One of my past executive clients, who is a very strong advocate for this work and a trusted mentor and adviser, said to me recently, as we discussed some of the opportunities of this work: "Why would people think they need to build and save up for retirement and financial well-being, but not build and 'save up' for their every day health, resiliency and energetic and emotional well-being? It's no different. Why would people work so hard to grow their careers and businesses, and even their people, yet not commit to growing themselves internally, in their leadership, and in their relationships? Again, no different." I have to agree. It all seems quite important to me.
The work that I do is kind of a funny thing. People often don't realize they need it until they're in some kind of a situation where the pain of not doing something about it is greater than the comfort of staying comfortable. Or on the flip side, they want it, right from the get-go, because they want to optimize, sustain, and push the limits of what's possible.
It's kind of similar to health, which is one of those things that 1) people often take for granted until something happens, or, 2) don't realize just HOW GOOD they can feel when they start attending to it, or, 3) know they feel/perform well, and want more. When I used to work in health and productivity and with heart disease patients, people often didn't come to the "party" until there was some kind of cardiovascular event that got them to the "party"...and fast. When I worked with athletes, they'd come to the "party", because they needed it - they wanted to optimize their game. Years ago, when I worked in Corporate America, we got people to the "party" in order to help them lower their health care costs and prevent illness and injury. Sometimes they came to the party because they wanted to feel or look better. There were several different entry points to the "party of self-care" for all of these, but often it wasn't the most obvious entry point. And always, they realized once they got there, how much better they felt and what was possible.
What is possible? And how does it apply to your leadership?
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One of the things I've been acutely aware of lately with my clients is the challenge they have of being pulled in so many directions. They're expected to lead, communicate, navigate change, collaborate, direct, give feedback, grow their people, engage, mentor, produce results, model mindset, and, if they're working with me, stay incredibly present while managing their energy and impact through all of it! Tricky.
