Serve To Lead - From The Tribe Has Spoken

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony.
- Thomas Merton

During the 2021 Olympics gymnastic phenom, Simon Biles, withdrew from the all around competition potentially resulting in team USA not winning gold. Biles cited, “mental health concerns,” as her reasoning. Perhaps the catalyst, or maybe the last straw, Biles reported losing her proprioception in mid air and was concerned for her mental state as a competitor and fearful of catastrophic injury. Regardless of your stance on her decision, which became controversial, yet brought attention to athlete’s mental health, at the root of her dilemma was a loss of balance. She was, “Lost in the air.”

How often does this happen to leaders? The trials and tasks of life overload us to a point in which we become lost in what decisions to make next in relation to our purpose and direction of the teams, programs, and organizations we lead. I’ve been subject to this recently myself. Below are 6 P’s of Pursuing Balance that you may need to practice if you find yourself lost in the air or teetering on the edge of life’s balance beam.

Purpose: What is your purpose? There are several roles you play in the lives of others besides your team or organization. You MUST keep these at the forefront of the other P’s when making decisions.

Proactive: Before life gets out of balance, look at your goals, the goals of the organization/team and make possible predictions as to tasks that you’ll have to take on. If you can foresee trouble areas or time consuming factors, then you can apply the following P’s more effectively. I like to start my year by planning it from the goal finish dates backward and overlapping it with other calendars such as family and work. But it's still easy to falter.

Pinpoint: Get more accurate with your programming for goals you have to meet. Which ones are more difficult, which ones are low-hanging fruit.

Prioritize: Now that you know what levels of difficulty are involved with your goals you can discern their levels of importance in relation to your values and the values of your team.

Plan: Big rocks first, then sand. What are the things that must be done ASAP? Put those in your to-do list or calendar up front.

Pause: There will be things that have to be put on pause. For me it was our podcast and this newsletter. If you know what your priority roles are, the things that can be paused become clear.

Patience: With yourself and ask for it from others. You’ll even need a good dose of it with others in your interactions. Have a strategy for leaving your stress outside the confines of the relationships and roles you have.

When you can effectively apply these 6 P’s to your routine you can find balance and joy in your leadership pathway and life simultaneously. Have a blessed week!