Self-leadership in Your Brave New World

 

Free image from Google

Have you ever tried holding a serious business conversation whilst answering the front door when you are holding a crying child and the other youngster is absconding from the middle of a home-schooling lesson? Meanwhile your partner, who now holds the absconded child, needs you to listen while they talk about how the house needs redesigning to fit the new working and living arrangements? A colleague of mine, Chris Dyson, explained this scenario to me and brought this into sharp focus for me on a video conference this morning.

In 2002, I left the corporate world to develop programs and techniques whereby serious businesspeople could leave the stresses and strains of business at the workplace and not take them into the home environment. My rationale being that…if we can eliminate stress, anxiety and fear in the workplace, we can reduce its negative effects in the family home and thereby give our kids a better place to grow up.

Now…the business world and family world and social world and personal world and, for a lot, the spiritual world is focused solely in one place – the family home. Bringing all these elements together can be stressful, anxious, fearful and traumatic experience for all involved. It can be, if handled correctly and sensitively, a joyous experience in connectivity and shared experiences. The question is…how do we manage to reduce the trauma and increase the joy?

The first thing we must do is to be aware of the worries and concerns of all involved. We must understand each other’s daily objectives, goals and requirements (including personal space & time), we must set up a way of identifying when we are getting edgy, anxious or stressed and have a way of rapidly reducing this. We must work on our openness and caring feedback. We must work on our patience, vulnerability and compassion in this new situation. We absolutely must recognize our own isolation issues when removed from the business hub and we must maintain our connection with the business tribe. The technical stuff will work itself out at some point.

Of course, becoming competent with communication technology, having enough broadband, establishing a proper daily routine, understanding the needs of colleagues, suppliers and customers, and knowing your needs all needs to be established and worked at. Things work a lot quicker and better in a calm and fear free environment.

Some of us will find that we have more time on our hands. What are we going to do with it? How will we use it to make the new way a joyous way for us and all around us? This is the time when we need to make great decisions.

Great decisions require awareness of the challenges and opportunities ahead, clarity on where we want to go and by when, the choices and resources we have to help us, and a conviction from us to be the person we know we can be. It’s about being a human being and not a human doing.

Jim Collins’ Stockdale Paradox story (google it 😊) teaches us that we have to understand fully the realities we are facing daily and, at the same time, maintain all our hopes for the new future we will arrive at.

We have the chance to create a truly holistic and joyous existence for all once the current threat passes. Part of this depends on how we adapt to the changes required to beat the current threat.

On a practical level, Kevin Laye and I have worked for 12 years to create a rapid stress, fear and anxiety program that is fast, effective and available to all. Zenpower the app is the result. In seven minutes or less, and including every user, the average reduction in their level of distress was over 70%. This reduction enables clarity of thought to return, enables better choices to be identified and helps better decision making. It also enables a more thoughtful and caring social environment grow and flourish.

For free use of ZenPower, please go to www.zenpower.com download the app and use the code 281270 when it asks for a company code. It’s free, it’s confidential totally and it’s anonymous.

I wish you every success in what will be Our Brave New World.

Steve