Three Bullet Thursday
Happy spring!
A Quote: "The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other's light." James Baldwin
Two Lumberjacks Story:
Along the same vein is this article from Harvard Business Review:
Key Takeaways:
They studied 73 leaders and a matched employee who directly reports to the leader. They had the 73 leaders keep a diary for 10 days, and each morning, they reflected and wrote on their experiences the night before to note their level of detachment from and rumination over work. They also asked how energized they felt during the workday and how much they identified with their role as leaders.
Simultaneously they asked one direct report of the leader - the matched employee - to rate their leader's effectiveness at the end of each day.
- Leaders who were able to detach in the evenings felt more energized and recharged the next day, and this helped them to identify more strongly with their leadership role. In other words, they felt more like a leader.
- Leaders who ruminated about work at night felt more drained in the morning, and this made them feel less like leaders. Being more mentally drained screws up one's ability or willingness to fully immerse themselves in being a leader.
- The matched employee rated the leaders who ruminated the night before as less transformational and less powerful at the end of that workday, whereas those who detached and disconnected were perceived to be more effective leaders the next day.
- The rumination issue was even stronger for new leaders—partly due to their less experience and practice managing the challenges of being a leader—highlighting the critical importance of rest and recovery for new leaders.
- Ways to detach: exercise, hobbies, spending time really being present with your family or loved ones, reading a book, taking a hot bath or a sauna. Like most things in life, it has to be intentional. The pull of work and doing more is strong and must be resisted.
- There needs to be clear boundaries between work and home with clear guidelines for oneself.
Pair this with a piece I wrote on the transition from work to home - How To Score the Winning Point When You Come Home - and it could make for a good evening, and even a better day tomorrow!
