I love what I do!
I know, I am incredibly blessed, because lots of people don’t. They go to work and do a job, for some it is just a way to pay the bills, for some it’s an awful experience they must endure. I feel like mine is an assignment, a calling.
I love it so much, I don’t have an off button. I have to force myself to switch off on the weekends. We do need to rest and when we don’t no matter how much fun we are having, our bodies have a way of letting us know it is time to stop. I had a recent bout of trigeminal neuralgia, that got my attention.
So this weekend, when I was tempted to do some more work on a two day offsite that is coming up, (hopefully... go away Covid!) I realised that I needed to be disciplined and switch off. But I don’t enjoy just being idle… So I found the paint by numbers lighthouse I bought in the very first lockdown last year.
Two aha’s came of out this:
1. As I like to multitask, I started with doing it while listening to a podcast but was so “in to” it that once the podcast was finished I was so focused I didn’t start another. The silence was awesome. It was relaxing, and the bonus, a whole bunch of solutions popped in my mind on stuff that was worrying me and I got a few great ideas. Isn’t that just the way? Creativity, I find always unlocks solutions for me. It seems that when we aren’t focusing on problems or issues, the solutions come.
2. As I slowly, but surely filled up the tiny little blank numbered spaces with various colours, I realised that, as much as I was enjoying it, I probably shouldn’t give up my day job. I went over most of the lines, sometimes covering the next little number, I then had to check out the little picture it came with to try to figure out which colour should go in there. As I scrutinised each little blot of paint, it looked a bit of a mess. That is why I was so surprised as I looked back at it from the kettle as I was making myself a cup of tea, it looked amazing!! The further away I stood the better it looked. Perspective, I find the
further away I am from things the better perspective I get.
Leadership is sometimes like that, when we are too close and under pressure, things become hard, we lose perspective and we run out of the creativity we need to problem solve on a high level. This is why those two days offsite's are so valuable and so impactful. I always get push back from leaders, and I get it, because who has two full days away from the office, but every single time I get a leadership team to do it, the reward for them far outweighs the cost in time, money and energy.
How often do you and your team get away from the noise, hustle and bustle of business-as-usual, engage in activities that pull you to a higher perspective, ask different questions and just have some time to enjoy each other and have some deep and meaningful conversations? You might be thinking that now isn’t a good time, I would disagree, the more under the gun, the more under pressure you feel and the more overwhelmed you are, the greater the need and the bigger the result will be.
Go on… book those days in today.
