Even the minor stress of life’s little annoyances — traffic, long meetings and tight deadlines can take a toll on our well-being, sense of personal balance and overall effectiveness. You might wonder how that could be a concern to your management style, since you’re regularly devoting time to your leadership skills. If you’re the only one affected by those minor stresses — after all, you do your best to navigate office politics and minimize their impact on your team — what does it matter?
Medical and psychological studies have shown that when we’re worn down by stress and burned out, our openness to new ideas, our ability to connect to others and even our moral judgment can be compromised. Practicing renewal techniques brings us back to a place where we can provide the kind of leadership we want to deliver; it’s not only good for us, it’s good for our teams, our jobs and everyone around us.
The key to renewal isn’t just in reducing our stress at work, but also in what we do outside of our office hours. Restorative benefits come from doing those things that bring peace, calm and joy to our lives. Perhaps it seems cliché to say we need to slow down, but really, there is great rejuvenating value in pausing for a moment to take stock of our accomplishments and relish the aspects of our world that really bring us pleasure. To generate a sense of renewal in your own life, read more…