Leadership is Mental

Think better. Lead better.

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Dear Reader

I’m aiming for a 60% open rate. So I’ve made upgrades. (You’re welcome.)

I have a goal: 60% open rate.

Yes, I know. It's so deeply revealing of my desire to be liked by a spreadsheet.

But I’m doing something about it, because hope is not a strategy and neither is “maybe my audience will magically become less busy”.

So I’m making upgrades in the hope that you will open this weekly emailer, steal something useful, and walk away feeling marginally more dangerous (in a leadership sense, not in a “now I own a crossbow” sense).

The upgrade

From now on, I’m adding a one-sentence summary at the top of each email.

So you can get the gist and the value in 30 seconds, then decide whether you’d like to keep reading the rest of my indulgent writing for the story, the detail, and a bit of a kick up the butt.

→ Because I respect your time.
→ And also because I want you to read my emails.
→ Both can be true. Humans are complex.

So that brings us to the meat and potatoes of this one.

Right. Now for the longer version, for those of you who enjoy a little narrative seasoning with your leadership growth:

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I realised the other day, while doomscrolling LinkedIn (as one does, in the name of “market research”), that someone commented on one of my posts:

“Wow. Make the outcome inevitable. Never really thought about it that way.”

And I had that rare moment where your brain sits up straight like a dog hearing the word “walkies”.

Because I realised: I think and coach on goals very differently to most people.

Not because I’m special (I am, but that’s not the point*), but because most goal-setting advice is basically:

• Pick a goal
• Announce it loudly
• White-knuckle your way there
• If you fail, question your character
• Repeat annually like some kind of corporate Groundhog Day

Whereas the leaders who actually hit meaningful goals tend to have a different internal setup. Less emotional hostage situation. More calm inevitability.

Here are the four shifts that matter:

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1) Your safety and your worth are not attached to the outcome

This is the one most people skip because it sounds like therapy. But it’s not therapy. It’s leadership maturity. (Also nothing wrong with therapy).

If your nervous system believes that missing the target means:

• you’re less worthy
• you’ll be exposed
• you’ll lose status
• you’ll never be safe again
  …then your goal is not a goal. It’s a threat.

Threat makes people weird.

Threat makes leaders:

• procrastinate
• overcomplicate
• control everything
• micromanage the life out of their teams
• get “busy” instead of effective
• emotionally spiral the minute reality deviates from the plan

So I hold this line ruthlessly:
​even if I risk money, reputation, or comfort… I’m still safe. I’m still me. I will always find a way through.

That’s not woo. It's a deep level of anti-fragility. When your identity isn’t on the line for every goal you create for yourself, you can actually perform at your best.

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2) Make it inevitable by working backwards to leading indicators

Most leaders obsess over lagging indicators: revenue, performance ratings, market share, the applause.

Lagging indicators are the scoreboard. You can’t control all the inputs of the scoreboard.

So the question becomes:
​What would I need to do consistently so this outcome becomes inevitable?

Not “hope”. Not “hustle”. Just maths.

Leading indicators are the behaviours, habits and inputs that make the result more likely, regardless of mood, weather, or whether Mercury is doing jazz hands.

Examples:

• Want a promotion? Leading indicator: you’re visible in strategic work, not just operational fire fighting.
• Want a high-performing team? Leading indicator: communicate clear ownership, offer fewer rescues, design more accountability loops.
• Want 60% open rates (hi)? Leading indicator: better hooks, more upfront value, cleaner structure, more relevance, less waffle (I'm trying...).

The “inevitable” part happens when you stop asking:
​“Will it happen?”

and start asking:
​“What leading actions that I can control would make it inevitable?”

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3) If you don’t hit it on time, extend the deadline and study the data

At 80% of the goal timeline is where most people rage-quit.

They either miss the goal by the deadline, or worse give up before the deadline, and make it mean:

• “I’m not disciplined”
• “I can’t follow through”
• “It’s obviously not for me”
• “Better lower my standards so I don’t feel bad”

Which is emotionally understandable. It’s also a tragic waste of useful information and human potential.

Try this instead:

If you don’t hit the goal by the deadline, keep going and extend the deadline and track how long it actually took. Then run it again, and do it faster.

That’s how competence is built. Not by never failing. By failing without drama and learning without self-harm.

Only give up on a goal for one reason: you don’t want it anymore.

Not because you bruised your ego on the timeline.

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4) Use what’s already working (and what you actually like doing)

Leaders love new initiatives. The faster win is often strengthening the existing engine.

The shortest path to a goal is usually not “start from scratch”. It’s:

• amplify what already works
• leverage what you already have
• double down on what you already enjoy (because consistency is easier when you don’t hate your own plan)

When you build your strategy around your strengths, your existing assets, and your natural energy, the work becomes… less like forcing yourself to eat plain chicken and more like choosing a meal you’ll actually want to savour and finish.

Make it easy to want to do the things that get the result.

That’s not laziness. That’s behavioural design.

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The punchline

Most leaders don’t need “bigger goals”. They need safer goals.

Not safe as in small and comfortable. Safe as in: your identity isn’t dangling off the edge of them like a cartoon character.

When the outcome stops being a referendum on your worth, you can:

• think more clearly
• act more consistently
• lead more calmly
• and build a team that doesn’t operate on fear and franticness

In other words: you become the kind of leader who makes outcomes inevitable.

And yes, that includes your goals.
And yes, that also includes your inbox, when choosing to read this emailer every week.

Thank you in advance!

Your coach,

Terez

PS: If you don’t open these and I miss my 60% open rate, I will, of course, extend the deadline and make it inevitable. I’m not emotionally attached, I’m just professionally persistent. Totally different.

*PPS: And yes, I did casually claim I’m special. Relax. You’re special too, obviously. Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading an email about open rates like it’s premium entertainment.

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