At some point in life, all we wish to achieve is productivity, clarity, and the energy to grind through our darkest moments. It’s common to find yourself trapped in a never-ending loop of problems. However, the best way out is to bring a change in yourself and unleash the badass within you.
Kate McKay, Founder and CEO of Siena Strategy Partners, a success coach and author of “Claiming Your Inner Badass” and “Claiming Your Inner Warrior,” primarily focuses on mental and physical well-being to reach peak productivity for her clients. McKay shares, “Functioning on a checklist of goals will not give you a sense of significance in life.” She adds, “The people that are being productive and living with a sense of meaning are the ones that will thrive. Hence you must rise in productivity and prepare yourself for greater impact and influence right now.”
In an exclusive chat, McKay shares the most significant ways to claim your inner badass and inner warrior.
Identifying Your Traumas
Our past traumas directly affect our ongoing life and decisions. That’s one reason why people often fail to break out of tragic events and lead a normal life again.
Hence, it’s crucial to identify your traumas and create a journal on how you react to them. McKay emphasizes identifying each of your triggers and creating a journal of your responses to such negative events.
By keeping running tabs on your actions, you gain more clarity on how you will deal with such events in the future.
According to an article written in Psychology Today titled “The Rise of Lonely Single Men” more men are struggling in relationships for not addressing their traumas. Men need to make a commitment to address their mental health in order to connect with the kind of love they want to generate for the world “Level up your mental health game. That means getting into some individual therapy to address your skills gap,” Author Greg Matos PsyD says. “It means valuing your own internal world and respecting your ideas enough to communicate them effectively.”
Learning To Let Go & Overcoming Your Fears
Holding on to painful experiences only aggravates them. According to McKay, one of the main barriers that her clients face is self-doubt, which further limits their ability to cope. Unfortunately, self-esteem issues are more common than we think. In fact, according to research, 85% of people are affected by some sort of self-defeating behavior.
So why do so many of us subconsciously tolerate things that increase our stress levels and emotionally drain us? McKay says that this is one of the critical questions we need to ask ourselves in order to take charge of our lives. Writing down things you tolerate and resolving them over time can significantly improve not just your self-esteem but also your relationships and productivity.
Overcoming your fears is also crucial to self-growth. McKay states that three main fears stop people from achieving success. “We fear that things will be too hard. We fear the outcome. What if putting all this effort into things isn’t going to be worth it at the end of the day? Finally, we fear that if we take action, we’re going to lose someone or something important to us because we’re going to grow beyond that thing or person,” she says.
According to McKay, identifying and overcoming these fears can be life-changing. Just like top athletes, we need to pinpoint our inner why — or what motivates us — and the barriers that are stopping us from living a life of purpose. “Nothing is worse than regret. Regret is not an option. And staying the same is not an option. It’s unacceptable,” McKay highlights.
Fueling Your Inner Badass
Taking charge of your actions is the next big step to turning your life around. Every time fear creeps into your mind, try to push it away by being productive. According to McKay, this is where pushing both the mind and body to their limits can be a game changer. While for McKay, lifting weights worked like a charm to alleviate her ADHD, any physical activity that appeals to you can do wonders for your well-being. This could be hiking, ballroom dancing, or fencing.
While physical activity is undeniably one of the best ways to unleash the beast within, it also fuels your energy and drives you toward your goals. And the ability to utilize this high-performance energy can help you perform at a level that gives you that much-needed competitive edge. “Strenuous exercise actually does something to your brain. And we’re not talking lightweight, I’m talking weight-bearing exercise, in order to elevate your energy levels and your life,” McKay says.
Channeling Your Inner Warrior
Transforming yourself may not be an easy process, but it is definitely possible. While personal growth requires determination and long-term commitment, McKay says that passion and a do-it-now mindset are also crucial to success. “You must know your inner why — what you are willing to fight and love for,” McKay says. “It’s also important to prioritize your mental and physical well-being, and be an absolute badass while doing so. This automatically aligns your body and mind, accomplishing self-discipline, confidence, and a clear outlook toward the goals you are passionate about.”
For McKay, having a sense of urgency about everything she does is a positive obsession and she advises others not to procrastinate when it comes to reaching personal goals. “To be obsessed and to be passionate and to live with conviction is important,” she says. “When we hear the word obsession, it sometimes sounds negative. But if we’re positively convicted, we have that level of conviction, it’s like, let me join the ride because I don’t want to be left behind.”
