Many people have no idea that they’re packing around a suitcase full of stuff that limits them from living a fully authentic and free life, and most of it is unnecessary, tiresome, limiting, and optional. Picture yourself dragging a heavy suitcase wherever you go. It’s filled with past experiences—some helpful, some that hinder you—shaping your day-to-day interactions and decisions in the workplace. What if this weight is holding you back from showing up in your full power and stopping you from being able to think clearly in the present moment? In this week’s leadership tip, I explore the concept of unpacking your suitcase to free yourself from unnecessary limitations and make space for new, more useful tools.
Understanding the Brain’s Role in Growth
Your brain is the foundation of thoughts and emotions, organized to reflect your accumulated knowledge and experiences stored in synaptic connections.
Synapses, the links between neurons, enable the transmission of signals essential for neural communication. Your personal history, including people, places, and experiences, is encoded within the brain’s structure, alongside the behaviors and skills we’ve mastered from the “memories” of our past. You remind (re-mind) yourself of who you think you are, and therefore create more of the same.
Hebb’s law says that “nerve cells that fire together, wire together,” meaning that by repeatedly activating the same thoughts, the neurons develop long-term relationships. These entrenched connections become automatic and unconscious thinking habits, often referred to as “hard-wired,” shaping your behaviors.
So, What’s in Your Suitcase?
Your ability to navigate and PLAY NICE in the workplace sandbox is influenced by past experiences. Unconsciously, we rely on old thought patterns to interpret new situations, often leading to repetitive outcomes. This cycle limits your potential for growth and innovation, creating a hypothetical hamster wheel of familiar patterns.
To break free from these limitations, you must first look inward and then begin unpacking your suitcase, creating space for new possibilities, tools and approaches to working together.
I often help people connect the dots of old experiences or thought patterns, which I refer to as ‘stories’, with their current perception of the conflict they’re experiencing. This is an opportunity to recognize and empower conflict resolution from the inside out. Often, the way that we see a conflict is what perpetuates it, and understanding what’s underneath it can be the resolution.
In the work I do with individuals and teams, I invite people to start unpacking their suitcase (what people call baggage) — to release outdated patterns and let go of their stories, (which are mostly fiction because they’re based on past events or misunderstandings), because they aren’t useful to resolving current circumstances. A journal of honest facts and feelings about situations can help us open up and create a new inventory of tools and fresh approaches to PLAY NICE in our workplace sandboxes.
You can choose to unpack the unwanted and make room for better tools.
This powerful self-discovery is taught in our training programs for the entire team. Book a discovery call today and let’s determine how to help those on your team make space in their suitcase for the tools required to succeed in today’s workplace.
With peace,
Penny
Learn the strategies that will help your team resolve conflict in the NEW workplace.
- Embrace, accept, and welcome conflicting values
- Understand the importance of collaborative relationships for career advancement
- Take responsibility to co-create a winning culture with productive and profitable results
- Empathize with coworkers and even competitors to be the leader others WANT to follow
Press Appearances:
- CEOWorld Magazine
- Blue Heron Journal
- Mareo McCracken
- EverydayMBA, Host: Kevin Craine
- Savvy Business
- Swimming in the Flood
- Get Down to Business
- HR.com Leadership Excellence
- Indian Management Magazine
- Crafting Solutions to Conflict
- Vantage Fit Podcast
- Stay tuned, more coming soon…