The next great version of you is only a step away

Welcome to this edition of the “How to be a co-creative leader” newsletter! 

Let’s start with some cool news… I launched this newsletter at the end of January this year and I’m excited to share with you that we have now reached 500 subscribers! This milestone is not just about numbers, it’s a testament to the organic expansion of this community we are building together. Like the evolution of this newsletter, the path of leadership is also about embracing growth, often in unexpected ways.

Every leader faces moments where the gap between who they are and who they want to be seems insurmountable. But what if I told you that crossing this gap is less about leaping and more about taking a single step?

This week, I want to explore a concept with you that I’ve been talking on and off for over a dozen years now: The notion of stepping into the next version of yourself.

This idea is important because as a leader, you may not always like where you are currently at. You may feel as if you reached the limits of your current leadership style and you need to grow to get to the next level. Or maybe you feel that you are keeping your leadership buried inside of you at work or elsewhere in your life. Pushed to the extreme, you may feel that you are a horrible leader in general.

No matter which one of these is true for you, I want to let you know that the next great version of you may only be a step away!

In this edition, I want to share more with you about this powerful concept that fuels my growth on a daily basis. I want to draw you into my world and give you a different perspective on your own growth in your life. You will gain insights on the different versions of you up to now in your life. You will also take more notice of the moments that call for change and push you to your next level whether you want it or not. 

Are you feeling ready to take that step? Enough talk, let’s get going.

Some of my own leadership journey

I had a huge personal growth spurt back around 2012 and 2013. As a person, for the longest time, I used to be very much in my head and not as much in my heart. When I started coaching agile teams in 2010, I used to be what I lovingly refer to as the “rah-rah coach”, meaning the coach that will carry you on his back to success.

Not everyone liked that version of me. To some, I was motivating and inspiring, to others, I was arrogant and uncaring of the feelings of others. It pushed me to the limits of my leadership style and I knew that I needed to access a different part of me to generate the impact that I wanted to create.

So I started experimenting with being more open about my personal development journey. There are a series of well-hidden blogs on my old website that documented this part of my life. Among them, was this one called “The fear of stepping into your Self”.

The idea was that I was longing for a different version of myself and I could almost see it in front of me. It was so close that I could just make the choice of taking a step forward and I would be stepping right into it.

At the time, I used the term “Self” with a capital “S” because it occurred to me as stepping out of the image of myself that I was curating for others and being the real me instead. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that throughout our lifetime, we evolve through many different versions of ourselves.

The different versions of you

The idea behind having different versions of yourself is to give yourself the space to grow while acknowledging that despite your best intentions, you are not perfect and there are times you will mess up. You can be harsh on yourself and judge yourself, or you can move on and be better next time.

Think back on who you were as a person in your teenage years? How would you describe yourself? What did you like then? What did you not like? Now think back on who you were in your 20’s… your 30’s… maybe your 40’s or even later if that fits for you! :) 

Over all those years, what changed? What do you like now that you did not like in the past? Which things are still just as important? How did your leadership change? This is what I am talking about when I talk about different versions of you.

There is a version of you when you are at your best, another maybe when you are at your worst. There is potentially a version of you at work and another one at home with your family.

This can make for a whole lot of different versions of you over the course of a lifetime. 

Stepping into the next version of you

Once you can start seeing the different versions of you in your life, the question becomes, how do you transition from one version to the next? How do you know it’s time to step into that next version of you?

This often starts with a crucible moment in your life. You know those moments when something life-changing happens? Maybe you got a promotion and need to step into your leadership more. Maybe you got laid-off and need to find the next great thing for you. Maybe you had major health issues and you need to rebuild your life? Maybe something really bad happened and you said to yourself: “Enough, this can never happen again!”

Crucible moments can take different forms but they have one thing in common: they change you forever. Sometimes life gives you the choice of when to take that next step but more often than not it does not.

Although it may feel at times as if life threw you into that next version of you, remember there was always a choice. In the end, you always had the choice to rise to the challenge or crumble.

The feeling of stepping into a different version of you?

The image of stepping into yourself is very powerful to me. Imagine being able to see this ghost-like form in front of you. It looks just like you, same face, same body but just a bit taller and wider, leaving you some room to grow into. 

Pause this image in your mind and walk around it. It is insane that it looks so much like you but the thing is, this version of you has superpowers you do not even know about yet.

It may have more empathy for others. It may have more calm and wisdom under pressure. It may have a way of expressing itself that inspires and motivates people around it to follow. It may have a leadership style that magically inspires people to collaborate together to achieve great results.

Breathe it in. See it in your mind's eye. It is there for you, when you are ready for it. All you need to do to access this new version of yourself is to get behind it and take a step forward, right into it.

It is both so easy and so hard because if you are not ready for it, you may not merge with it, even if you step forward. You may not be able to access this version of you yet, but know it is there, waiting for you to be ready to take that step.

Now you took that awkward step and there you are… into this new version of you. How does it feel? It may be awkward and uncomfortable at first but this is normal. 

Think about when you were a kid growing up and you would outgrow your clothes. Your parents would take you out to the store and get some bigger clothes. Ever notice how they sometimes got something a bit bigger to leave you some space to grow into? It’s the same idea with this new version of you.

You will need time to learn, adapt and integrate with it. You will need to practice to learn how to use the new superpowers that come along with it. Eventually, you will outgrow this new version of you and will need to go out and discover the newer version waiting for you, just another step away.

Putting it all together

Throughout your life, you will live and experience many different versions of yourself. Each version represents part of your growth and your journey through life. The idea is that each of these versions will have different strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

I invite you to see this idea of having different versions of yourself through life as permission to give yourself a break in those moments where you are less proud of yourself. This may be the best that version of you was able to do at that time in your life. 

This opens the possibility for you to just remind yourself that you can and you will change over time. Things do not need to stay the same and neither do you. There are always possibilities for growth, forgiveness and atonement for those who are willing to learn and grow.

Take a moment to reflect on your journey and the various versions of yourself in your life. Do you have an idea of what could be waiting for you in that next version of you? Maybe it's embracing a new leadership challenge, maybe it's engaging in more difficult conversations, or perhaps it's simply taking a moment to reflect on your growth and set new intentions.

I invite you to share your experiences of stepping into new versions of yourself. What challenges did you face? What did you learn? How did it feel? Your story may also inspire others to take their next step forward.

About Steffan Surdek

🌟 Are you ready to elevate your leadership to the next level?

With over a decade of experience in leadership coaching, I've dedicated my career to helping executives and management teams unlock their full potential. My approach is centered around the concept of Co-Creative Leadership, focusing on fostering a culture of collaboration and action-oriented learning.

If you're looking to transform your team's dynamics, enhance collaboration, or reduce conversational debt, I'm here to guide you.

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