To lead a team, it’s essential to know yourself well. Understanding your reactions, learning to manage your emotions, recognizing your stress levels… Putting words to what you feel, identifying those states, that’s the first step. That’s where movement begins. A thought, a tension, an emotion that calls to be named. Once the habit is in place, that quiet signal will invite you, urge you, to slow down, to listen, to observe, and I hope, to write.
Writing: a powerful tool
What powerful tool helped me? Journaling, in the sense of keeping a journal. Regular writing that becomes a habit. The book that helped me develop this practice is Atomic Habits. It taught me how to anchor it in my daily life.
James Clear, the author, presents four fundamental laws of behavior change, which serve as pillars for building good habits:
- Make the cue obvious
- Make the craving attractive
- Make the response easy
- Make the reward satisfying
The obvious cue might be a strong emotion, a sharp thought, or a persistent tension. So for a while, every day, at the same time, just before coming home in the evening, I captured that signal, its trigger, and my response. No judgment! By putting words to that signal and my reaction, it awakened my awareness, helped me develop presence. This simple act helped me gain perspective. Like setting down a heavy bag, writing brought me relief.
My practice
I practiced this during a period of high intensity. It was during a project with significant human impact and emotional reactions around me. One of my triggers, the perception of a threat to my values, showed up frequently. And oh, how easy it is to get swept into the dance of emotions, to lose your bearings and your values. That overly intense reaction, too sharp, misaligned with your values. You know that frustration you later regret, that reaction from your heart that wasn’t aligned with your head. Through this practice, I learned to manage most of those moments, improved my listening and presence, and was able to support others.
The key
The key to this exercise is consistency. Over time, you’ll be able to observe your progress, rediscover your triggers, and realize that some now have little or no impact on you, and continue working on the others.
Apply this approach. Start building the habit with a simple, easy-to-integrate action. The further you go, the more your journal will guide your introspection.
Every manager should invest time in getting to know themselves better. By doing so, you gain full control over your emotional reactions. It doesn’t take away your authenticity or spontaneity, on the contrary, it makes you more present, more aware. Your interactions will gain depth, far beyond what you imagine today.
Writing to deepen transformation
Changing your approach, your reactions, your presence, that’s what writing enables. It becomes a mirror, a refuge, a revealer. I started with two or three LinkedIn posts about my journey, a little less than a year ago. Then in November, with the clear realization that I wanted to become a coach, and through this journaling work, I decided to go deeper. I started a blog. A hundred articles later, and even more attempts, this thirst for writing has taken root.
This writing is supported by two other practices I’ve followed for much longer:
Reading
First of all, I no longer have a reading plan. I embrace the joy of exploration. I buy every book someone tells me they loved and shares the title with me. And since I adore bookstores, I let myself be happily surprised every time I walk through the door. (Note: libraries work too, but I love having books around me.) Podcasts impose a rhythm, a speed, a flow, and I prefer to be carried by the pace that reading offers.
Discussion
The other is discussion, and I love idea debates. Ah, debate. A word often frowned upon, yet it’s a fantastic tool to test, manipulate, and understand theories. It helps validate coherence.
My challenge? Balancing listening, reflection, and response. Loving words and being quite talkative, I can take up too much time responding. I admit, still hard to balance, but I’m working on it!
It’s by speaking out loud that we detect errors and weaknesses in our reasoning. It’s by listening to others’ perspectives, their reactions, their counterpoints, that our understanding sharpens, our structure and content improve. Without debate, ideas remain limited in depth and reach, unless you’re the Spinoza of your century.
And so, writing
With these two pillars enriching my perspective, writing becomes the capture of essence, of structure, a fixed element that nonetheless brings life.
- Emotions to spark reactions,
- Questions to fuel reflection,
- Quotes to support arguments,
- Options to explore new paths,
Writing becomes much more than a habit. It becomes a practice of self. A way to meet yourself, understand yourself, transform yourself. It is at once the cue, the craving, the response, and the reward. It is the thread that ties together the four laws of Atomic Habits and gives me consistency in my quest for self.
🛠️ Three simple actions to discover yourself and broaden your horizons
Capture one emotional signal per day
Choose a fixed moment, for example just before leaving work, and write down one thing: a strong emotion, a tension, or a judgment. Note the trigger. This is your first building block of emotional awareness.
Create a 3‑minute writing ritual
Each day, write three lines: one emotion, one learning, and one thing you want to try tomorrow.
Explore new horizons
Once a month, feed your curiosity: read an article, listen to a podcast, and talk with someone from a field you don’t know yet
👉 These three simple actions strengthen your leadership posture and unlock your potential.
Coaching or Mentoring: Your Choice, Your Growth
I’m Franck Dervault, drawing on years of professional experience and now advancing toward certification as a coach. I offer two distinct paths:
- Coaching to help you unlock your own potential through reflection, presence, and guided discovery.
- Mentoring to share lessons, strategies, and insights from my career so you can navigate challenges with confidence.
Whichever path you choose, my goal is the same: to help you realize that you are wiser than you think, with immense potential waiting to be unlocked.
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