How Embracing Your Flaws AKA Your Achilles Heel Can Move You Forward
- Feb 28, 2023
- 3 min read
Written by: Sarah Gibbons, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
We live in a world of information overload – right? It’s easy to get sucked into thinking that the more we know, the more we’ll become better leaders. As if by simply reading or listening to “the best 5 tools” will translate to new behaviour.
Information doesn’t equal transformation. Just because you might have a new tool in your kit, by no means will it extinguish your humanness. Your humanness can show up in the form of your Achilles Heel.
So what do you do about that?
If you really want to up your game in how you show up and lead, start by getting clear on what your Achilles Heel is. And rather than trying to banish that part of you, build a relationship with it. I’m learning loads about the IFS model, and really subscribe to the idea that all of our parts are welcome (i.e. the anxiousness, the judgement, etc.) and we learn to build relationships with these parts, we experience so much more confidence and self-trust.
Build a relationship with your Achilles Heel
Some common ways I see people getting in their own way of leading aka their Achilles Heel:
Self-doubt
Choosing comfort over discomfort
Trying to get it right – creating analysis paralysis
Too many priorities
Working on what’s urgent instead of what’s important
Not asking for help
Once you’ve identified your Achilles Heel, have a conversation with that part of you and find out what it needs you to know.
That two-minute conversation can look something like this:
My Achilles heel is trying to get it right – so I may say:
SG: Trying to get it right – I see you. What do you want me to know?
Trying to get it right: I’m worried if you get it wrong, you’ll feel stupid.
SG: I see you wanting to protect me. Thank you for that, AND, just because I might not get something right, doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I can always course-correct. I’m committed to putting myself out there instead of playing it safe. I’m going to need you to step to the side while I be brave.
Every time I talk TO the part that’s feeling triggered and trying to get my attention, I feel myself re-center.
These parts of us that get in the way of us showing up and being who we’re meant to be, don’t have to derail us. They can actually help us.
If you try this exercise on, let me know how it goes. It’s something you can do on the fly but it’s hugely profound. We owe it to ourselves, first and foremost, to show up as the brightest and fullest version of ourselves.
Sarah Gibbons, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Sarah Gibbons is a renowned executive Success Coach based in LA who’s worked with incredible leaders like the LA Clippers, the Weitz Foundation, the teams at award-winning Creative Agency Hey Wonderful, The Talent LA, Executives at Google, Chiat, and more and she’s become known as the “LA Creative Whisperer” for her tough, but the real, effective and graceful approach to leadership coaching. In addition to running The Mother Board, she runs The Board, The Father Board and coaches corporations, organizations, and individual leaders. She’s also a wife, mother of three young boys, a philanthropist, published author, and inspirational speaker.
