How to.. tackle your inner troll

And overcome those mind gremlins that stop you shining in your career

Welcome back to Lead with Intention! I’ve had…a bit of a week. And I want to tell you about it. Don’t worry, it’s not a self-indulgent rant, there is a point and a purpose to it, I promise!

But I think it’s so important to be transparent when you’re sharing career and leadership advice like I do here. In fact, honesty and integrity are two of my most important values, so as I tell my brilliant group coaching programme, I will always be honest about the good and the not so good, my vulnerabilities and my insecurities, if doing this can help them in some way.

(They saw this first hand this week, when Internet issues bedevilled the start of my live group coaching sessions! I’m someone that likes to be prepared for things to go as well as they can (within the bounds of what I can directly control or influence) and this was something that a) I could have prepared for more and better i.e. calling my Internet provider earlier to sort it out and b) which cut to the heart of what I am insecure about professionally i.e. not turning up with the very highest level of intentionality for what I do. Don’t worry, the sessions were great (I hope!), but it was definitely a “moment” for me when my mind gremlins woke up and started to clamour for attention.)

The attack of the mind gremlins

“You’re not prepared for this session Louise.”

“Why didn’t you call the Internet provider earlier?”

“You’re lazy. You just couldn’t be bothered to sort it out.”

“Did you just hope the problem would solve itself?”

Leading to the ultimate mind gremlin…

“You suck at being a coach!”

You see, even as a coach, I am not immune to a bit of imposter syndrome, self doubt and an occasional attack of the mind gremlins. And I share this because I know it’s something that will come up for you in your career and throughout life. It’s normal, it’s natural and we all have them. The trick is to not let them consume you and overwhelm you to the point of inertia or complete inaction.

But that wasn’t all that happened this week…

And sometimes the troll sneaks up on you too…

As you may know, I’m a proud and passionate TikTok creator. I have more than 30,000 followers (find me at leadwithlouise) and I turn up every work day, rain or shine, with advice, insights and coaching tips to help you maximise your career and leadership potential. In amongst the thousands of people I help, that give me positive feedback and share appreciation for the way I’ve supported them at work, I get the odd troll.

Trolls. Such a descriptive term! I like to imagine them crawling out of their little holes from under the bridge, under cover of darkness, with a private account (always) and no identifying picture.

This week, I let one get to me. Here’s what they said, how it made me feel and what I did about it…(because if I can tackle this, then you can tackle your inner troll too!)