Striving for inner plateau as a politician
Politicians are used to looking outwards. Their job involves looking at what is wrong with the world and working in order to change it. In that process they face challenges that would make anyone lose their balance: not only the concrete problematic situations to be addressed through policy, but also the responsibilities, endless meetings and workload that come with the job. It seems almost impossible for them not to explode at some point, and to have trouble in order to reach emotional plateau. How can politicians learn to look inwards so that they can be the best version of themselves when they look outwards?
To answer this complex question, The Silent MP spoke to Tracey Jones, political coach, Language Alchemist, Founder of TJLife.net and CEO of Chrysalis Mindset Coaching.
As a coach for politicians, Tracey has dealt with MPs who strive for inner plateau but are unable to identify what triggers their negative feelings such as frustration or anger. These feelings naturally emerge as politicians often plant the seeds of policies that will yield results in the long term, says Tracey. The situation can become even harder at times when there is no time to stop and analyse oneself, such as in the middle of an electoral campaign. However, she has identified what differentiates those who make it and those who break it. In other words, Tracey helps politicians not to let themselves be dragged down by negative emotions through a process that involves becoming aware of their core values, putting their feelings aside, and thinking strategically.
Your core values are who you are, they are your roots, Tracey explains. She invites us to imagine a politician whose core values include family, loyalty and respect. Another of the most difficult values to safeguard in politics is fairness. It is very frustrating for politicians to feel that they are not aligned to these values. If the politician neglects time with their family or feels that someone on their team is not loyal or does not respect another team member, all those deviations from their core values will come out as a feeling of imbalance, says Tracey. When the triggering occurs and your core values are under threat, what makes the difference is that politicians that have been in touch with their inner language actually succeed in seeing the imbalance as a challenge to overcome, enabling them the equilibrium to manage their day in a more productive and calmer manner.
As a language alchemist, Tracey knows the power of our personal language to transform the political experience into an emotionally-stable one. This is why she proposes a continous learning process of politicians and their teams in order to cultivate in them the ability to be aware when a deviation from a certain core value occurs. Being aware is key, according to Tracey. She cites the example of a candidate who has to speak in a press conference. Just before the politician has to expose himself to the public, someone tells him something that alters his core values. The first step that an emotionally stable politicians take is to identify what has happened. “Awareness is built up over time”, says Tracey, it is a multi-layered achievement that Tracey helps to uncover in her coaching sessions. Indeed, some people need time to identify which are their core values, those that do not change over the years. Once the cause of the negative feeling has been identified, Tracey explains, it is time to ask if there is anything that can be done to fix the problem at that specific moment, for instance before the press conference. If the answer is no, the candidate must turn the power of negative emotions into strategic thinking. “You need the same amount of energy to stay in your limits than it takes to remove the resistance and get what you really want.” says Tracey in her article Kintsukuroi and Developing Resilience through Language.
Indeed, building up this mental fortitude means letting go of our negative emotions just in order to channel them into a strategy. The success of such strategy will have transformed feelings of frustration, fear or anger into feelings of pride and well-being. Just with the power of our mind and our inner language. This is why The Silent MP advocates for politicians to start looking inwards, under the guidance of professionals such as Tracey Jones, to make the political experience more like a plateau than a rollercoaster of frustration.
