On my way to pick up Nic from the barn yesterday I saw an older teen blowing the seeds on the dandelion. My reaction was one of amazement. Here is a girl who was probably 15 or 16 stopping to do something that as a kid we all loved – much to our parent’s dismay I am sure!
What struck me was that she stopped long enough to pick up the dandelion and blow on it and then watched the seeds fly through the air. These simply little things seem so mundane in our adult leader driven lives. We tell ourselves we don’t have time to blow on dandelions, but why not? What is so hard about stopping for 5 minutes to do something that brings joy!
Many of you are probably out there going “please don’t do that, they are weeds and now I have to get rid of them!” (My husband being the first one – love you honey!) However, so much of our lives are dictated by what we must get done. We must write that report, go to that meeting, call that client back, answer that email. And yes those are all really important things but so is blowing the dandelion!
What if this week you took 5 minutes every day and put your phone down. You stopped to enjoy the simple movement of the clouds or the birds outside your window? Then what if you asked your team what things they enjoy doing to unwind? It can be something as simply as sitting outside with a drink and a book or going for a walk with the dog.
As leaders we think we have to go every minute of every day, but guess what! WE DON’T! Yea I know we feel like we do and I am certainly not saying that you should spend hours ignoring your job, but 5 or 10 minutes a day will recharge you!
It isn’t a secret on here that for me recharging is riding. I get on the horse and all I can think about for that time is that! But even that requires alot of brain and physical work. What am I doing that doesn’t require either and doesn’t have any electronics with it?
We need to make sure that as leaders we are recharging, or we will burn out no matter how much you love your job! But we also need to encourage our team to do the same. You’ve all heard speed of the leader speed of the team? Well this means here as well!
Today, I want everyone to go out and blow the dandelion! I mean it literally go find one and blow on it. Don’t take a picture of it, don’t post it on Insta, Facebook, SnapChap, Twitter or anything else! Just do it! Then take a deep breath and go back to what you were doing before! I bet you’ll feel better!
Leadership Simplified 