Living intentionally takes more work than just drifting through days. One of the important parts of leadership is to get away from the noise and reflect. Examining our lives and staying in tune with our priorities helps to align our decisions and actions to what is important. Otherwise, we are prone to merely react and drift through the demands of a day.
Leading your own life is a discipline of continual vigilance. There’s always work to get done, but keeping perspective and focus can be a lot sharper with time and space to reflect and celebrate. Here are some things I like to do to help me recharge and focus:
- Morning reading. I read in the mornings when it is quiet. I like to have a cup of tea. It slows me down and eases me into the day. My most important gets exercised. I think about what I read and capture notes or journal as well. The world is bigger than my thoughts and expanding them with reading increases perspective. My heart feels a lot more settled before the demands of the day begin.
- Walking. I try to break up my screen time with walking. It gets me away from the sedentary life and gets me moving. Fresh air and sunlight are great for helping to reflect. I also like walking with my wife to talk through the issues of the day as well as reflect on where life is at.
- Running. Getting the heart rate up and pushing through hard workouts leaves me in a great mood. Also, it gets the distractions out of my head. I have to focus on one simple discipline – running. A lot of great ideas get worked out. I can sort through issues, or at least let my subconscience work through open loops in my life.
- Meals. I love meals with my family. We talk through what’s on our mind and what we want to do together. I get to hear what everyone’s concerns are. It slows us down and helps us focus on each other and making our lives better together. It also focuses me on the most important people in my life.
- Prayer. I can’t do it all alone. Life’s too big and demanding. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” I experience this. Prayer keeps me focused on higher things and is a place of gratitude for my life.
Finding space to reflect and celebrate is so important to my own sanity and health. It’s hard to operate merely out of daily reaction. I savor the little rituals of my own life to help steer me in taking leadership of my own life and others.
How do you reflect and celebrate?
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