Episode 171: Become a Better Leader! Get to Know Your Inner Child
When you think about reconnecting to your inner child, what comes to mind?
Maybe it’s finger painting or playing hopscotch. Maybe it’s taking some time to go outside. Maybe it’s everything that seems, for a lack of better words, like a silly waste of time.
Since inner child work may not be on the top of your to-do list or leadership-building agenda, Erin is here today to explore the idea that reconnecting to your inner child—and taking it seriously—may be the missing piece to enhancing your creativity, attracting everything that’s meant for you, and viewing the world with fresh eyes so the world can view you with fresh eyes, too.
This episode is for you if you know something needs to change but you’re not sure what.
Inner child = reconnected.
ICYMI – Your Post-Episode Homework: Put the five steps to connecting back to your inner child into action and let us know how it goes at info@learntoimproveit.com.
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Email Erin: info@learntoimproveit.com
Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
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Episode 171 Transcription
Erin (00:00):
Welcome to the Improve It Podcast.
Erin (00:11):
Oh, improve it peeps. Welcome to today's show. It's me. Hi. Oh, the problem. It's me. Okay, don't hit. Don't hit stop. Don't hit pause on your audio. I know I'm not Taylor Swift. However, friends I am here today to cover a topic that is the theme for our Month of May, and it is all about your inner child. Welcome to the month of May. It's spring. It means new beginnings and a new time to evaluate where you are and where you want to go. Now you saw the title of the show, become a Better Leader, get to Know Your Inner Child, and that's what we are going to talk about today. I wanna sort of for the story about my son Jackson. So if you listen to this show, you know I have a miracle baby boy who is three and a half years old, almost four, and I have to tell you, watching him day in and day out brings me so much joy, and it reminds me how connecting back to my inner child is the most important thing I could do, not only for myself, but for the people that I lead.
Erin (01:27):
So on a typical day, you can see him playing on the floor, building castles with his magnet tiles. I watch him take the pillows off the couch and create hot lava piles on the floor that he has to quickly run around and not step on, or he is going to burn his feet. I see him go outside and in the garage, make something with his little tool shed that we've set up for him. It's just a little play tool thing. I've watched him take bubble guns and spend hours blowing bubbles outside, watching the bubbles float in the air and getting great joy and delight when they land. I've watched him spend minutes, we'll say this one's more of a shorter lived activity in his coloring book, spending time coloring, watching colors come to life, creating pictures. I haven't watched him sit down and stare at a screen for hours on end.
Erin (02:27):
Although road trips we do hand him an iPad. I have not watched him engage in any activity that makes him feel exhausted versus energized or excited. When he doesn't like something, he stops doing it. I have watched him look at things in a different way, not as this is how they've always been done. So for examples, like the pillows on the couch aren't just pillows to him. They are hot lava piles that he places on the floor to run around. I've watched him see things that are fun and find the joy in everyday activities and watch them come to life versus look at things as, oh, well I don't have time for that. There's no time for fun in my day. I don't need joy in my life. I have a job and I've watched him continuously push himself to a point where he is tired, but then know his limits and sit down and take a rest. A three and a half year old taught me those things. He's my greatest teacher.
Erin (03:53):
When I think about moments in my own career where I have spent countless hours staring at a screen when I have done work that depletes me versus energize me when I have been resistant to change, because that's the way it's always been done, was the mentality in my office when I have seen things that are fun as annoying and as a frivolous part of my day, versus the thing that I should lean into the most. And when I have pushed myself beyond exhaustion and not listened to my body, I have witnessed myself do all of those things and I will no longer allow them as part of my day-to-day friends. Life is really short and we only have one chance. So I really want you to listen to this month's set of episodes. They're all geared around this theme of your inner child connecting back to that inner child to help you bring more joy to the work that you do every single day.
Erin (05:24):
Because like I said, we only have this one opportunity to live. Are you spending it staring at a screen? Are you spending it looking at work and doing work that makes you feel tired versus energized? Are you seeing things as the way they've always been done versus opportunities to innovate and create something new? Are you seeing things that are joyful as not important? Are you pushing yourself past your limits and not honoring your body's need for rest? I want you to ask yourself those questions and then if any of them resignated with you, please continue listening to this show. Please listen to all of the shows that follow this month because we are taking this theme of developing your inner child and getting to know that inner child, and we are pushing it into the forefront of our minds. There's no time like the present to reengage joy in your life. There is no time like right now to transform the way that you see the world. Because when you transform your vision and the way that you feel inwardly, oh my goodness, it is going to compound and you are going to shine that light outward to everyone in your life, not just to your team. I'm talking about to your friends, to your family, to the people in your life closest to you. They will feel this shift.
Erin (07:12):
Before I give you some tangible steps to develop and get to know your inner child, I want you to think about a person in your life who is evolving. That was the theme of last month's show evolution. We had some fantastic guests. If you have not listened to the episode with Gabby Nai, please go back, give it a listen. If you have not listened to any of the episodes that deal with evolution, I wanna really encourage you to go back maybe five, 10 episodes and give yourself the gift of time to really take this time to understand how evolution and how evolving ourselves is crucial to reconnecting with our inner child. I want you to think of a person in your life who you know is evolving. You see their growth, you see their evolution. You might have known them when, and now they're this.
Erin (08:17):
You might have known them when they were working as a server in a restaurant, but now they are serving people with the books that they're writing for the world. You might have known somebody who was a lifeguard with you in high school and now they're saving lives as a doctor. Think of a person in your life who you know has evolved that evolution takes inner work, and here's five simple steps that you can do to start reconnecting with that you inside. Step one, I want you to think back to a time when you were a child and you were in genuine joy. You were laughing, you felt like this was heaven on earth. What was that thing that you were doing?
Erin (09:26):
What was that thing? Was it going on a fishing trip with your dad? Was it jumping up and down on a trampoline? Was it performing for groups of people? Was it dancing and creating a dance recitals for your friends and family? How can you bring more of that joy into your day today in the work that you do now? So step one is to identify those things that bring you genuine joy. Step two, this is crucial. I want you to make a list of all of the things that you do within your current role. Make a list. So just jot down every single thing that you do, whether it's answering emails, whether it's creating invoices, whether it's creating marketing material, every single thing, even from meetings with your team, to meetings with clients, to meetings with vendors. Write down a list of your tasks. That is step two.
Erin (10:36):
Now, this is where it gets real. I want you to circle all of the tasks that relate to that joyful feeling that you had when you were a child. Which of the tasks that you perform on a daily basis bring you joy? What do you love doing? What gives you that sense of freedom and fun like you had with that activity you did that brought you so much joy as a child? Now, step four, I want you to look at those tasks and hopefully you have quite a few things circled. If you don't have anything circled, I want you to hear me out and just note that that is okay. You perhaps have fallen into a position that is not right for you. Just gonna say that loud and clear.
Erin (11:42):
Most of you will have a few things circled on this list. So here's what I want you to do. Step four, the things that are not circled on this list, I want you to look at specifically and ask yourself, how can you outsource? How can you delegate the tasks that don't bring you joy? That's step four. How can you outsource? How can you delegate the tasks that are not circled, that do not bring you joy? Step five, you might look at some of these items of the things that you're going to delegate and ask yourself, there's no way I can delegate this. It is a part of my job. How can you make those unable tasks more fun? Here's some ideas for you. Perhaps there's an item on your list that you can't delegate, like accounting work. I'm just speaking for a friend here. I hate accounting work, but I do it cuz it's part of my job and it's great for me to know and be a part of the numbers and the p and l and the balance reporting and all of the things that go into running successful business.
Erin (12:59):
So you know what I do when I have to do accounting work? I put on a playlist, I set a timer and I say, I'm putting on 30 minutes of going through financials and I'm gonna set this timer and I'm gonna play this bomb playlist that brings me happiness in this 30 minute timeframe. That's one way to do it. Another way is to change the location in your home when you have to do that task. Now I'm saying home cuz I work from home. Change the location in your office. So perhaps there's a test that you don't really love doing. Can you go sit outside at your office and work outside in the sunshine for that hour long task? Can you move to a room with more sunlight or can you move to a room that feels more enclosed? Sometimes when I really need to focus on things that I don't love to do, I'll put myself in a room with no windows and I'll sit in, which it kind of sounds like punishment, but it allows me to get the test done, not focus on anything else and just get it done without distraction.
Erin (14:09):
Here's the thing that I wanna share with you. Leaders improve it. Peeps. I have created a life that I love with tasks and activities and lots of things that bring me joy, that connect back to my inner child who loved putting on plays and performances and shows for her friends and family. All those moments I relish. I live in them. But there are things like accounting. There are things like emailing and following up. There are things like writing when I don't wanna write. There are things like dealing with issues that come up that I don't really enjoy. You can create the best job in the world for yourself, but there are going to be parts of it that you don't enjoy. How can you make them enjoyable? How can you get back to more joy in your life and connect back to this inner child?
Erin (15:22):
Innovation and joy equals abundance. When you are stifled creatively and you're unhappy, that equals lack. Now, I know y'all listening know me, and if you're new to the show, I'm gonna welcome you here and I wanna tell you that I am not preaching toxic positivity because you have a choice in how you show up. You can choose to serve your inner child and you will choose a life of innovation and joy. You can choose to be stifled creativity or creativity and use words like creativity. Creatively, you can choose to stay stifled creatively and you can live a life that fills unfulfilled.
Erin (16:19):
The more joy that you can bring to your life, the better leader you will become, the better family member, the better friend. And I know from years of improv experience that the moments that I connect back to those things that my inner child loves doing are the moments where I feel free. Those moments when I have complete trust and joy in my life are the moments when things start to happen for me organically, when I don't force them, when there's good energy behind them. And naysayers can listen to this episode and say, oh, okay, I gotta be positive and things are just gonna work out for me. Well, let me just share a fun fact. Have you ever met a negative person where their life seemed great? I don't know a single one. When you choose to show up with intention, when you choose things that bring joy, you are choosing a life of abundance and you are giving to those in your life.
Erin (17:33):
So I want you to take today's show. If it inspired you, please share it with a friend. Also know that if you like this episode and you like the Improve It podcast, I could speak to your team, to your organization, to your conference. This very topic about putting energy into ourselves, self-love and self-awareness is a huge part of one of the keynotes that I do called I See You. If this is of interest, please let myself or team know. You can email us at info learn to improve it.com. But more importantly, I want you to take today's fundamentals and I want you to apply them. Remember these five steps to connecting back to your inner child and bring more joy into your life. I believe in you, and I'm so proud of you for taking this time to invest in yourself. Keep failing, keep improving because you know that this world needs that very special it that only you can bring. I'll see you next time. Hey, friend, did you enjoy today's show? If so, head on over to iTunes to rate and subscribe. So you never miss an episode. Now, did I mention that when you leave a five star review of the Improve It podcast, an actual team of humans does a happy dance? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>? That's right. So leave a review for us on iTunes, screenshot it, and send me an email at info learn to improve it.com. I'll send you a personalized video back as a thank you. Thanks so much for listening. Improve It Peeps. I'll see you next Wednesday.