Brenda James talks to NZ Booklovers.
Tell us a little about BELIEVE: How New Leaders Step Up and Into Their Full Potential.
As a leader, no matter where or when you start to experience a dent in your self-belief, once it is triggered and activated, your outlook changes. You see everything through blurred lenses, constantly looking for evidence that you are not quick enough, deserving enough or smart enough. And, of course, you will always find it.
When leadership is new or the role gets hard, self-doubt can easily take over. Self-belief is the remedy. But how do you tangibly develop this?
‘Believe: a transformational book for leaders’ takes us on a guided journey, showing how leaders can increase their self-belief and leadership confidence to create more cohesive teams, increase workplace wellbeing, and most importantly, find a deeper sense of internal wellbeing.
What inspired you to write this book?
My many clients inspired me to write the book. They knew I was surprised at the lack of confidence and intense self-doubt I was seeing amongst new leaders and veteran leaders alike!
I’m limited with the number of clients I can coach, so I wrote the book to reach and inspire more people to look within. Through the book I can share tools to help people develop a deep inner strength and learn to push away self-doubt.
What research was involved?
The truth is that the research for this book stared two decades ago when I embarked on my own journey to learn how to combat my self doubt and destructive thinking.
While more recent research was done to enable me to quote specific material and findings, over the years I’ve read numerous books on the topic of leadership and inner strength. The powerful mentors I’ve discovered on the way have helped me build a very effective self-doubt to self-belief formula.
What was your routine or process when writing this book?
It was important that I set aside blocks of time so that my writing could flow. Usually, I would block out a day or half day. Over the Christmas break it was two whole weeks which was bliss!
I set up in a different space to my office. Our lounge is spacious and looks out into nature. It was perfect. I’d remove all distractions, set the timer and write for an hour at a time. In between I’d get up for a stretch and to hydrate, then set the timer for another hour.
My process was to free-write for as long as I could manage to stay highly focussed, then take a rest from writing and research areas where I wanted to add more punch or provide evidence to back up a point.
If a soundtrack was made to accompany this book, name a song or two you would include.
You Say – Lauren Daigle
(when I hear her sing the words “I believe” it touches my heart)
What did you enjoy the most about writing this book?
First and foremost, I adore writing and have done since I first started school. Writing is a form of meditation to me, so I would always finish a writing session in a calm, grounded and centred frame of mind. I enjoy getting lost in the flow of writing.
Wrapping stories around the topic was a delightful part of the process, especially stories about my amazing clients who have already embraced the ‘choice’ to believe in themselves more.
Lastly, reading the final book as part of the revision process reminded me of how many useful messages it contains!
What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?
Initially I just sat there with tears prickling my eyes and had a special moment all to myself. Writing the book has been a labour of love for almost two years.
Then I called my partner Attila to check what time he’d be home as I wanted to wait for him to be there before I sent the final manuscript to the publisher. This was followed closely with “oh my goodness – it’s done”. Many times.
There hasn’t been a big celebration yet. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind. What I can say is that it will be a special moment celebrating with family.
What would you like readers to take away from the book, eg. top three tips?
· All the belief you’ve ever wanted is inside of you, you just need to develop the tools to access it.
· Self-awareness is not a one-and-done achievement, keep going. You’ve got this.
· Putting your own oxygen mask on first is more than just a metaphor.
What’s next on the agenda for you?
In my mind, BELIEVE has now become a series of books and I adore writing so will be picking up my next project fairly quickly. In fact I will be working on two projects simultaneously:
- Gratitude journal
- The personal version of Believe – with a powerful mental wellbeing message
Then my following project will be:
- The teenager version of Believe – a much much needed version for our youth/
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