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There’s a Greek word called meraki, and it means to do something with soul, creativity and love, to leave a piece of yourself in everything you do, and in a world so obsessed with outcomes, meraki is the art of bringing your soul into the process and life itself rather than just chasing whatever the result might be at the end of it. I’ve been writing Lead From Within for over four years now, though the work behind it stretches back seven, and even after nearly finishing the manuscript I was still trying to find the words for what the book is actually about underneath the nine steps. I’d already used the word meraki once in the book, in the chapter on Leading Your Mission, but this week I had a realisation that it isn’t just one chapter’s idea, it is the golden thread running underneath all nine steps, the thread of bringing your soul into building a business, leading a team, raising a child, or simply showing up to your own life. As with anything you teach, you get tested on whether you actually live it first, and writing this book hasn’t been an exception. Life has been testing me in real time this year to see if I’m willing to embody what I’m writing in the book, and here are three places it’s shown up recently. The flight home I had kept my consulting career active alongside coaching over the last 7 years, but earlier this year I left that career behind. Last month, I was away in the US and on the flight home, it hit home that there is no safety net anymore, that I am all in now in a way I have never been before. There was a sense of aliveness in that thought, and I knew deep down it was aligned with my path but the mind doesn’t care about alignment, it cares about safety, and being a husband and a father brings the question up sharply, “what if it doesn’t work?”. I write about this in chapter three: Rise to Your Calling. Rising to your calling even when there’s no guarantee waiting for you on the other side. As we rise to our calling in life, whether it be what you are called to share in a meeting, or a bigger life decision, there will be fear. For me, one of my biggest fears that comes up is not being able to provide for my family, and what holds me through that fear every single day is my meditation and my morning rituals of physical activity etc. If someone looked at my situation from the outside, leaving a stable career with a family to support, they might think I had lost the plot, but it has never felt more right, and that’s the strange thing about real alignment, it rarely makes logical sense from the outside looking in. The shout A couple weeks ago I shouted at my wife. I’d been emotionally triggered, and I hadn’t shouted in years, and taking ownership in that moment wasn’t about pretending I’m above being triggered, it was about how quickly I could come back, take responsibility, and focus on what had actually happened rather than defend myself, which is chapter one of the book. The next day I slowed myself down properly, which is chapter two, and sat with what had come up rather than rushing past it. I realised there was some old healing I still needed to do, work on a part of me that had been carrying something since long before my wife ever came into the picture, so I did the work, I released what needed to be released, and I saw clearly where I still needed to grow, which is chapters four and five, mastering my own mind and creating a different state from the one I’d been operating from. Instead of judging myself for it, I gave myself grace, and I came to see the whole thing as a blessing rather than a failure, because it’s been a real upgrade for me. I’m learning to bring more space and more love into my life, not only the structure and discipline I’ve built so much of my identity on, and I’m learning that real strength holds both, the discipline and love, structure and soul, with self love included. I’m starting to see masculinity is love and tenderness as much as it is the structure and discipline (I think this may be what the next book may be on…!) The forest and the bridge For years I’ve been in the forest, doing the inner work mostly unseen, building my own frameworks, studying deeply, working everything out for myself before I ever taught it to anyone else, and the book has been the bridge out of that forest into a distant land. This time in the forest, although it has been work, has also kept me safe from “not putting myself out there in the public eye for scrutiny.” As I come to the end of that bridge the job changes, it’s no longer just about doing the work in private, it’s about standing in front of people, presenting it, defending it when needed, and leading from a place of real authority. I’ve noticed myself wanting to hide a little from that, and the fear sounds something like this, what if I’m on a stage and someone says the book doesn’t land, that I haven’t understood what I’m talking about. I used to watch other people put themselves out there and judge them for it in my head, and now I see it differently, being visible isn’t ego, it’s service, it’s simply the job. And it can be done from a place of soul. This is exactly what chapter eight of the book is about, leading your mission means keeping your focus on the people you’re here to serve rather than on how you’re perceived, it’s not about me, it’s about the mission of Thriving Scholar, which is to create conscious leaders in service of humanity, and so in real time I’m being tested on the very thing I’ve already written. Speaking on global stages. I’m good at this, but what I want is to become great, alongside a deeper trust in my own authority. I believe the next era of people who truly flourish, in business, parenting, health and leadership, will be the ones who learn to infuse their soul into everything, even the smallest details, even when nobody’s watching. The ones who lead from soul but also ones who lead with integrity and embody their own message, and the ones who really care. I see as this human premium in an AI world. It’s the barista who remembers your name and gives you good energy before nine in the morning, the founder who serves from the heart rather than the spreadsheet, the parent who does the inner work so their own pain doesn’t pass down to their children, the leader who does the right thing even when it costs them the quick win, the one who can sit at peace within themselves, detached from the outcome, while still being fully committed. That is meraki. When you bring your soul to what’s in front of you, you stop chasing success and start radiating it, and work done with meraki doesn’t just change your results, it changes you. Where in your life could you bring more meraki in what you do? This book isn’t only a framework, it’s a movement of leaders learning to infuse their soul into everything they touch, from building a company to raising a child, and I cannot wait to put it in your hands later this year. Jaineel P.S. Here are 5 ways I can support your journey:
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