Let's Think About It Podcast

Episode 58: Stuck in Self-Doubt? Reclaim Your Leadership SWAG

• Morice Mabry • Season 2 • Episode 58

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Episode Summary

When was the last time you felt off your game—not burned out, but just off? In this solo episode, Coach Mo breaks down how high-achieving leaders drift into autopilot, self-doubt, and overthinking…and how to reclaim what he calls your SWAG: Self-awareness, Why-power, Aligned actions, and Grit. Through the story of one anxious executive prepping for a high-stakes presentation, you’ll hear how mindset, energy, and intention create real confidence. If you're leading from fear instead of fire, this episode gives you a practical, repeatable path to get back in alignment.

🔑 Key Takeaways

  • SWAG Is Your Inner Armor: True leadership starts with energy, intention, and alignment—not titles or tactics.
  • Fear vs. Fire: Your inner critic thrives when you lead on autopilot. Shifting to “fire” means leading with values, purpose, and conviction.
  • Confidence Comes From Clarity: When your why is clear, your actions align—and your grit returns.
  • No Applause Needed: One of the strongest forms of grit? Doing the hard thing even when no one notices.
  • A 4-Question Reset: Reclaim your SWAG daily with these:
    • What’s my energy like today?
    • What’s my why for this work?
    • What’s one aligned action I can take?
    • Where have I shown grit this week, even without applause?
Speaker 1:

Welcome to the let's Think About it podcast, where we embark on a journey of thoughtfulness and personal growth. I'm your host, coach Mo, and I'm here to guide you through thought-promoting discussions that will inspire you to unlock your full potential. In each episode, we'll explore a wide range of topics, from self-discovery and mindfulness to goal-setting and achieving success. Together, we'll challenge conventional thinking and dive deep into the realms of possibility. Whether you're looking to find clarity in your personal or professional life, or seeking strategies to overcome obstacles, this podcast is your go-to source for insightful conversations and practical advice. So find a comfortable spot, chill and let's embark on this journey of self-improvement together. Remember, the power of transformation lies within you, and together we'll uncover the tools and insights you need to make it happen. So let's dive in. Welcome to another episode of the let's Think About it podcast. I'm your host, coach Mo, and I'm here solo, and today I'm going to talk about your swag. You always hear me talk a lot about leadership, and when I reference leadership today, I'm referencing leading self. First, leadership, and leading self, okay, and how we're going to get our swag back, how we carry this inner armor that we forgot we had, and that's our swag, and I'm going to dive into that, but first let me ask you this when was the last time you felt like you lost yourself a little bit? It was in the room, but not in the moment. You were doing something, but you were mentally checked out. That's really not burnout, it's not imposter syndrome, that's a swag issue, and today I'm going to help you understand how to reclaim your swag. So we show up, oftentimes leading self on autopilot, just going through the motions, mundane activities, day in and day out, just going autopilot, doing it because you're supposed to do it and there's no purpose intact with that. The most exhausted leaders I coach. They're not tired because of tasks, they're tired because they're out of alignment. Right, think about that Alignment. What do I mean by that? Something's off and you're just going through the motions and your mind is somewhere else. A lot of times the inner critic has taken over your mind and is creating this weight that you're carrying. Maybe it's overwhelming feeling, maybe a stress, maybe it's some doubt, maybe there's fear that's present, but the reality is you're leading self on autopilot and that alignment is off because the inner critic is directing you a certain path, a certain way. So here's what SWAG stands for the S is self-awareness, the W is the Y, power, a is aligned actions and then G is the grit, that's SWAG, and when you have that, you're good. So I think the best way to help you understand is to just take you through an example so that, hopefully, this kind of connects with you. And I work with a lot of leaders, right, and I'm going to focus in the leadership space, but I'm going to give you an example, because leaders deal with everything that you're probably dealing with, because we lead self first. So this, hopefully, this example that I share, will resonate with you, because this particular leader I'm going to call her Sally, let's just call her Sally.

Speaker 1:

So Sally came to me. She's a high level exec and she was feeling this anxiety about this big presentation that she has to do. The audience is stakeholders, internal and external stakeholders and she was just really in awe with anxiety, nervousness about presenting her presentation. And remind you, this woman is on top of her game. She's just on top of her game. So she comes to me in our session and she's just I want to talk about this presentation that I have to give and I'm just not feeling like really aligned, I'm feeling like really worried, I'm feeling like really nervous. I'm like what do something's off? I feel like I got to have all the answers when I'm presenting this presentation. I've been going through my content over and over, editing my slides and this, but I still don't feel confident.

Speaker 1:

And I mentioned to her. I was like you're swag, you don't have no swag. We got to get your swag back. She thought I was referencing swagger but I was like nah, man, we're not talking about swagger in that sense. We're talking about swag, regaining self-awareness, that. Why power, that aligned action, that grit, right.

Speaker 1:

So we started with the basics, right. I went back to her. I said what part of you do you want to show up in that room? Because where she was focused at the response that people would potentially give her when she delivered this presentation or she wouldn't have all the answers as a certain question comes up in the presentation and that created certain judgments that she was carrying up in the presentation. And that created certain judgments that she was carrying when I asked her what part of you do you want to lead with your fear or fire? What part of you in preparing for this presentation, what part of you is showing up leading with fear or leading with fire. And she thought about it right, and she says I think right now I'm leading with fear. I was like, tell me more about that.

Speaker 1:

And so then she explained how she felt that she has to have all of these answers to be perfect in this presentation and it's eating her alive. And I said how do you shift from leading with fear to leading with fire? And she said I don't need to worry about having all the answers. I said exactly. So what do you need to do? I think I just need to be more intentional about if I don't have the answer to a question that's asked during this presentation. I can be intentional in a response. That would provide more confidence that I will get them to answer, even though I don't know it right now. I was like exactly how does that feel? And you know what? Now that I think about it, it feels good, okay, perfect.

Speaker 1:

Why does this presentation matter to you? Why is it important? It's my credibility, my integrity, and I'm trying to drive home this new program that can really shift certain changes in our organization, and that's really important to me. And how are you being distracted away from that? She said my fear, okay. So how do you get back to your why I got to remember that the integrity of this is very important.

Speaker 1:

The positive change that's going to come from my presentation is very important. Exactly Boom she's fueled. Now what actions need to be aligned to ensure that you can demonstrate this phenomenal presentation? So then she was like maybe it's not really about editing my content, but really focusing on my tone and how I'm going to be present in this meeting while I'm presenting. Exactly what does that look like? How do you get that? How do you set that tone? How are you going to prep yourself? I'm going to rehearse, go through my cues, have my note cards and just really be confident about that. How do you be confident about that? She said I'll do a dry run. Oh, okay, do you need someone to sit in with you? She said no, I'm good, I've done enough of these. I know. I just need to run through it a few more times. Her actions is in alignment. So now I'm seeing a shift. As we're talking about this, this shift of positivity.

Speaker 1:

I asked her in that moment, based on what you just told me, how are you feeling now? She was like I'm feeling a little bit more confident. I don't feel as nervous as I was coming into our session to talk to you. I'm like great. So my final question how are you going to see this through? And she was like man, I already got this, what you mean. She's like no, I got this.

Speaker 1:

I said, coming in you felt a little bit nervous and then you even told me you were at a five or six about the presentation. Where are you at now? She's like man, I'm at a nine. I was like a nine. She was like, yes, a nine. I'm like that's grit, that's real grit. How did you get to that nine? I got to the nine because we were talking and just as we were talking, through the scenario, I feel like I got my grind back, my grit back. Exactly. That's swag, because in this example of what I share, we talk through the self-awareness, why we talk through the aligned action, and then the grit. The grit was the energy that shifted and made her move from a level five to a level nine in confidence. That's grit, baby, that's getting your swag back. And here's the real of it all. By the way, she crushed the presentation. She immediately texted me afterwards and said she crushed it. Round of applause, the whole nine. You have this ability to carry this with you as well. The swag.

Speaker 1:

There are some simple things that you can do. Number one just ask yourself, whenever you're feeling nervous on the situation, what's my energy like today? Start there, what's my energy. Okay, that's number one. Number two you can ask yourself what's my why for the work I'm doing, whatever that dynamic is, what's my why? What's my why? What's one action, one aligned action I could take that feels real? That's number three. That's the A. And then, finally, number four when have I already shown grit this week, even if no one clapped for me? Think about that. The awareness, the self-awareness. What's my energy like today? My why. What's my energy like today? W is my why. What's my why for the work that I'm doing today? The A what's one aligned action I can take today that feels real? And then G where have I shown grit, grit, this week, even if no one claps for me? Where have I shown that this week? That's it. That's reclaiming your own swag. But what's amazing about this concept is I have a tool that I use. So I worked with Sally, your leader too. You lead self, and so how do we regain your swag? And just do those things. Do those simple things. I'm going to reiterate it. What's my energy today? Why is the work important? What's one aligned action I can take that makes me feel right and gets me back to the real me? And then, finally, how have I already shown grit where no one else has applauded me? That's swag, baby. That's swag. Get your swag back.

Speaker 1:

I utilize a swag activity that's fully documented that I'm willing to share. Just DM me, connect with me on LinkedIn at Maurice Mabry, or you can visit me on Instagram, coach Mo Coaching, and just DM me. Dm me and ask for a swag list. I will be happy to connect with you and be sure that you get a swag list. And what that list does is it gives you values to help you connect your why Right, and that's the purpose of the swag list is to get that why going Right. The why is the core of your swag, because you want to know, you want to have purpose of why you're doing things and the direction that you're going. And my swag list it gives you a visual of different values that can help you connect your why and then, with that why, it can also help drive your energy, your grit and aligned actions.

Speaker 1:

I appreciate you for checking in with me. I appreciate all of you for listening and, at the end of the day, reclaim your swag. It's okay. Reclaim your swag and it starts with you. Take care. Thank you for joining me in this episode of let's Think About it. Your time and attention are greatly appreciated. If you found value in today's discussion, I encourage you to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Remember, the journey of self-improvement is ongoing and I'm here to support you every step of the way. Connect with me on social media for updates and insights. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook at Coach Mo Coaching, or LinkedIn at Maurice Mabry, or visit my website at mauricemabrycom for exclusive content. Until next time, keep reflecting, keep growing and, most importantly, keep believing in yourself. Remember, the most effective way to do it is to do it Together. We're making incredible strides toward a better and more empowered you, so thank you, and I'll see you in our next episode.