Weeding Out Negativity 🌿
When it comes to being a leader there are a lot things that demand our time. There are a lot of things that influence how we might lead ourselves and our team. IT MATTERS SO MUCH that you are inputting the good things in life. Your team will ultimately start becoming what you are. If you are healthy, teammates lean towards health, because you have influence power over them.
EVEN IF YOU ARE TITLESS 😊 << Because people might respect you, they will inevitably seek you for advice, adopt your good habits and more importantly your bad ones. So as a leader we have a responsibility to intake the good things in life. We need to focus on positive influences in our own life so that we care for those around us. It really does matter.
I find that what you spend your time doing and who you spend it with influence you the most. I mean it makes sense. If you were a famer, the plants you give the best fertilizer, the best daily watering routine will most likely grow the most.
The things that often influence me the most:
My Wife
My Family
My Direct Supervisor
The books I read
The articles and news I read
So lets take inventory, and maybe quantify some of these elements so we can begin to audit what we are inputting inside of our brains.
Lets make a list of things. On one side put, "The Good" things that, "Motivate You, Challenge You, Grow You". On the other side, Put "The Negative" things that leave you feeling "Sad, hopeless, unchallenged". Throughout this week lets update this list. Every time something or someone inputs something in your life that evokes one of these emotions, write it down.
When you do, lets add in parenthesis or note it somehow, what was the root factor. Was it your boss? Was it a book you read? Maybe a news article caused you anxiety and you got frustrated with your kids.
I am sure when you have the list, there is a huge chance of WAY MORE NEGATIVE 😢. Now with a highlighter or a by notating a star or something, lets identify what we have control over?
Did you have to engage in the negative gossip at work? No. You can control that.
Did you have to let your Road Rage affect you negatively? No. You can control that.
Did you need to spend 30 minutes after the meeting complaining? Bring it up during, or express concerns with the boss after.
Hopefully this is a little revealing on several levels. I know that as people we tend to want to engage in the negative habits of work, or home. Even thought they can impact us down the road, we like the temporary satisfaction it brings.
We need to control what we can, because the negativity is all around us.
One of the BEST ways I have found that can influence me to be a better leader is...
Reading Good Books
Reading Good Articles
Listening to Podcasts
Listening to People I respect
Gaining perspective takes you out of your head, it lets you see new ways to challenge
yourself. You can see new ways to improve your own conversations. Even if just a quarter turn adjustment. It matters.
Lets imagine one final metaphor that was given to me by Paul Tripp in a marriage class I took (See? Outside info ROCKS!).
Our life is like a garden, we have beautiful plants that are growing. Things we are passionate about, (Think family, running, others). If we let weeds sprout up in our garden they have the potential of choking out the good. If we let weeds continue to grow. They get bigger, and uglier and it makes it harder to see the beauty we are cultivating. They become things we focus on, things that DE-motivate us.
So please, I urge you to take the time and EFFORT to weed out the bad habits, the bad influencers in your life. To take control, and to lean into getting your garden weed free (That will probably never happen, but strive for it).
When you do, you will find that your team follows you with MORE commitment, more openness, and that their own life might have less weeds because of your Influence!
Its not easy! When you fail, give yourself grace! Life can suck.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels