Hello friends!

I was recently reflecting on my coaching journey to see if I could tease out the one common thread that ties together everything my clients face. It took a while, but I eventually found the one unifying dream outcome across all of my clients:

And for some reason, this image of a tree then popped into my head.

My clients were like tall trees that were now facing stronger and stronger gusts. And to continue growing, they didn't need more tactics on how to reach greater heights.

They needed to know how to deepen their roots.

That's what this week's exploration is about.

This week's theme:

Growth = Height + Depth

When you look at growth from these two angles, it unlocks you to pursue growth in a different manner.

Height is what we're all familiar: the next goal, the next achievement, the next milestone.

But what about depth?

What is the equivalent of a deep network of tree roots holding you down as you embrace the weathering storms?

The answer is... your emotional capacity.

I reflected this within my clients and my own journey.

As I became more competent with my 'height', I took on challenges with increasingly higher stakes. And the blockers I eventually faced were no longer capped by my ability to think. They were always capped by my ability to hold a certain emotion:

• My performance dropped at McKinsey when I couldn't handle the emotions of potentially letting my team down
• My performance as a coach dropped when I couldn't handle the emotions of not adding value to the client

These were not problems to out-think.
They were emotions that I was refusing to sit with.

And in an equivocal manner, my biggest breakthroughs in recent years have all come from moments when I finally allowed myself to sit with these uncomfortable emotions:

• When I simply sat with the feelings of letting people down, I could perform more freely, and so I became a sharper consultant.
• When I simply sat with the feelings of not adding value in a coaching session, I could be more present, and so I became a better coach.

It sounds so infuriatingly simple.
And it is.
But it's hard.

Growing higher is easy. The sky is literally the limit.

Growing deeper is hard. There's all this Earth to push through and other roots to get tangled with.

But you cannot deny that it is necessary.

If you'd like to explore this more...

I've actually revamped my whole website and coaching offer to reflect this latest revelation around helping logically-wired high achievers build up their emotional capacity.

I'd love for you to check it out @ https://www.emotionalexplorations.com/

Otherwise, this week's video goes into depth (pun-intended) around the growth equation above, and the unique struggles that hold logically-wired high achievers from growing their depth:

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That's it for this week's issue of Emotional Explorations! I hope it brought you clarity and I look forward to writing to you again soon.

Best,
Eric