Here’s another high leverage activity: staying fresh.
It’s your job to bring energy and enthusiasm to your work.
It’s your job to encourage, motivate and even (on your better days) inspire people both inside and outside your team to show up and contribute and build something bigger than all of you.
It’s your job to have and to spark new ideas, to try new things and then to try, try again until something sticks.
It’s your job to keep people focused on what’s important when things are getting flabby, or when things are falling apart and people are worried, or when things are booming and it feels like you could (and should) do everything.
It’s your job to usher people out of their comfort zones, to make necessary changes and improvements, to decide which things to stop doing, and to have the conversations with the people who need to stop doing them.
It’s your job to come to your work with patience, good humour and grace.
Some of these things will come naturally. Some will be harder. All require practice and emotional labour, and take their toll. Foundations erode.
You are better at all of the above when you’re fresh, so “sharpening the saw” becomes a high-leverage activity. The usual stuff: eat, exercise and sleep well. Do other things. Pursue hobbies (inspiration often comes from outside sources). Learn new things. Laugh.
Make plans – make time – for important people, places, events and things you like doing as much as you do for your work. Reserve enough energy to make a contribution in those places too.
We’re looking for powerful levers for change. Staying fresh protects the ground you stand on.
We’re in search of the flourishing life. It starts with you.