Before the global pandemic hit us in March of 2020, we were worn by the pace of change and the degree of uncertainty in the market place. In 2018 and 2019, we routinely experienced numerous interruptions on a daily basis, and we struggled with the number of competing goals that inevitably surfaced over the course of those two years. The faster we went and the busier we got, our schedules had less, if any, time for reflection and planning.
And then, when the global pandemic happened, we got even busier. Our lives as leaders and managers became a cycle of reactionary responses to the numerous adaptive problems. We started to manage people like they were tasks to get done rather than people who had value and worth independent of the work that needed to get done. Strategy and purpose were lost amongst the never ending operational challenges.
The first step to restoring hope is to make time for more reflection and planning. As Greg McKeown in his book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (Crown Business, 2014) explains, “... the faster and busier things get, the more we need to build thinking time into our schedule. And the noisier things get, the more we need to build quiet reflection spaces in which we can truly focus.” By recognizing our addiction to speed within the digital economy and then our responses to the global pandemic, we must now give ourselves permission to build time into our daily and weekly schedules to reflect and move forward rather than just be reactive to all that is happening around us.
The challenge around creating time for reflection is three fold. First, we don’t feel like we have time for reflection and planning. Second, we do not feel like we can give ourselves permission to create it. And finally, we often don’t know what to do if we actually had the time for it. More likely, we would just feel more overwhelmed with the number and magnitude of problems before us and how little we can control or influence them.
In the beginning, we must carve out time for reflection and planning and then give ourselves permission to take it. I know this is hard to do, but it also is important. As Alan Lakein, an American author on personal time management, writes, “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.”
Then, during this reflection time, we need to begin by answering two important questions: What are my priorities right now? And what do I do that matters the most given these priorities? As Chris Groscurth in his article called “Why Your Company Must Be Mission-Driven” in the March 6, 2014 issue of the on-line Gallup Business Journal wrote: “A clear sense of what matters most helps leaders determine the best path for the company and helps them set priorities. This clarity inspires conviction and dedication.” By defining our priorities and then defining what we can do that matters the most, we put purpose back at the center of all we do. Given what has taken place during the last two years, we need people who are living and working from their place of purpose, and then sharing and role modeling it with others.
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