Hi there, your summer intern here.
One of the to-dos today: write a blog!
Recently, I was fortunate to attend a conference in Atlanta and had the chance to hear from motivational speaker, Lindsay Boccardo. Boccardo is well known as a top keynote speaker with a focus on connecting generations at work.
There were a few main takeaways which encompassed the four disciplines she’s identified as representative of high achieving leaders: self-awareness, compassion, boundaries, and celebration. The one that really stuck out to me was self-awareness.
Attending a conference or a networking event alone can be extremely daunting, since there’s so much pressure to network.
Many of us decide to bury our heads in our phones to avoid awkward small talk, but Boccardo spoke about riding that dread into the shore. Essentially, this means putting your phone down and for just 90 seconds, interacting with the person sitting next to you or the stranger in the elevator. Ride the discomfort to success.
Shortly after listening to Boccardo, I decided to try this method out. I ended up having lunch with a few women I met, and I am so grateful I took a leap of faith and rode the wave. Now, we’ve connected on our socials and are still in touch!
By embracing the discomfort of new interactions, we can celebrate small victories in our journey to becoming high-achieving learners. So next time, let’s try setting our phones down and riding the wave to the shore.