Want Sustained Leadership Success? Remember Your Roots.
What are you doing to make sure you stay grounded and clear about your path and vision forward for 2017 – this year that promises increased change? How are you keeping your footing and maintaining perspective? What sustains you, allowing you to thrive and support those you lead? In other words, what makes up your roots?
If you could use some guidance on answering these questions, let’s talk and support you. Click here to make self-care a vital part of your success plan for 2017 – if you do, you will be surprised how rewarding it is in unexpected ways.
Effective Leaders Know Who They are and What is Truly Important to Them
To thrive in life and business, it is vitally important to have practices, people and systems to remind you of who you really are and what is truly important to you. I know how easy it is to get caught up in the day-to-day of a hectic professional life coupled with personal and familial responsibilities. It is all too easy to feel as if you are on a merry-go-round spinning out of control. Particularly when events around you are also in major flux, staying centered and connected to your vision and goals can be a challenge.
I hope you will step up and insure you stay focused and supported. Take control and move yourself into a life that is inspiring for you while excelling at your chosen profession. Start with your mindset, take the time to know yourself, and understand what inspires and supports you.
The Grounding Force of Ritual, Values, Heartfelt Relationships and Spiritual Practices
Everyone needs healthy roots to tap into and ground them. Leaders especially require the sustenance and stability gained from a deep understanding of their roots. Roots ground them to their values. Their priorities. Their vision of what they are creating professionally and personally.
What am I talking about – the importance of roots? Usually, we think of roots as our ancestral and familial heritage. That is an integral part of a strong support system – your family/childhood traditions and values. Your heritage helps you remember who you are and what is important. Think back to when you were growing up and what mattered to you and your parents. What did you enjoy doing together? What were the central tenants of your lives together – where did you spend your time?
Make a list or journal what you remember. Even a brief memory of an important moment can serve to inspire an increased understanding of who, at base, you are and what will help you flourish now. At a loss for how to proceed or prioritize? Click here and we can talk.
In addition to your family and heritage, your roots are also comprised of all of the different practices, people, and beliefs that keep you, well, you. Some of those will have developed throughout adulthood. But many find their origins in your childhood, adolescence and college years. It may sound simplistic, but if you have lost touch with that earlier you, you have lost touch with a vital part of what could be helping you more fully realize your happiness and true potential.
I think you know what I am talking about – I cannot be alone. After almost 20 years of working non-stop as a highly successful litigator and trial attorney, when I took a serious time out to regroup and refocus, one of the most important healing processes I performed was to reconnect with aspects of myself that I had forgotten. I reconnected and created new practices and relationships to remind me of my connectedness to life and what I cherish. In short, I remembered, fed and cared for my roots. I highly recommend you take some time and do the same.
Remembering My Roots
What did I remember? Well, for me I reconnected to nature, beauty, hiking and camping. I also revisited and reclaimed my spiritual practices of meditation, gratitude & prayer, inspirational reading, journaling and writing, music, gardening, cooking and play. I remembered why I had become a mom. I remembered my healing background and became a Karuna Reiki Master and certified Coach. Moving back to supporting others rather than only fighting for a living (and I mean that in all manner of ways, not simply that I was a litigator).
Truth is, I had gotten so serious and focused on my profession over the years that after two decades I had left behind parts of myself that I actually missed. My soul was parched and running dry on dreams. I had adopted the outlook of reaching for the next rung on the proverbial ladder of success rather than paying attention to what and where I would truly succeed on my own terms. In reclaiming these practices as well as some long-lost friends, I began to care for myself again. I reclaimed my life as my own and began to be so much happier. I remembered what was truly important for me and that has made a difference in my life that is so significant it is sometime difficult to describe. The same will be true for you, too, only with your own story and your own reconnection to meaning and self.
The Wild Rose: Beauty & Strength from Deep Roots
To further clarify this roots metaphor, you see, I grew up with a biologist. There are a lot of stories there – but for my purposes here I want to talk about how I came to know the importance of roots. I spent many hours – days really- from 5th grade through my mid-20’s working with plants and native ecosystems in the upper Midwest. Namely, prairies and then wetlands and woodlands.
The prairies, as you may remember from long ago in middle school, were the ecosystem that built the fertile, rich soil that runs through the middle of our country and produces so much of the world’s food supply. The roots of the prairies were legend being particularly tough and inspiring John Deere’s invention in 1837 of the steel plow, since the wood plows that opened the Eastern region kept breaking on the prairie roots. Tough, fertile, life sustaining – get it?
Roots are that part of the plant that bring in the nutrients and water. They are out of sight, for the most part, and play a vital role in ensuring a strong, healthy vibrant plant – the part of the organism that is out in the world for all to see.
One of my favorite plants is the Wild Rose. The Wild Rose has a tap root that sustains it through the dry hot summer months and through periods of drought. That tap root can be as deep as 30 feet – pretty amazing considering on top the Wild Rose is usually only 3 or 4 feet tall. We are not talking about a tree. A 30 foot tap root that sustains the plant through all the harsh, dry times and allows it to bloom and thrive above the surface regardless of the elements.
Isn’t that amazing? I think it is – but then I am frequently astonished by the innate intelligence and strength of Nature. Mirroring that intelligence and strength in our own lives can be profound. To have deep roots that allow you to thrive, relatively unbuffered through all you have to deal with in daily life. Yes. That is what I am talking about, and what I want to help you create for yourself.
Sustaining Leadership Success Through Self Care and Knowledge
Your roots when acknowledged and cared for will ground you and provide the necessary nourishment for you to achieve your vision of success and leadership. Most individuals who have demonstrated a sustained success beyond the fleeting and lead lives that they enjoy most of the time have core values, rituals, practices, people, etc. that support their continued, sustained effort in business and life. This support system helps to keep leaders honest to their vision and provides a down-to-earth perspective that is very important for continuing to excel and maintain their sense of self.
Take time this month to begin giving that grounding, nurturing, and knowledge to yourself. Become the successful leader you envision and enjoy an abundant life. Let me know how best I can support you through the process.
