What choices do you have today?
A Note From Ashlee
This morning I picked up the New York Times with my hot coffee savoring slow summer mornings. Spring here at Sway is what we call “retreat season,” and we conducted a total of 10 successful, fulfilling team sessions within the last few months.
It is nice to breathe and have a moment of pause before the fall (a.k.a. Retreat Season Part 2).
Going back to my story - I picked up the New York Times to enjoy reading. For my work rhythms, this is now a season of “intake” versus “output.” Our coaches, including myself, need periods of learning, mental enjoyment, and emotional rest in order to be the best coaches we can.
But this is not a blog about learning to pace yourself. Nor is it about finding rhythms for your specific position.
I opened the paper to find an article, “The Case Against Zoos.” What I found inside myself was an immediate resistance and urge to turn the page to “How to Think Outside the Brain,” something that Enneagram teachings in the future would surely benefit from. Instead I took a moment to ask myself, what is my reasoning for not wanting to read the article? Why is it that my hand instructed the rest of my being not to read Emma Marris’s weekly column?
The answer was simple: I love zoos.
I have found pleasure in the past of being entertained by majestic animals and spending a leisurely afternoon with my godson dazzled by penguins plunging into the mechanically icy waters of their pen.
This made me wonder, what other information am I avoiding in order for me to not have to change my life? My patterns? My pleasures?
What biases get in the way of me becoming the leader I desire to be?
That’s the purpose of this short, wisdom piece.
There is information, experts, 2-3 million years of human history and human wisdom around to guide you. It is up to us to tap into it and engage with reality.
I encourage you this morning to ask yourself: what are you avoiding?
What knowledge is at your disposal that will genuinely aid in you becoming the leader you’d like to be? What things should you Google but avoid googling?
For me, I value holistic leadership. The way I live outside of facilitation is arguably more important than how I conduct myself inside a Team Workshop. That said, I need to choose to engage with opinions outside and that may even conflict with my own. Sure the zoo example is a small one, but it is those small choices that make up who we are and who we are becoming.
What small choices are you avoiding today? Which conversations do you need to have? What personal retreats do you need to schedule? What routines should you start implementing to become the fuller, more dynamic leader you want to be?
CEO, Sway Leadership
