A 3-Minute Adventure
Leadership is an adventure with an elusive destination. It would be easier if stability was common and turbulence less frequent. But busyness blinds us to the most important adventure.
One day you look in the mirror and wonder who is looking back. You’ve lost yourself. The most important adventure concerns who you become, not what happens next.
Dreams:
There is a fountain
lulled by its splashing
and recirculating waters
Into so deep a sleep
it forgets it’s a fountain.
In the heart of that deep sleep it dreams of a fountain.
Anonymous
Dissatisfaction wakes you from the dream.
Adventure:
Transformation begins with awareness.
Seeing something changes it. After you see yourself, you change. Especially when you don’t like what you see. But there’s something better than reacting to something you don’t like.
Dissatisfaction creates curiosity for the courageous. The courage to wonder who you might become is openness to become someone you didn’t expect.
Becoming is an iterative process.
Life’s adventure is like waves racing up the beach
stretching out in hope
then retreating into comfort
over and over again.
A 3-minute adventure:
Your greatest adventure requires moments of brief solitude.
Give yourself three minutes to retreat and reflect between meetings.
- Close your eyes and breathe for one minute. (It’s surprising how long one minute is.) Then ask yourself some questions.
- What are you thankful for right now? One simple point of gratitude will do.
- What’s energizing or draining you? You find energy when you move toward your authentic self.
- How will you show up in your next interaction? Intention creates awareness. Noticing defeats distraction.
Interrupt busyness with brief moments of solitude before you wake up one day wondering who you have become.
What causes people to lose themselves?
What practices enable people to become themselves over and over again?
Still curious:
How to Mentally Prepare for Your Next Meeting in only 3-Minutes (A variation of the above exercise.)
4 Questions to Ask at the End of the Week for Self-Reflection (A weekly option.)
7 Practices to Become More Authentic
Spot on Dan, we get so involved we forget to breath! Just do the natural things, breath. Close our eyes, turn put the lights just sit in solitude like you said “3 minutes”! Keep oneself on an even keel and direct yourself as needed. Often time we lack direction, it’s okay to deviate when needed.
Thanks Tim. Sometimes leaders feel like the ball in a pinball machine, bouncing from one thing to the next. It’s exhausting to live that one. A series of brief endings/beginnings during day help solve the pinball problem.
Oh boy! Words to live by. This is such an important and timely reminder. Thank you, Dan.
Thanks bardohn. I appreciate your affirmation. Cheers.
I read your posts daily for years and think for me that this one may be the very best of all! Thanks.
Thanks Brian. I appreciate your kind words. Thanks also for being a long-term reader. Much appreciated.