In a highly addicted, obsessed, and crazed world driven by external validations, material pursuits and the relentless need to hustle, imagine the transformative power of shifting our focus internally towards something more soul-centered and aligned.
Imagine if we redirected our hyper focus away from the incessant pursuit of the external A’s: Ambition, Accolades, Achievement, Accumulation, and Addiction, and instead, intentionally move towards more expansive and meaningful A’s: Awareness, Authenticity, and Awakening.
Thus, creating a shift in focus to illuminate the ultimate A: Alignment.
Such a shift holds the key to unlocking our truest potential and gifts, and affording us the experience a life of profound fulfillment and purpose.
Right now, we are being called to redefine our notion of leadership, power, and success. This begins with recognizing that real leadership is not merely a result of title or position, but that it’s a conscious embodiment we make every day. Leadership ultimately is choice, and everyone’s opportunity.
Leadership, in its essence, is about tapping it a deeper level of authenticity, embracing our unique gifts, and inspiring others to do the same.
Central to this paradigm shift is the understanding that our power originates from within us. We are sovereign beings with agency to decided. The external programming and conditioning around our current definition of success (wealth, fame, and recognition) pales in comparison to the innate power that comes from aligning with our deepest truths and values.
This is the essence of true leadership: our ability to lead from a place of inner alignment, acceptance, and integrity.
While leadership is a choice, it also starts with me and with you. We cannot lead (inspire, influence, or impact) others when we don’t first lead ourselves. When we prioritize self-leadership and our own personal growth, we naturally align with our purpose and tap into a wellspring of creativity and inspiration.
Our actions then become a reflection of our innermost values, and we are able to chart a strategic course in alignment with our purpose. It is through this lens that we can lead others. As we shift away from the external A’s steeped in ego, fear, and a scarcity mindset, we begin to intentionally rise in our leadership by embodying our internal, and intrinsic, A’s that activate our greatest gifts and help raise the collective level of consciousness.
So, let’s discuss further what really needs to shift and transform …
The External A’s We Need to Shift:
Ambition
While ambition can be a driving force for achievement, it often comes with a focus solely on external validation and rewards. When we do this, we inadvertently shift our power over in exchange for approval, applause, and acceptance from others, often robbing us of our sense of belonging.
As Brené Brown, shares in her compelling work, belonging and acceptance are not the same thing. In fact, they’re opposites. And, it’s only when we belong to ourselves first that we can bring ourselves into alignment.
- Definition: Ambition is a strong desire to achieve something, often associated with success, recognition, and advancement.
- Pitfall: Excessive ambition can lead to a single-minded focus on external accomplishments, pressure to perform, seeking validation or needing to prove oneself, and extreme burnout.
- Shift: Rather than solely chasing external markers of success, we need to intentionally cultivate a more balanced approach that honors our own inner fulfillment, purpose, and sense of well-being.
Letting go of excessive ambition involves shifting towards a more balanced approach that prioritizes our well-being, fulfillment, and overall growth.
Accolades
Seeking external recognition and accolades can lead to a constant need for approval from others. We find ourselves pushing, hustling, and windign and grinding just to get the shiny gold star. /
- Definition: Accolades refer to awards, honors, or praise received for achievements or accomplishments.
- Pitfall: Seeking constant accolades can create a dependency on external validation and short-change your own sense of value and self-worth.
- Shift: Focus on knowing who you truly are, in understanding that it’s the journey and not the destination that matters most. Also, know that no matter what you are enough. There’s nothing you need outside yourself.
Letting go of the need for external accolades involves tapping into your own intrinsic motivation and knowing that real satisfaction stems from personal growth and contribution rather than praise or a prize.
Achievement
While accomplishments, in general, may carry some weight and significance, an overemphasis on external achievements can lead to a perpetual cycle of striving without experiencing true fulfillment.
When this happens, we find ourselves on the never-ending hamster wheel of needing more, more … and, even more. We sacrifice everything meaningful in the process: our time, our energy, our relationships, our sense of fulfillments, joy, peace, and well-being. When you stop to think about it, for what? The cost become too great when we don’t reign this in.
- Definition: Achievement signifies reaching a goal or accomplishing a task, often measured by tangible outcomes, KPIs, or milestones.
- Pitfall: An obsession with achievement leads to a relentless pursuit of goals without embracing the actual experiences of the journey, itself. Thus, leaving you constantly wanting more and never being satisfied.
- Shift: Embrace a growth mindset that truly values the gifts and lessons of the process, embracing resilience along the journey, and extracting wisdom along the way, rather than fixating solely on the end results.
When you let go of a overarching focus on achievement and value the journey, you then are able to learn from failures, grow from your experiences, and find joy, peace and fulfillment along the way.
Accumulation
Material possessions and wealth accumulation, while necessary to a certain extent (I mean let’s be honest, it’s the world we live in), can become a source of attachment and distraction from more meaningful pursuits.
We become obsessed with the next anything and everything. Often, at the expense of our relationships, meaninful connections, and our own peace. When material things own us, we are unable to identify without them. A surefire way to hand our power over to external factors and conditions.
- Definition: Accumulation refers to the gathering or amassing of material possessions, resources, wealth, or experiences.
- Pitfall: Excessive accumulation leads to materialism, attachment, hoarding, and overspending; often leading to sense of emptiness, despair, and disconnection despite external abundance.
- Shift: Prioritize experiences, meaningful connections, and your contributions and impact. Those things that align with your values, fostering a sense of purpose and fulfillment beyond material wealth.
In letting go of excessive accumulation, and material possessions as a way to value yourself, you learn how to prioritize experiences, relationships, and contributions over material wealth and gain. Thus creating, a life that feels even fuller and more abundant energetically.
Addiction
Whether it’s to substances, behaviors, or unhealthy patterns, addiction can obstruct your personal growth and well-being. If we are ready to be honest, we would see that we live in a culture of addiction. We are even addicted to distraction (as Robin Sharma discusses in his leadership work).
We have established a culture of instant gratification, of numbing and shrieking responsibility. We are more entitled than ever. We can trace much of this to our addictions and need for short-term gain over keeping our eye on the longer term picture and potential.
- Definition: Addiction involves a compulsive dependence on substances, behaviors, or habits that have negative consequences on mental, emotional, spiritual, or physical well-being and integrity.
- Pitfall: Addiction can hijack our decision-making processes, impair self-control, and short-change our personal growth and fulfillment.
- Shift: Cultivate self-awareness, seek support where needed, and develop healthier coping mechanisms to break free from addictive patterns and lead a balanced, fulfilling life. Let go of the need to “take the edge off.”
Our addictive tendencies have hijacked our lives, collectively, and it’s time to shift the narrative. It’s only when we are willing to come face-to-face, and eye-to-eye with our own truth that we can start the recovery process and heal the addictions that have taken power over our lives.
Of course, after taking a deeper look at the 5 external A’s we need to shift, we now can bring our focus to the more empowering internal A’s that will lead us into greater expansive and ease.
The Internal A’s We Need to Embrace
Awareness
Self-awareness is foundational to personal growth and development. It involves introspection, mindfulness, and a deep understanding of one’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Awareness enables us to make conscious, intentional choices, to respond rather than react, and to navigate life with clarity and purpose.
- Definition: Awareness is the state of being conscious, mindful, and perceptive of oneself, others, and the surrounding environment.
- Embrace: Cultivate self-awareness through introspection, mindfulness practices, and engaging in meaningful reflection to understand your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Through our own ability to emotional regulate and take responsbility for our choices and actions, we demonstrate the power of our own awareness.
Authenticity
Embracing authenticity means living in alignment with who we really are, and with our values and beliefs. It involves being genuine, transparent, compassionate, and unapologetically you.
- Definition: Authenticity is the quality of being true to oneself and aligned with one’s values, beliefs, and principles.
- Embrace: Activate your authenticity by expressing thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and actions congruent with your true self. Take time to feel your emotions and foster deeper connections and trust in relationships.
Authenticity fosters genuine connections, builds trust, and allows us to lead with integrity. Know that who you are is enough … just because. You have nothing to prove. You are the purpose you’re here to serve the world.
Awakening
Awakening signifies a profound shift in consciousness, leading to greater clarity, insight, and spiritual growth. It involves questioning societal norms, expanding our perspectives, and connecting with our higher purpose. It is a function of deconditioning from the programming we received, and in healing patterns within our own lineage.
It involves breaking free from societal expectations and aligning with our soul’s calling. This journey in awakening is not always easy, for it requires courage, vulnerability, and a willingness to embrace discomfort.
Yet, the rewards are immeasurable — a life of purpose, passion, fulfillment, peace, wellness, and authentic connection.
- Definition: Awakening refers to a profound shift in consciousness, perception, or awareness, often leading to spiritual growth, insight, and a deeper understanding of life’s purpose.
- Embrace: Embark on a journey of self-discovery, question societal norms, expand your perspective, and connect with your higher purpose, intuition, and inner wisdom.
Awakening to our true potential is a journey of self-realization. As such, it empowers us to live with greater intention, deeper meaning, and a sense of oneness and interconnectedness with all beings.
The Power of the Ultimate A: Alignment
Alignment emerges as the most powerful A because it encompasses and integrates the essence of the other internal A’s. When we are aligned internally with our values, purpose, and authenticity, we naturally align with the external world and attract new possibilities, soul-level relationships, and meaningful experiences.
Alignment brings coherence and harmony to our thoughts, emotions, and actions. It allows us to operate from a place of inner peace, confidence, and clarity, transcending external fluctuations, stressors, and challenges.
When we are aligned, we tap into a reservoir of inner strength, resilience, and creativity that fuels our personal growth and impact on the world.
Achieving alignment requires a commitment to ongoing growth. It means cultivating a deep sense of awareness and acceptance of ourselves (learning truly how to belong to ourselves). As we become aligned AF, authenticity becomes our guiding principle, allowing us to show up in the full expression of who we are, without masks, apologies, or pretenses.
- Definition: Alignment is the state of being in harmony, coherence, and congruence with oneself, values, goals, and actions.
- Essence: Alignment integrates awareness, authenticity, and awakening, leading to inner peace, clarity, purpose, and the ability to navigate life’s challenges with resilience, compassion, and grace.
- Impact: Alignment amplifies personal growth, fulfillment, and our impact on others, creating a ripple effect of positive change and contributing to a more harmonious and conscious world.
In our quest for alignment, we become beacons of light, radiating truth and positivity, inspiring others to do the same. Our leadership is not defined by the external markers of our current definition of success, but by the depth of our impact and the living legacy we leave behind in every interaction.
It’s about leading our purpose intentionally. It’s about leading from love, with love, and a relentless commitment to our personal and collective growth.
So, let us embark on this journey of alignment — aligning with our truth, our purpose, and our leadership. Let us embrace our soul’s purpose as our sole purpose and unleash the limitless potential that resides within each of us. The time is now to step into our power, lead with integrity, and create a world filled with significant purpose, meaning, and alignment.