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I’ve often said that Reflection Leadership starts with being able to take the time to stop and reflect on what is going on around us. But what happens when you feel like you can’t take the time to stop and reflect? I found myself in this exact situation this week.
There’s Work To Be Done
I’m currently working on the final stages of a large project that started a year ago that will culminate with a large number of deliverables 17 days from now. This project touches most of the organization and has required the efforts of a large number of people across many departments. My role has included shepherding the entire project along and more importantly this month, I am responsible for getting the last part of the project completed.
Because of team decisions made earlier in the project, we find ourselves with a large amount of work to do in the last three weeks of the year, which will require a small group of folks to work over the holiday week. A time that has traditionally been a slow time for us.
This week, as we try to not only make sure we will meet our first of the year deadline but also limit the amount of work that will need to be done in the last week, we are working feverishly. The beginning of the week didn’t start off well with the added drama that I talked about earlier that has upped everyone’s stress level.
Getting The Work Done
After working half a day on Sunday to get a jump on the week, I’ve worked four straight double-digit days, including over 16 hours on Monday. Having the knowledge that this project will be done after this stressful three-week period was justification for accepting what is going on this week. I certainly didn’t need to take the time to stop and reflect on what is going on. I just needed to plow through the work and get it done.
By Wednesday, my body had other plans for me. I woke up experiencing narrowed vision, not being able to see as well peripherally. I was having trouble eating and I had some serious heartburn. But, there was still work to be done. So I worked another 12 hour day plowing through.
After the way I felt on Wednesday, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sustain this pace for the next two weeks. I’m becoming more and more aware of the fact that I’m not as young and resilient as I once was. On Thursday morning I came to the conclusion that I really didn’t have a choice, I was going to have to take time to stop for reflection.
Taking The Time to Reflect
When the weather is warmer and I find myself in this type of situation, I’ll go for a bike ride in the morning along the beautiful Delaware River. The fresh air and the scenery rushing by allows my head to clear and my thinking to be more focused.
But going for a ride in the dark with the temperatures in the 20s was not going to happen, so I trudged down to ride the exercise bike for the first time in over a week.
Usually when I ride indoors I either watch a TV show or movie or listen to music and read. But this day, I knew I had to take the time I needed. I put on my Meditation playlist and just rode. During that ride, I was able to effective stop and reset my thinking so that I can start to better understand how to get the work done without succumbing to the stress.
Many times I’ve talked about the different parts of Reflection Leadership and that for leaders to be effective we need to practice all of the parts of Reflection Leadership. But sometimes we find ourselves in situations where the only important thing is self-preservation. If we are unable to preserve ourselves, we certainly can’t be effect leaders and, even worse, it could have some very serious physical and mental consequences.
What my week has shown me is that sometimes Reflection Leadership needs to be stripped down to its most basic essence and we need to actually stop and recognize what we are doing to ourselves and reflect on what we can do to continue to be productive without be self-destructive.
Leader’s Reflection: Reflection Leadership is all about being able to stop and reflect on what is going on around us so that we can have a clearer understanding of what we need to do to lead effective. But sometimes, when we are the most overwhelmed and stressed, Reflection Leadership means taking the time to stop and recognize that we need to preserve ourselves.
