about seeing a far off distant future. It's not about the world being as you wish it to be, but actually seeing the possibilities that will emerge. Staying focused matters. We all frame or perceive people and situations in certain ways. Your ability to reperceive people and situations is a practice of hope. Deciding what to focus on matters in hope. Knowing your why is an intrinsic part of hope. Holding a possible, positive future in one's mind and then driving towards that future, never giving up on the hope that the future will arrive is key to remaining hopeful and building resilience. When you deeply care about something, the journey becomes easier because the course gives you hope that change will definitely come. So the practice of hope in times of change matters. Change is a constant in our world, and the last few months have demonstrated this more than ever before. So you need to confidently move towards a better future by staying focused on where you're going and what you want. Being hopeful requires courage. It seems simplistic to state that it comes from paying attention to the hopeful path. But that's actually true. Focus your thoughts on all the things you can do to increase the probabilities that you will be successful in achieving your goals. Don't leave anything to chance. Take control of your situation. You are responsible for your future. And I'll end by saying that hope is your first step. Because the next thing is being intentional about planning your goals. Because hope isn't enough. You need to have concrete goals to enable you to plan effectively and take the right actions to get there. And that's why I really recommend this workbook, Saw Higher, to really help you take those steps to plan effectively. Because if you don't know where you're going, you're not going to go anywhere. And if you don't plan in these uncertain times, then you end up being stuck, being anxious, being unfulfilled, being desperate, being frustrated. So I truly urge you to be intentional, take that control, take charge of your life, and take decisive steps. Thank you once again for tuning in. And remember that if you haven't subscribed to this podcast, click on the button wherever you listen to it so that you don't miss an episode. And I would really appreciate you leaving a review as well or even a comment on the podcast or ideas of topics that you want me to talk about in future. I've got some exciting episodes coming up with some interesting guests that you really wouldn't want to miss. Our next episode is so exciting, and you hear me discussing with Alicia, who is a lawyer, about how her law firm has really embraced mental health, awareness, and training for them as a firm, but also helping their clients. Mental health is so vital now. So in this climate, wherever you are, do remember to keep safe, look after yourself, and I truly wish you perfect health. Stay limitless, and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode. Bye for now.