You can’t navigate the terrain if you can’t see it clearly. Sometimes the biggest challenge isn’t the obstacle standing in front of us. It’s everything happening in our minds while we’re trying to figure out what to do about it. The frustration. The fear. The uncertainty. The assumptions we’re making about what might happen next. And when all of those things start competing for our attention, something important can happen: We lose clarity. We start reacting to what we think is happening instead of examining what’s actually happening. We confuse our fears with facts. That’s why self-leadership begins with awareness. Sometimes we need to create enough space between what we’re feeling and how we respond to examine the situation from another perspective. You don’t need to pretend the terrain is easy. You need to understand the terrain you’re standing on. Because once you can see the obstacles more clearly, you can start identifying where you still have agency. And that’s w...