Before you start reading, please spend 4 minutes and 31 seconds of your precious time to watch the video above. It makes you zoom out and put things into perspective.
Many of us just returned from a well deserved holiday break. A period where we were able to set things aside, slow down and reconnect to those things that are
really important.
Unfortunately, we tend to forget about those things very quickly and after only a few days (perhaps even only hours) back in the office, we're drawn into the rat race again.
Do you want to stay out?
Then keep on reading...
Putting things in perspective is very important to separate important from less important activities. The disadvantage however, is that putting things too much into perspective makes that everything becomes irrelevant. So where is the turning point?
"Act always as if the future of the universe depended on what you did, while laughing at yourself for thinking that whatever you do makes any difference."
This quote describes it beautifully: play full out in everything you take up, and at the same time, always, remember that your impact will be pretty small.
The fact that we're pretty small and unimportant can be very confronting, but at the same time has multiple advantages:
- If you're lacking self-confidence, you don't have to worry anymore. You're nothing more than a little piece of star dust living no longer then just a few milliseconds compared to the billions of years in the universe's existence. So why worry? Just do what you think is the best thing to do right now.
- If you're over-confident -even when you're trying to put people on Mars- also remember you're still nothing more than just a little piece of star dust and that the distance that you want to bridge between the Earth and Mars is nothing more than a micrometer compared to the dimensions of the entire galaxy. So keep your feet on the ground, you're really not doing such a big thing.
- If you're doubting about taking a decision, if you're feeling stressed, if you're blaming yourself (or others) for not doing the right things, remember that no matter what you are up to, it will probably not make a big difference in the way the multiverse plays out.
This may lead you to conclude that whatever you do, it doesn't matter at all. Leading to total detachment of everything and everyone.
That's not the path I want to take you on with this blog.
The first part of the quote is equally important!
Really try to make that difference and play full out in everything you take up (or don't take it up at all!). Drop those self-created barriers and roadblocks! "Just do it!" (like Nike suggests), because -indeed- in the end it doesn't matter at all.
When keeping that balance between the two parts of the quote -playing full out and realising the limitations of your actions-, you're in the exact right place to lead with passion and compassion; being focussed and gentle at the same time. Very big qualities that define great leaders, and that bring a lot of good, both for yourself and for those around you.
In that way you might not change the universe, but you can be very impactful on a smaller level and change someone's universe.
Keeping that balance is probably one of the hardest challenges every ambitious leader faces!
Because we're striving towards those ambitions, because we're willing to succeed, because we find it hard to deal with setbacks, and still, we need to realise that our personal impact has it's limitations.
To help you nurture that balance, here are a few things that you could do:
- Experiment with HeartMath. It's a scientifically proven way to work on the relationship between your breathing and heart rhythm variance, which results in less stress and an enlarged view (so you're not carried away by less important things).
- Create a vision board and design your life around those things that are really important to you. This creates focus and direction and can function as your life's compass.
- Install a weekly or even daily habit to reflect on the things you're doing, how you're doing them, which sacrifices you had to make to get them done, and whether all of this is in line with the kind of life you want to live.
Such a reflection cycle is the only way to really grow into what you want to become.
- Install little "macro moments" throughout your day during which you oblige yourself to zoom out and look at things from a broader perspective.
(there are multiple YouTube clips such as the one above that can help you with that ;-) )
- And most importantly, spend your time wisely and very specifically choose with whom and on what you want to spend your time. Don't take people for granted. Don't take moments for granted. Make the right choices.
Potentially, this blog has given you some new insights or ideas (because just reading it already makes you think on a bigger scale), or potentially it didn't bring you anything new.
If it's the latter, I wouldn't be surprised. Because deep inside, we all know these things. We sometimes just need a reminder to reconnect with the things we already know, or sometimes the 'knowing' just isn't enough to really make us 'do' it.
And that's exactly what you can expect from a coaching programme with one of our coaches at The Happiness Factory. We are sure that 80% of anything you will ever need to be successful is already installed inside of you. You 'only' need to use it correctly, consistently, and (re)ignite it!
So if you, while reading this blog or during another reflection moment, have the reaction "yeah, yeah, I know, I know,.", then we definitely have to talk. Because it's not about 'knowing' but about 'doing', and the devil is always in the detail!
Book your (re)-connect conversation right now, and let's implement all those things you -as a leader- know you need, but don't do!
Written by
Dennis Fredrickx, Integrity Coach & Business Booster
Dennis helps Ambitious Leaders to reach more in an easier way.
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