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Empathy Ladder Inspired by our need for connection and intimacy, Living Coral is Pantone's color of the year. In honor of this gorgeous theme (and color), the first trek of 2019 is all about connecting with others through empathy. You know that uncomfortable stare of judgy eyes?  Empathy expert, Dr. Brene Brown, would argue that a judgy person is likely sympathizing rather than empathizing with you; she illustrates the difference with a ladder. Imagine a ladder between you (at the top) and someone who is feeling sad (at the bottom). With a sympathetic response, you remain at the top by creating emotional distance. With an empathetic response, you climb down the ladder by connecting with something in yourself that relates to the other person’s emotions. Even though we all know how great it feels when someone empathizes with us, it's not always easy to provide that same emotional connection to others. And that is because being empathic all the time is tiring. It requires you to commit emotionally and relate to the person in a way that means you have to feel something too. Sympathy can feel safe; it allows you to keep your emotions, and vulnerability, at a careful distance from others. Introducing Your Empathy Ladder Exercise What It Is A 20-minute exercise to help you climb down the empathy ladder and practice applying its four qualities to your 2019 work repertoire.   Why We Love It  In work situations where you have to be on-task all the time, it can be very hard to switch into empathic listening mode. This exercise offers a series of four questions to help your mind shift gears when a more empathic approach is critical. How It Works 1. Take five minutes to look at your schedule this week and select a meeting or conversation you have coming up where you'd like to practice empathy building. Then, watch this  Brene Brown video for a brush-up on what it means to interact with empathy. 2. During that meeting, ask yourself the following regarding the person you are trying to connect with: What perspective is this person coming from? What emotions is this person feeling? How can I connect with something within myself that knows this feeling? How can I suspend judgement regarding this person's perspective and what s/he is feeling? How can I communicate in a manner that respects and honors his/her perspective and emotions as their truth? 3. As you listen and respond, be on the lookout for your tendency to use phrases like "At least" or "To look on the bright side." As Brown points out, those are typically sympathetic not empathetic responses where we minimize the other person's feelings as opposed to connect with them. 4. After your meeting or convo, take 5 minutes to reflect. What did it feel like to take this approach? How did the other person respond to you? How might this approach be beneficial in other situations? Want to dig deeper?  For Brene Brown's full explanation of empathy vs. sympathy, watch this video. To learn about the relationship between empathy and choice, read this from NYT. To learn about six common habits of highly empathic people, read this from Berkeley. Here's what your fellow trekkers have to say about past treks: "I really liked the Feedback Champ Trek. I found it particularly useful as I reflect on my areas of development, which can be difficult to accept and action. Instead of being nervous I'm choosing to be excited - increasing awareness of my triggers, keeping an open mind and focusing on constant improvement."  - Jared Zlotnick, Group Manager, Google Marketing Solutions Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Click here to subscribe to the weekly email! Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@lifetrekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.

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Think Week This week's trek is inspired by the work of Colonel Eric G. Kail who served as Director of Military Leadership at West Point. How often do you take time to reflect on your big picture goals and ambitions? Kail argues that reflection is critical for any leader as it is "what links our performance to our potential." He goes on to say that when we don't reflect, "we engage in a narcissistic rationalization that makes us feel better about the events in our lives" instead of encouraging us to learn from them.  Leaders like Bill Gates regularly carve out time for reflection and deep thinking. In fact, Gates has been known to take a think week twice a year to ponder big trends and long-term goals.  Introducing Your Think Week Exercise What It Is A 20-minute exercise that gives you a chance to look back on the past year to determine what themes you want to carry on into 2019 and what you want to let go of next year. Why We Love It  There are tons of formal ways for us to reflect on our performance at work through things like feedback sessions and performance reviews. However, we don't always take the time to do the same for ourselves. This exercise turns the end of the year into prime time to reflect, evaluate, and revise our goals for the year ahead based on what we learned from the past 12 months. How It Works 1. Carve out 20 minutes with your favorite notebook and pencil and jot down your responses to following: Looking back on the past year, what three things are you most proud of? What are some of the biggest lessons you learned or hurdles you tackled over the past 12 months? 2. Based on your answers in #1 what is one big theme, goal, or emotion (e.g., love, grief, family, transformation, health) that has continued to show up for you this past year? 3. Of the items you noted in #1 and #2, which would you like to see more or less of in 2019?  4. Given what you want to see more of in 2019, what is one overarching goal you'd like to focus on in the year ahead? What can you do right now to set yourself up for success in achieving that? Want to dig deeper?  For a summary of Kail's take on why reflection is so important, read this from the Washington Post. For some insights from the Kellogg School of Management on the benefits of reflection, check this out. For details on the biannual think week ritual that Gates is known for, read this from WSJ. Happy Holidays, LT! This is our last post of the year. See you in 2019! Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Click here to subscribe to the weekly email! Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@lifetrekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.

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Greatest Hits of 2018 Feeling a little LT FOMO? This past year has flown by and, if you are anything like me, you might have missed an email or two. Never fear! We have compiled LifeTrekker's greatest hits of the year so you can close out 2018 without missing a beat.  Top 10 Treks of 2018 1. Baggage Check: A 15-minute gut check to make sure the beef you have in your current relationship reflects a real conflict and not just baggage from your past. 2. Awestruck: A 15-minute moment to infuse your week with a little bit of awe and, if you are lucky, maybe some goosebumps. 3. Boundary Setting: A 15-minute exercise to identify your work and personal life deal-breakers so you can set the boundaries needed to avoid line-stepping on each. 4. Daily Lineup: A 20-minute exercise to see how your day-to-day activities can better support your big picture goals. 5. Setback Bounce Back: A 20-minute exercise to help you recover from a setback in a productive way so you can identify key learnings for next time. 6. Dream Team: A 20-minute exercise to help you better understand the dynamics that might be making it hard to work well as a team. 7. Envy Advantage: A 10-minute exercise to figure out how to turn your feelings of envy into your secret weapon. 8. Tiff Tamer: A 15-minute exercise for you and your partner to tame a cycle of tiffs by creating more room for appreciation in your relationship. 9. Embodiment Exercise: A 5-minute physiological observation exercise to gather insights about your body's biggest sources of stress.  10. Feedback Champ: A 30-minute exercise to help you get better at receiving feedback so you can learn more about yourself and make the changes you need to grow  Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Click here to subscribe to the weekly email! Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@lifetrekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.