[00:00:00] Meriah: Welcome to the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast. I am your host today, Mariah Ayer, director of Operations and leadership coach inside the Ambitious Bookkeeper brand. I am super thrilled to have this opportunity to connect with you and I'm really passionate about what I'm gonna be sharing with you. I'm gonna be sharing with you. Leadership tips. And in this particular leadership series, I decided to give you a backstage pass to the leadership blueprint.
[00:00:57] Meriah: Well, what in the world is the leadership blueprint and what's inside? The Leadership Blueprint is a 96 page guide workbook that's included in each of my coaching packages.
What you can expect to be covered in this series, there's six main sections inside the blueprint. So what I'm gonna cover is: Design your life, mission, vision, values. Yes. I know we have discussed this extensively on this podcast, but I'm gonna discuss it even a little bit further on one of the leadership episodes. Successful CEO strategies, hiring strategy, designing the team experience, and leadership development. So you're going to get a value-packed sneak peek of what's inside. I encourage you, if you are one of my coaching clients, I encourage you to pull out your blueprint and follow along. Otherwise, I encourage you to actively listen to this episode with a notepad and a pen in hand, ready to gain value. As we dive into the framework of the blueprint.
I encourage you to date your notebook page and take inventory for a moment and ask yourself, what kind of leader are you current? what kind of leader do you want to be? Then write down one action you can take to help you bridge the gap between the kind of leader you are now and the leader you desire to be. Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, I don't have a team and I don't intend to ever have a team. Well, that might be the case, but I believe having skills of leadership are still important because I believe leading is influencing, and I think you are a leader even if you don't have or plan to have a team.
Here's why. I believe you are a leader in your community, in your industry, in your sphere of influence with your clients and in your home. You have the opportunity to make an impact and make a difference in all of these areas. good leaders provide direction, inspiration, guidance. They exhibit courage, passion, confidence, commitment, and ambition. They nurture the strengths and talents of those in their influence, and they build teams that are committed to achieving common goals. You see, making a difference all starts with, but you first need to know what you want. So let's unpack that and dive into that a little bit.
The Design Your Life section. But I'm gonna make a side note before we dive deep into that section. It's important to note that we tend to have qualities that lean either towards being a thinker, a doer, or a dreamer. A thinker is a person who thinks deeply and seriously. A doer is a person who acts. A dreamer is a person who envisions a future that does not yet exist.
You may relate to being a dreamer and recall hearing throughout your school career that it is not time to be dreaming. It's time to get to work, and your dreaming was squashed, repeatedly. but guess what? Now it's time to hone back into that and start dreaming.
The thinker is the dreamer's most important companion. The dreamer represents the "what" and the thinker represents the methodical "how" and he compliments the dreamer by knowing the special role that he plays.
The beauty is that we can cultivate and develop these qualities. Do you need to improve your dreaming, your thinking, or your doing skills? Well, I'm gonna give you some actionable tips to help you improve in these areas. I would encourage you to implement only one at a time. Once you're comfortable and feel strengthened in that one area, then go ahead and proceed to the next. Fair enough? All right.
Steps to improving your dreaming. Spend intentional time dreaming. You can use Pinterest as a springboard to develop your dreaming skills. Create a board title, dream life. Start looking for pictures that resonate with the life you wanna live, and pin those on the board now in case you're worried that you're gonna get distracted on Pinterest for forever, set a timer for five minutes to spend dreaming and start strengthening your dreaming muscle. After you have strengthened your dreaming with visual. You can start putting your dreams on paper.
To improve your thinking, spend time journaling. If this is hard for you. Try journaling in bullet style. Start out by keeping a gratitude journal. Write down five things you're grateful for at the end of each day. Then increase to journaling about your accomplishments for the day, and you can write those down in bullet form as well.
To improve your action, set a timer for 20 minutes and write down the task you are going to commit to for that time period. And write down how you will celebrate after you have accomplished. Staying focused for the 20 minutes. Yes, it's really important that you celebrate your accomplishments as well, because that's gonna help keep you motivated Also. Now, if 20 minutes seems too long, start with five, and work yourself up to twenty.
also get out of your comfort zone and do things that scare you. This will also improve your confidence, and I know this is hard to do, but it really will help improve your action taking.
Are you ready? Dreamers? It's time to dream. What do you want your ideal life to look like? if all obstacles were removed, money, time, location. If those weren't a consideration, what would you do? Remember, if you are not inspired, you won't be able to inspire others. If dreaming of the possibility scares you a bit, just remember you can be making a big difference. You could be designing a business and life on your terms, a life that feels good, lights you up and allows you to show up as your best self every single day. How amazing and exciting is that? I'm excited for you.
Next think. Use the framework of your dreams to determine your goals. How are you going to get there? What steps do you need to take to make your dreams a reality? For example, describe your ideal day. How many hours a day do you work? How many hours a day do you play? I encourage you to use the smart formula for setting your goals. The smart formula is: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound.
Next step, The do. Break down the steps you'll take daily to move you towards accomplishing your dreams and goals. Then take action. All right, so there is something there for each of you, the dreamers, the thinkers, and the doers. There is a step for each of you and for those of you that might struggle with each of those steps, that's okay. It's okay to struggle because that's how you grow and that's how you get better.
A brief recap: what kind of leader are you currently? What kind of leader do you wanna be? Write down one action you can take to help you bridge the gap between the kind of leader you are now and the leader you desire to be. Dream. Yes. I'm encouraging you to dream. Daydream, reconnect with what it was like to daydream as a kid and all the amazing things you wanted to. Think of the how and break down the steps that you can take action on to accomplish your dreams. If you need to improve your skills as a dreamer, thinker, or doer, follow the examples mentioned earlier to enhance those qualities in your life.
I value your time and appreciate you sharing yours with me. If you haven't already, we would be honored if you would subscribe to our podcast and please send us a DM on Instagram and let us know what your big takeaway was from today's episode. We always enjoy hearing from you.
I will leave you with this, Anna Tol France says, to accomplish great things. You must not only act, but also dream. Not only plan, but also believe. Right there is something for the dreamer, the thinker, and the doer. All those qualities are important. All of them are vital and key to making your dreams turn into reality. Until next time, continue to embrace ambition.