S3:E9 A PRACTICAL TOOL FOR SHAPING YOUR STRONG SENSE OF SELF & BEING A 4-D LEADER
Disclaimer: MettlEdge is a professional coaching company. While I have a personal belief system, when I coach I do not lead my clients to embrace my belief system. My job is to challenge them to align with their own personal values and beliefs.In my podcast episodes, especially this series, I openly share my faith in Jesus and my shared thoughts will often align with my beliefs.
I share my personal thoughts for the purpose of igniting yours. Agree or disagree with me, but think.
Feel free to skip over this series if it is too aligned with my own personal faith for you to find benefit for yourself.
Welcome to episode 9 of my current podcast series Resting in the Arms of the One Who Disarmed You. In episode 8 I broke open a discussion on shaping a strong sense of self, one anchored in the designer rather than in your design. I talked about how when we are anchored in our designer, we are free to share our uniqueness with the world and do two beautiful things. 1. Put God on display 2. Find our flow
This is the payoff. God gets the glory. We find our sweet spot.
As I said last week, for us, the idea of being unique, different, special can sometimes be more fascinating than the idea of putting God on display. The feeling we get when we thrive in our flow can be more fulfilling to us than the purpose we have been given to flourish as imagers of God.
As a result, instead of anchoring our identity in our designer, we anchor it in our distinct design. And we get entangled in putting ourselves on display to God’s watching world.
Rather than finding our flow, we find ourselves trapped in a vortex of performance, focused on proving our worth because our sense of self is dependent on our design.
Think about your unique design for a moment.
If you are a high-performing woman, especially one who has been shaped by college sports, you are likely driven by an inner motor.
You have a clear, laser-sharp sense of direction—like you know exactly what you want and pursue it with focus and intent.
And you are deeply committed to discipline and consistency.
If this is you, you innately operate with what I call 3-D Leadership and this podcast episode is all about elevating your leadership to 4-D.
4-D leadership is a maturing leadership, the kind of leadership practiced by maturing people.
3-D Driven, direct, and disciplined people may achieve success—and even find their own flow for a time—but if they fail to level up their compassion, care about how they impact others, figure out how to be themselves and relate well with others, their intensity becomes a leadership liability.
Without the courage to add a new dimension, a mature disposition grounded in compassion, - that’s the 4th D – Disposition. Without the courage to care, they risk either overpowering those around them or shrinking back to avoid doing so.
Compassion brings a non-threatening, don’t worry presence that ushers in a low-pressure front and washes over weariness and fatigue like a balm, like the sound of the rain.
This week’s episode moves from the conceptional conversation around shaping our strong sense of self to a very practical tool to help us do it in our mundane, everyday life.
It’s a tool to help you show up with compassion and bring the rain to a weary world.
Copyright 2025 Jill Williams & MettlEdge Performance Coaching
