From Anxiety to Action: How to Shift Your Mindset and Make a Real Impact Now

Feeling overwhelmed by the current state of the humanitarian and development sectors?

You're not alone. In this episode, we're diving into what it really means to lead through uncertainty. As modern NGO leaders, it’s easy to get stuck in a cycle of anxiety and hopelessness. Funding cuts, policy shifts, and global crises can feel relentless.

But what if there were simple, practical ways to break free from that stuck feeling?

In this episode you'll discover:

• A simple action you can take today to instantly boost your mood and productivity.
• How to uncover hidden thoughts that may be holding you back.
• A three-step process to regain control when life feels overwhelming.

Listen now to learn more!

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Mentioned in this episode - NGO Soul and Strategy Podcast

If you are a middle to senior NGO leader who wants a greater perspective on organizational change, Tosca Bruno van Vijfeijken's podcast is for you!

Through this bi-weekly podcast, you'll learn:

•  The organizational design, development and effectiveness angles of change
• Insights from a variety of global NGO leaders
• Conversations will delve into leadership, strategy, team culture, and the evolving challenges and opportunities facing our sector.

Check out the podcast NGO Soul and Strategy here!

WHAT IS YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE? QUIZ

Want to know how to lead better? It starts by understanding your leadership style. To find out yours, take my free quiz “What Is Your Leadership Style” - you’ll immediately find out your default style, how it may be impacting your team and a few practical ways to become an even better leader.  Just click on the link fill out your quiz and click submit.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Discover three concrete steps to go from feeling stuck to taking action in today's episode.

Welcome to The Modern Humanitarian and Development Leader podcast, the podcast, helping humanitarian and development supervisors make a greater impact by taking control of your time, leading more inclusively and empowering your team all the while avoiding stress, burnout, and overwhelm. I'm your host, leadership coach and former aid worker, Torrey Peace.

Are you ready? Let's get started.

Hello, my aspiring modern humanitarian and development leader! I hope you're having a great week. And if you're like me or like many of those that I see, when I go onto social media or interact with other humanitarian and development leaders right now. It's definitely one of the darker times in our history. And that is why I wanted to put together some things that I feel like will help you to get unstuck because a lot of times I think what happens is when we focus on all the negativity, all the things that might impact the communities we're working with or our own jobs or livelihoods, it can make us feel hopeless, powerless, and stuck. And that is the opposite of what I want you to feel, because that is just not helpful. And although it's okay to feel those things. We do want to eventually move from stuck to a place of action.

And that is why in this episode, I'm going to show you how to have practical ways to go from stuck to taking action. One thing you probably haven't thought to do that instantly boost your mood and productivity. And the relationship between what you are feeling and why it's important. So before we get started, just a quick reminder that if you have not already, I really highly recommend you check out my colleague Tosca Bruno van Vijfeijken's podcast called NGO Soul and Strategy this podcast is especially relevant for times like right now, when we are experiencing so much change, because Tosca has over three decades of experience helping leaders and civil society manage change . So if you have not already, please go over and in the podcast platform that you use, I will also include a link in the show notes. Check out "NGO Soul and Strategy". All right.

Let's get started. How does the modern NGO leader face changes and uncertainty like what we are experiencing now? How do we go from feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and fearful to empowered, ready to take action and in control. So, first of all, once again, it's okay to feel bad. There's a lot of reasons right now to be feeling upset or disappointed in the international development sectors and everything that's going on right now. In particular, let's say not disappointed in the sector, but disappointed in all the changes that are happening. Coming, especially from the U S government decision making. But it's okay to feel bad.

It's okay to take some time and just to feel whatever it is that you're feeling. There's nothing wrong with that. However, at a certain point, we need to decide that we want to move out of feeling bad so that we can actually take control and take action. So that we can do something about our situation.

One thing that I think many of you probably have not thought about, but I think is a great way that will instantly boost your mood is to simply think of one person that you know is impacted by what we're going through right now. And these funding cuts and so on, and to reach out to them and just ask them as a friend how are you doing? And to really genuinely check up on them. I have done this with a few people over the last few days.

And it really does make me feel instantly better because I'm not focused on myself and my own things that are happening like to me or to, my immediate circle, but it makes me think about what's happening with this person? How are they doing? Doing kind of like a wellbeing check on someone. So I challenge you today to do this, to just think of one person, you can reach out to them by email or text or whatever you prefer . And even if you're not sure if this has impacted them or not just check on them and see how are you doing?

Okay. Another concrete action that you can take, which will help you to move through a feeling of being stuck is to really be more clear about what is going on in our brains, in our heads. There are a lot of thoughts you probably have right now about what is happening. And one of the best ways that I was taught by one of my mentor coaches to really see how all these things, these thoughts are impacting you is to just write them all down.

Write all done down on a piece of paper, just, you know, if you journal that's great too, but just write down on a blank piece of paper, all the thoughts you have not in the form of a question, but in the form of a statement.

So some of the thoughts that I've had recently are, I don't know what's happening. This is really awful. The development sector will never be the same, all of these thoughts that are going on in my head now.

Now some of these thoughts they're going on in your head and it doesn't mean that you believe all of them consciously or that you are choosing to think them, but the more you can get out on paper. And just challenge yourself to search for all these thoughts that you're having floating around in your head related to all the changes going on right now. The more you'll be able to see what is going on in your head.

Because a lot of times what happens is we just keep it jumbled up in there. We don't sort everything out. And so we're not aware of some of these thoughts and how exaggerated they might be or how unhelpful they might be. And so by writing them down, you can see them in front of you and see, well, okay, this is why I'm feeling so anxious is because I'm thinking these things. And yes, there are reasons once again, to feel fearful, anxious and so on. But sometimes some of the thoughts that I wrote down that came out of my head, I realized like, oh, wow, this is really right now in this moment is, is not a true thought. And so I think writing all these things down can be very, very, very helpful. And when you do write them down yeah go through each of them. For example, my thought I don't know what is happening right now. That's the thought, right? That's one of my thoughts. So going through your thoughts and asking yourself, is this true right now? Do I really not know what is happening? Well, Yeah, I could say that. But then my second question is what is true? What is true or in this case, what is happening right now?

Well, all I know is that there are funding cuts being made. We don't know exactly how it's going to be impacting everybody. I do see some ramifications or some effects of that when I go on LinkedIn or other platforms, but for me right now, What I know is true is that it is impacting, some of those I that I work with.

So you write down your thoughts.

You choose one. You ask herself, is this true right now? And what is true about it? And then the third question is what is within my control here? So when I think about, I don't know what is happening, what's within my control is to just find out what I can in a factual manner what is happening and what can I do based on what I know? So based on what I know, I know that some people are being impacted by this.

What can I do? Or what do I want to do about this? I want to actually create a webinar for you all. Which will help you to feel able to experience this uncertainty, to experience all the change that's happening and still feel empowered. And like you have control over the things that will make a difference. That's what I want to do. So I went from this thought, I don't know what is happening to this is how I'm going to move forward.

This is what I want to do about it. And when we move from this, cause if I stayed in this thought or if I've had this thought float of floating around in my head, I don't know what is happening. That is not useful. It actually makes me feel anxious and worried. And so rather than just focusing on that I can look at okay, what is true about that thought or not true?

And what do I want to do? What is within my control? And that is like I said, creating this workshop. Really, it will probably be a workshop where I'm going to help you all walk through how to create a. A sense of safety in this uncertainty. I'll definitely be updating you all about that workshop that I'm planning on doing.

But just to also remind you that now we're in the messy middle of all of this. And we don't quite know where everything is going to fall. Some things might being done for political performance and some things might be actual permanent cuts and permanent changes. But we just don't know right now, everything like the consequences, it's everything that's going or is happening at the moment.

And that you are not alone, that it's really important right now, more than ever to find a community. There are so many groups I'm seeing being formed on LinkedIn on Facebook or other platforms I would love to hear from you all if you want to share some of those resources, but, I hope to also be forming a community where we can come together and just really share what we're experiencing right now and be able to support one another, empower one another to take action in a productive way. And that is the way of the modern NGO leader. All right.

Final reminder to take care of yourself right now. You know, it does not serve anyone if you are burnout or if you are feeling too tired or de-motivated to do anything. Like we said you can experience and be okay with feeling bad. There's nothing wrong with that. And you deserve to feel how you're feeling. But at some point you also need to do what you need to do to take care of yourself, whether that's getting rest. Drinking enough water, making sure you prioritize your health. For me, those things are stepping away from my computer, limiting my time on social media, making sure that I still go to the gym, that I still spend time and I'm present with my husband and look at what's really important to me in my life. Making sure I'm connected with the family. All of these things. It's still very, very important to focus on. So make sure you're doing that for yourself. That's it for today. So until next week, Keep evolving, thinking about you. Big virtual hug. Bye.

Are you the type of leader that tells others what to do? Or do you let them figure it out for themselves? Understanding your leadership style is the first step to deciding what's working for you and what's not. To find out your leadership style, take my free quiz "what is your leadership style?" You'll immediately find out your default style, how it may be impacting your team, and a few practical ways to become an even better leader.

Just click on the link in the show notes, www.aidforaidworkers.com/quiz fill out your quiz and click submit. So what are you waiting for? Go to www.aidforaidworkers.com/quiz and discover your leadership style now. Your team will thank you for it!