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What Could You Do If You Were a Priority?

By December 1, 2016February 14th, 2019Articles, Leadership

priority“Our life is the sum total of all the decisions we make every day, and those decisions are determined by our priorities.” ~ Myles Munroe

 

I’ve just come back from facilitating a weekend retreat where 8 leaders took time out to relax, recharge and focus on self-leadership to enable them to be the best leader they can be in 2017. Their biggest challenge was deciding to take 3 days out just for them. But once the decision was made it was certainly worth their while.

As we all know, leadership is about the people you are leading. A leader sacrifices a lot to ensure their team and business flourish. They can also be pulled in all different directions and be placed in unexpected situations while leading business and people as they are today. It’s a tough gig. Add to that the demands of having a family, a life and maintaining a reasonable level of health. There’s a lot to balance.

The problem is, when assessing the priority list; the leaders own priorities are generally way down the bottom. Leaving at a reasonable time is compromised due to an emergency, a visit to the gym is compromised by a people issue, getting to your child’s dance concert is compromised by a last minute client meeting and ‘date night’ is compromised by an overseas sales call. Healthy eating goes out the window on Monday as there’s no way you’ll get home on time so you stop off for something quick because you’re famished.

Why is this more often the rule rather than the exception? But the bigger question is do you want it to change? As Jim Rohn said “your life doesn’t get better by chance, it get’s better by change.”

Ask yourself this; how do you want to be as a leader in 2017? How do you want to look, feel and how do you want to influence?

The one thing that influences your leadership, your success, your outcomes, how you ‘show up’ as a leader is you. Only you. So how you fuel yourself, how you think, how you feel and what you are doing/your actions has a direct impact on how you are as a leader and whether you feel in control and energized throughout the year or whether you are dragging yourself around.

There’s a myriad of reasons why you can’t do something – why you can’t get to the gym, why you can’t eat well, why you can’t have more alcohol free days and why you can’t get enough rest. But there’s also a myriad of reasons why you can. You just need to find them and understand that it’s ok for you to be a priority. In fact it’s absolutely critical to ensure that you are so you can make a positive impact, inspire others and be a relevant and influential leader.

You need to feel well, you need to feel in control, you need to be healthy and strong and you need to have a clear and focused mind. You need to be relevant and be a role model for others. What are you role modeling right now?

What different choices do you need to make and commit to to experience 2017 in a more positive way? To not end the year on regrets with a huge list of resolutions for 2018. Make more empowered decisions for the New Year and have a plan to ensure they happen. And find your reasons why they should.

The leaders from the retreat now have a plan and a clear picture of their top three areas of priority that they have compromised this year. They know what they need to stop, start, change and continue to have an even better 2017. There’s power in taking the time out to do this – for you.