INSIGHTS (on leadership/self-leadership)
Many of us hold periods of calm as the gold standard of work-life. Work hard, get through the tough stuff, and eventually, you’ll encounter a span of peaceful, agitation-free bliss before the next challenge arises and unsettles things.
But I’d like to offer an alternative point of view, expressed in a quote from race car driver Mario Andretti:
If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.
In other words, in our desire to create that ideal state of calm, we can take our foot off the gas, not go for that opportunity, pull in the sails – never realizing all that will pass us by.
I’m not talking about recklessness. Nor am I advocating that you never jump off the hamster wheel of achievement – being forever beholden to it. I’m merely encouraging you to be more comfortable with being uncomfortable; taking progressive risk more often to ensure you’re accomplishing all that you truly want to in the waking-working hours you have left on this planet.
Progressive risk, by the way, is not risk for the sake of it or for thrill seeking, but risk that leads to opportunities and real possibilities. Risk that’s worth it – worth the tradeoff of relative “stability.” As research indicates, progressive risk enhances your ability to learn (learning agility, as it’s called) among other things. Even if that’s the only outcome that arises, it’s intoxicating enough in its own right.
IMPERFECTIONS (a mistake many make)
It’s easy to idolize the big swings we take in our life. Finally quitting and starting your own business. Volunteering to give that huge presentation at work. Asking to take on an entirely new role in your organization. All good.
Warren Buffett would caution you, however, to not lose sight of the low-hanging fruit in your life. As he said at one annual shareholders meeting about his company (using an Olympic sport as a metaphor):
We get paid not for jumping over seven-foot bars, but for stepping over one-foot bars.
There’s much to be said about looking for those one-foot bars in your life; the lower energy, but steady return, type things. Reaching out and calling that family member to get communication lines open again. Asking for feedback from your boss rather than wondering what he/she thinks of you. Committing to make all your team meetings a little more productive.
It’s not always about the leaps. Sometimes, it’s the collective steps that really move us forward.
IMPLEMENTATION (one research-backed strategy, tip, or tool)
Here’s some time-tested advice if you’re thinking of switching jobs, or careers, or frankly making any big change in your life.
Make sure you’re running to something, not from something.
I’m not saying to stick around in a toxic situation. Just that in our understandable desire to move on, we can lose clarity; of what we truly want next, of what the opportunity before us truly entails (warts and all), of what will best help us move towards the life we want to live.
Those times we break clean from something requires us to come clean – with ourselves – on what’s worth running to.
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