What got us here won’t get us there!

What got us here is in the past.  The past is not something that we can control or change. The more we focus on the past, the more we waste our time on things that we cannot change.

Many who are in leadership got there by moving too fast, doing too much, failing to take the time to breathe, and putting their work about all else, including relationships and their own deeply felt desires. But down deep, there is a haunting suspicion…am I on the wrong course?  Do I have to do what I am doing?  Are there other possibilities?

Frankly, if you suspect that you are on the wrong path, you are probably right!  Perhaps it is time to change course.

So, what are we doing to get back on course?  What are we doing each day to examine our work, and how we use our time?  Are we doing the things that feed our real purpose as leaders, the purpose that we feel deeply in our gut?  Are we prioritizing our time for those things that matter most?  Are we making the hard decisions to de-prioritize those things that matter less? Some things must be left undone if we are to accomplish the important things!

Of course, we tend to say that we will accomplish the great things in our lives “if we had more time.”  It’s a lie.  We have all the time we need…but doing so requires focus, and commitment to put the less important things to one side. This requires commitment.

So how do we approach our leadership with purposeful focus?  Where does the energy come from, to deal with the realities of leadership in a very turbulent world, and still maintain focus on what matters most?

Simply, we have choices.  And in the choices we make, we are defining who we are, what we stand for, what we value, and what we expect of ourselves and others. We can focus on what is possible, what we can gain, instead of what we might lose.  We can focus on what is going well, or on what is going wrong.  We can focus on doing what is most urgent, or on what is most important.

We can even make choices that are very different than those made in the past.  Perhaps this will require that we change our minds about things we once felt very strongly about. Changing your mind, and taking a new stand on things, will always be a sign of leadership strength, not of weakness.  This is about integrity.

We can focus our energy on the knowledge and skills we have used in the past, or we can learn new things, gain new skills, and focus our effort on new realities, new goals. And we can take action with imperfect information.  It is easier to act your way into a new way of thinking, than to think your way into a new way of acting.  Take action!

Our leadership will change when we change our focus, not on the past, but on the possible.

What got us here, won’t get us there!