7 Questions and Practices to Help Balance both.
With our fast lifestyles and the increasing complexity of everything from technology to multiple demands and tasks to be accomplished, we are at risk of merely managing our life. Consider for a moment how much more complex daily living has become compared to our great grand-parents. Not only do most of us work extensively in and out of our homes as our ancestors did, we also must make time for fitness, family life, a social life, leisure, stress management, e-mails, personal/professional development and so on. No wonder we end up frantically trying to just manage all this, from one day to the next.
In the course of facilitating seminars for people approaching retirement, I often hear participants mention they expect to fill up their days with activities after this transition. In most cases this exemplifies the pervasive pressure in our culture, to “keep busy” and to “manage”, even micro-manage our time and everything we do with it. The implicit collusion we share is that by being good at “managing” and “getting things done”, we are well-organized, in control, and safe.
Of course, being able to plan and discipline ourselves to accomplish what we must can generate a certain kind of satisfaction and peace of mind. But if, instead of your attention being primarily consumed by managing, you would also embrace a leadership spirit, your life would be enriched, more meaningful and fulfilling. By activating the leader in you, you generate a sense of direction, an overarching theme which contributes to changing your life from a series of busy days into a fulfilling journey.
What’s more, leadership requires that we have a compelling vision for our lives and we discern the values that inform our actions and ways of being. This is a lifestyle in which we inhabit a wider perspective and dwell in a greater awareness of inner dynamics and surrounding energies. This in turn helps us discern the most opportune times for diverse activities thereby often accomplishing more, yet with ease and flow while releasing the need for perfection or micro-management. From a neuroscience perspective, engaging the leader in you stimulates the frontal neo-cortex, the seat of consciousness, the faculty from which you can make choices from a larger perspective, awareness and responsiveness rather than reactivity or short sightedness.
As you strive to establish or regain a balance of leading and managing your life, ask yourself the following questions and try on these practices:
Self-inquiry:
- Assuming you have all the necessary courage and the support of others, what significant change would you like to initiate and lead in your life within the next 6 months?
- How would your life be different if you were to embrace your next level of largeness?
- In what area of your life could you better learn to let go and ease into more of a sense of flow?
Practices:
- When you feel on the verge of being overwhelmed with so much to do, try mentally aligning your tasks one behind the other. This way you can focus and address them one by one rather than feeling they are all around you, each demanding your attention all at once.
- Create regular times for reflecting and acknowledging your progress on the trajectory towards the realization of your aspirations. This helps generate a sense of the larger perspective of your life.
- At the start of each month or on a quarterly basis, set a specific theme that motivates you to better live in alignment with the values you want to prioritize at certain times. For example, you might decide that your theme for the upcoming fall time will be Learning and explore what courses or conference you could enjoy attending.
- To keep your leadership’s inner flame alive, seek out inspiration through reading, attending great presentations, spending time in nature or through whatever other means keeps you inspired.
Remind yourself from time to time, in a similar way that your physical body needs food daily, your soul needs inspiration on a regular basis. In turn this inspiration will serve to nourish your leadership spirit so you can live fully and purposefully in the moment while navigating towards your best future.
Invitation:
If you would like to develop a better balance between the leader and the manager in you, contact me – isabelle@inspiredmomentum.com – for a consultation, free of charge, about using coaching services to optimize this balance and take your life to its next level of largeness and satisfaction.
