There are a ton of websites that are dedicated to the hack, the short cut, the magical cure to "not having enough time. SPOILER ALERT, there is no such thing. Unless you are into some deep physics or you believe in a different universe than time is the same for all of us. So how do leaders, or anyone for that matter "make time" for anything new? Well we have talked about routine before and we have touched on habits as well but one thing that we have not looked at is what are those leaders doing with their time. If you google habits of leaders you will get a ton of sources that talk about pretty much all of the same things:
While you will eventually learn that multi tasking is not possible there is a way for you to combine two activities, one that is on auto pilot... like walking, taking the bus, sitting in the back seat of your chauffeured car (thanks mom and dad) and one that is beneficial like either reading the good old fashioned way or what I do to "make time" for reading. Right now while you are reading this, take out your phone, open your app store and download Blinkist and Headway. These two apps summarize a book a day for free. Usually under 15 minutes, you will get a totally random choosing from these companies. If you like the apps you can upgrade obviously, but 15 minutes of free learning giving you someone else's thoughts to add to your own is an easy way to adopting a habit that all great leaders have. "Never stop learning." How's that for "making time" Richard Hortness
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Many people would love to be a professional athlete and believe that it is all about physical skills. They may not realize that there are also mental skills that are needed to become successful. Physical and mental preparation is the key to become a successful athlete. Different athletes have their own self preparation going into a competition. I have mine as well. There are two preparations that I think are very important to do: Preparation ahead of the event and on the day of the event If you want to become a great athlete, you definitely need to plan well ahead of time. When I have a big swim competition coming up, I will plan a week ahead of the actual racing day. I will slowly reduce my training schedule when getting closer to the meet and a week before the meet will also increase the amount of sleep that I get. I want to make sure I am in the best shape as possible as I don’t want to go into the meet with a injured arm or sore shoulder because that might make me perform poorly. When the competition date gets closer, I also need to change my diet. I will stop eating red meat 48 hours before the meet, and only eat healthy vegetables and white meat like fish and chicken instead of beef and pork. I will also increase the amount of carbohydrates and water before the meet so that I can get all the acid out of my body. Again, preparation ahead of the event is very important. This will help a lot going into the competition date. Even more important than the competition pre-planning will be the preparation on the day of the meet. If you’re an athlete, you will know that competition is much more tiring than all the training before. You’re always in a stressed and nervous mood throughout the day, so the preparation on the day of the competition is very important. First of all, the arriving time on the racing day. You want to be at the area you’re going to race 75 mins before your actual race event. This can fully wake your body up. For example, in a swimming competition, if you go to the pool too early, you will feel more tired because you put yourself in that stressed condition earlier than everyone else. If you arrive too late, your body won’t have time to warm up so you will have a higher chance of getting more injuries and not performing well. Second of all, the nutrition before and between the events is critical. Nutrition will make you maintain your stamina and energy. I will eat a granola bar 30 mins before my race and eat some light fruit in between my events. Lastly, if there’s prelim and finals, I will sleep for an hour in between the sessions in order to relax my body and to make me feel fully prepared for the final swim at night. If you have had good preparation, you can perform better and will be faster in your race. To conclude, preparation is one of the top keys to become successful. Planning ahead of the time will make you feel more confident and fresher than you normally do, and preparation on the race day will allow you to focus on your swim and give a higher performance. Your best performance is for you and everyone else.
Eric T Leadership starts with yourself. I personally believe that this is something a lot of people overlook when they think of a leader. But the reality is, you can’t lead other people if you are not capable of leading yourself first. Self-care is many things, but also one thing, all at the same time. Whether it is keeping procrastination levels under control, meditating or self reflecting, self-care is necessary for managing stress and helping us be present in our daily lives. I am someone who is always on the go. My mind never turns off, and I noticed that started taking a toll on my grades, friendships and overall quality of life. So I knew I had to do something. I knew I had to take my self-care into my own hands, except I didn’t know where to start. Self-care has so many manifestations! From getting a good sleep every night; to eating a healthy diet; meditating and exercising regularly; - it all seemed so obvious - but so essential to being happy, productive, and fulfilled at school and in life. This article by the Huffington Post put me on the right path to figure out where I needed more self-care in my life. But really, how does this all relate to leadership? Well, unfortunately, many high-achieving leaders admit that self-care is at the bottom of their to do lists. It’s so easy to make excuses when you’re busy. In short, taking care of yourself is part of our job. It isn’t optional. Paul Sohn explains, “If you really want to reach your full potential, you need to be at your best where you have the full mental, emotional and physical energy. And if you keep ignoring self care you’ll keep performing at a sub-par level.” Okay, so the point is: it’s important to work self-care into our lives, in order to become better leaders. But how do we do that when life just gets so busy? The first step, is to take a step back and recognize that taking a break isn’t selfish. It’s necessary for you to function at your best capacity and necessary if you ever want your team to grow. Then, you need to schedule time for self-care. Quite often you will feel that you have no time in your day for it, but, in all honesty, you need to make time. So, write a to-do list; start a bullet journal; write a note on your phone; however you keep track of your daily life, start making specific time for yourself. If you have specific time allocated for your self-care, you’re less likely to skip it. Now that all the importance of self-care has been established, here are 5 tiny ways to amp up your new found self-care routine:
With a small bit of attention to your self-care, the fog will lift. I can guarantee that you will feel better and see yourself becoming a better leader. Keeping yourself in tune will help you keep others in tune.
Emma O |
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