Spending just a few minutes every morning intensely focused on what one is thankful for, can open amazing doors in the human mind and spirit. This accelerated exploration, meditation, and thinking can oftentimes lead to significantly improved productivity and overall happiness. As you might expect, a new mindset, especially for the obstinate, will require a little patience and discipline upfront. After all, you will need to set aside some valuable time and the notion that mindfulness is akin to quackery, to get any value from it.
Many high achievers are guilty of it. They overcommit, over analyze, and generally never feel like they can keep up with their own expectations, let alone those of others. They tend to over rotate on what they could be doing better, which saps their energy. They decide that punishing themselves for not reaching absurdly ridiculous stretch goals will somehow motivate them to do better in the future. Some have even tricked themselves into believing that fear of failure is a long-term motivator for themselves and others. They are wrong.
It is very counterintuitive, but many hyper competitive, high-achieving individuals are among the least satisfied and most fearful of losing. They work harder and smarter all of the time, usually on limited sleep, missed meals, and strained relationships. Their minds are racing to figure out which time zone they are in- all in an effort to edge out the competition, stay on top, to somehow prove to themselves (their biggest critic) that they are truly worthy and aren’t going to “lose” their standing. It’s an exhausting, self-sabotaging cycle that so many high-achieving leaders go through, aided by the help of pots of coffee and mounds of anti-depressants.
So what if we started ruthlessly prioritizing our lives and just saying no? What if we spent a portion of our time celebrating milestone achievements with ourselves, our families, and our teams? What if we decided that one of our boundaries was to earmark a non-negotiable part of our day for mindfulness, thankfulness, and celebration? What if we decided that we were going to work to live and not live to work? What if we decided that we were going to accept that we can never do better than our best? What if we worked in areas that we were passionate about and those that aligned with a higher mission or purpose?
Today, take five minutes to clear your mind. What are you thankful for? Where are you personally and professionally satisfied? How much success is enough? When is it time to start enjoying your life? Is it time to take inventory of your relationships- the ones that feed you versus the ones that extract all of your time and energy?
You have what it takes to incline. We’d love to hear your story and see if there is a mutual fit. We build exceptional leaders and organizations.