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How to Use Soft Skills To Improve Your Life · RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is produced by my friends at Walk West.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking to grow your brand and generate leads through podcast or video production, head over to walkwest.com.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's start the show.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: From emotional intelligence through cognitive distortions, certified life and wellness coach Comedy Wood is on a mission to help people see the magnificence of their own unique human spirit.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Through these small bites of self-visualization and self-confidence, you can have healthy relationships, success in business and career, and live the life you want to live.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Hi there and welcome to another episode of Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's morning, afternoon, or evening, thank you for taking some time out of your day to spend with me.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: And today I wanted to actually tackle some soft skills that you could use for your own professional and personal development.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Lots of times we hear about the more hard skills that we need to have in order to be successful or to move forward in our profession or our personal lives, but I want to talk about those soft skills.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: So the very first one that I want to address today is adaptability.
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  SPEAKER_01: What this means is more than just being okay with change, it means that you have the ability to be flexible.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I, and really when I say flexible, I mean uh that thinking flexibility.
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  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, when we think about flexibility versus rigidity, for instance, the more rigid we are, the harder it is for us to ebb and flow.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: And the world itself is a world of constant change.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so when we think about success or the top performers, it's the people who are not resistant to change, but those who are able to pivot, those who are able to adjust and move forward and to shift as challenges arise or new struggles appear.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: So when you think about it, how adaptable you are when the unexpected happens is really important.
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  SPEAKER_01: And not just from a professional perspective, even from a personal perspective.
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  SPEAKER_01: When you are able to adapt to new situations, while you can have your routine, being able to add a little bit of flexibility is huge.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: I can say this from a parenting perspective.
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  SPEAKER_01: We can have our routine every single morning, but being able to adapt to something that I didn't expect to happen has been a huge game changer.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: If I were rigid, it would mean that everything would shut down.
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  SPEAKER_01: The second one is problem solving.
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  SPEAKER_01: You know, complex issues are gonna arise.
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  SPEAKER_01: That's just kind of the guarantee of life.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna have everything as straightforward as we'd like it to be.
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  SPEAKER_01: And so it's really important to be able to build that skill around seeing the big problem, but not getting overly focused on the bigger problem, but being able to break it down into bite-sized pieces.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's how we can work through a problem.
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  SPEAKER_01: Recognizing that, you know, there might not be the quote the quick fix.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it's about developing a mindset that can see the problem as an opportunity and as an ability to grow and to maybe innovate new ways of dealing with it, and then being able to break it down.
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  SPEAKER_01: So when you think about what might be the biggest obstacle for you in problem solving, it could be that you're trying to take all of it all at once.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're able to start breaking it down into smaller bite-sized pieces, it might be easier for you.
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  SPEAKER_01: The third is continuous learning.
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  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm such a believer in the idea of never stop growing, never stop learning.
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  SPEAKER_01: The moment you think that you know it all, that overconfidence uh can really be more of a weakness.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's allowing yourself to continually progress, recognizing that the human experience is one that is ever evolving.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: So giving yourself permission to continuously learn and being open to learning from different sources.
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  SPEAKER_01: Uh, again, as somebody who works with people of all ages, I will say that I continuously learn from my clients, those who are teenagers, all the way to the mature adults.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: I am open to learning from all people and just having that open-mindedness is huge.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: The fourth would be collaboration.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think sometimes in life we get stuck on this idea that we have to succeed on our own or that we have to figure it out on our own.
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  SPEAKER_01: I know as somebody of the high achieving personality type, many times I'll get stuck in that I've got to just figure this out.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: But having that soft skill of allowing for collaboration, allowing for teamwork, allowing to communicate with others and to allow for other people to see what you might be struggling with and having them be able to offer their support and ideas is a huge soft skill that will allow for development, not just uh professionally, but personally as well.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, judgment, and I don't mean the negative type of judgment, but being able to uh have that strong moral compass, that strong uh values-based compass that will allow you to decide and to judge whether something is right for you or appropriate for you to continue working towards.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, in a world where transparency is valued and your reputation does somewhat hinge on your ability to act with integrity, it really is important to develop this soft skill of being aligned with your values and making those judgments based on whether or not something is reflective of those values.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Communication is a skill, a soft skill that we absolutely need, both personally and professionally.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, being clear and concise and effective in how you share your ideas is huge.
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  SPEAKER_01: Also, it's about learning how to shift from potentially using you statements into I statements, uh, working away from communicating in a judgmental way, but instead finding ways to uh communicate from what it is that you're experiencing and what it is that you might be requesting of the other person.
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  SPEAKER_01: The seventh one that I want to talk about is resiliency.
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  SPEAKER_01: Uh, resiliency is all about how do I bounce back from a challenging time because again, life is gonna have those twists and turns.
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  SPEAKER_01: We cannot control those things.
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  SPEAKER_01: However, what matters is how do you how do you respond to that and how do you bounce back from it?
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  SPEAKER_01: The ability to learn from things that don't go the way that you wanted them to go.
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  SPEAKER_01: The ability to grow through those is what resiliency is all about.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: And being able to build that skill is huge from a professional and personal perspective.
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  SPEAKER_01: Being able to also allow that creative thinking mind to take hold.
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  SPEAKER_01: So innovation is not just out of the blue, it comes from uh allowing space for those creative minds to take place.
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  SPEAKER_01: And so one of the things I will say in terms of building this soft skill, it is about paying attention to where you are emotionally.
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  SPEAKER_01: When we are dysregulated, it is very difficult for that creative mind to be online.
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  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're dysregulated, many times you're in a fight or flight stage.
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  SPEAKER_01: So it is about measuring and maintaining some regularity to allow for the creative mind to be online.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And when you allow for that, you're able to think about problems in a different way.
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  SPEAKER_01: You're able to create new strategies for dealing with those challenges.
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  SPEAKER_01: Which leads me to number nine, mindfulness, being in the present moment.
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  SPEAKER_01: So often we are ruminating over the past or we are worrying about what's going to happen in the future.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it is so important to stay present and to be self-aware.
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  SPEAKER_01: Because if we don't live in the what is where am I right now, and we're constantly in the past or we're worrying about the future, we're not able to respond thoughtfully to what is occurring right now.
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  SPEAKER_01: And we might actually respond from either an emotionally charged place or just react impulsively.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: So mindfulness allows you to connect not just with yourself, but then allows you to connect with others on that deeper level and does allow room to be in a more effective leader, a more effective partner, friend, parent, whatever the case may be, because you're in the here and now.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, emotional awareness.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes, if you've been following my podcast, you've heard me say that awareness is the doorway to change.
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  SPEAKER_01: Emotional awareness is all about being self-aware.
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  SPEAKER_01: It is about paying attention to yourself as well as others from an uh an empathetic standpoint.
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  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, being able to pay attention to what you're feeling and then being aware of how other people may be feeling, not taking on responsibility for those feelings, but being aware of it.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: The most successful people are the ones who understand their own emotions and then can also connect with others on that meaningful level because they can they can empathize with how somebody else is feeling and they can put themselves in the in a similar position or situation that uh somebody else is experiencing.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: And really what that is, is it's about understanding emotions and not running away from them, but being allowing them to be used as information in data packets.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you are struggling with building some of these soft skills or want to figure out how coaching can support you in building these, I invite you to book a time to speak with me anytime at coachwithcomedy.com.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, stay welcome.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, book a chat with comedy at www.chatwithcomedy.com.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Or visit her website at www.comedywood.com.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find comedy on Facebook or Instagram.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Username it's authenticme.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.