I was talking to someone close to me recently about work. During our conversation he mentioned how he had to take a day off work for his mental health. What is that about?
As leaders we are tough and must push through adversity, right? Research done over a decade ago stated leaders in America were working an average of 56 hours a week.1 For some reason I think this number is even greater now in the rapidly changing and ever fluid world we live and work in.
This increased work raises the concern of how leaders are taking care of themselves. If an athlete continually trains at a high intensity he or she will eventually wear out. The body and mind will break down and performance will suffer so what can leaders do to lead themselves well and take care of their mental health?
Self-awareness
Daniel Goleman who first brought forth the idea of emotional intelligence defines self-awareness as: “reading one’s own emotions and recognizing their impact.”2 In order to lead effectively leaders must understand their emotions and the emotions of those they lead. As leaders Goleman suggests we want to resonate with those we lead and tune into their feelings to inspire them to action.
This ability requires slowing down enough from our tasks to understand our emotions and their impact on others. Take a moment as a leader and assess if you are constantly anxious, frustrated, or stressed what the cause might be. At times though, to reach this level of self-awareness requires help.
Community of Truth Tellers
I was discussing this idea of self-awareness with other business leaders as a panelist and one of the participants highlighted the importance of community. Recently I wrote about blind spots which all of us have. In order to see our blind spots we need people around us or as John Maxwell calls our “inner circle” who will speak truth to us. These truth tellers help us see what we cannot see independently.
Recharge
For years I worked with athletes who could suffer from a problem which leaders can be impacted by as well if they are not careful: burnout. How can we identify if we are heading down that path?
Dr. Sherrie Bourg Carter describes many of the symptoms of burnout of which I will list a few and you can explore in further detail on your own.3
- Chronic fatigue
- Insomnia
- Loss of appetite
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Anger
After reading the above list are some of these impacting your leadership right now? If so, allow me to suggest finding a way to recharge yourself. That could be through engaging with someone to help you think into what you need to remove from your responsibilities. Maybe this track to burnout can be relieved by building in active rest such as engaging in activities that help you recharge but have nothing to do with work. Finally, it could be rest and relaxation that completely removes you from the work environment.
As leaders we set the pace but must be aware of our pace so we can finish the marathon of leadership without injuring ourselves or those closest to us. What adjustment do you need to make to lead yourself and others from a healthy place? Need help thinking into this? Contact me for a thirty-minute thinking partner session at no cost to you. Lead Well.
© 2020 Wheeler Coaching Systems, All Rights Reserved
- Banks, Bonnie. Rest: A Leadership Imperative https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/lao/issue_15/LAO_IssXV_Banks.pdf retrieved on 11/15/20
- Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee. Primal Leadership. Harvard Business School Press, Boston. 2002
- Carter, Dr. Sherrie. The Telltale Signs of Burnout . . . Do You Have Them? Psychology Today website retrieved 11/15/20 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/high-octane-women/201311/the-tell-tale-signs-burnout-do-you-have-them
