Coaches were asked to consider the Integrity Soils CREATE coaching distinctions and reflect on one:
"What the distinction is, what changed for you once you started living it, and how it could make a difference for people out there?"
Building muscle for me was always something that I associated with working harder. Whether it was in the gym, my career or on the farm, the harder you worked the more "muscle" you built. Muscle could mean physical muscle, resilience, grit, respect.
Post CREATE I learned to question whether this was actually true, or was I just repeating patterns that were in fact reinforcing behaviors that had served me in the past but weren't necessarily serving the person I wanted to become.
One of the most significant shifts was learning to recognize my "drift" behaviors — those early warning signs that I was slipping back into old patterns of pushing harder, taking on more and ultimately heading towards burnout.
That awareness created something I hadn't really experienced before: a small space between the pattern and my response. An opportunity to pause, reflect and choose whether to push on, slow down, or simply change the language I was using with myself.
It may seem like a subtle distinction, but it is quite eye-opening to actually hear your own self-talk in this way and be able to notice it in real time.
"The real work isn't always in the effort itself. Sometimes it's in the awareness that allows us to choose a different response."
Has it stopped these patterns from manifesting into a tendency to work more than I should? If I am being honest, not yet.
But perhaps that's the point. Building muscle in this new way isn't about getting it right every time. It's about practicing the ability to notice what's happening and consciously choose what comes next.
I'm beginning to understand that the real work isn't always in the effort itself. Sometimes it's in the awareness that allows us to choose a different response.
And as a leader, that distinction matters. Because the patterns I reinforce in myself don't just shape how I work; they influence how I show up for the people around me.
I never experienced that freedom when I believed that the work was in the effort alone and not the awareness of the words I was telling myself in that moment. Whether they were the words of a past version of myself, or a creation of the leader I wanted to become.
