Thursday, December 25, 2014

Quote-A-Day: Day 360

The best are never afraid to live in the moment.

As leaders, we often spend a good amount of time planning for the future or reflecting on the past.  Both of these are necessary ingredients to being a strong leader; by planning we lay the ground work for what is to come, and by reflecting on what has occurred, we make sure the groundwork we're laying isn't going over the exact same spots.

I've been thinking a lot about the importance of planning and reflecting over the last year.  While its true that we need to do this, and do it regularly, I think it obscures the importance of another way of leading.

The importance of leading (and living) in the moment.

This morning I took my two daughters to the park.  Not surprisingly, with it being Christmas, nobody was there.  But it was a perfect day to visit the park, with temperatures in the metro NYC area being around fifty degrees Fahrenheit (crazy, right?).

After I had been watching my two girls play for a while, I realized that during that time I wasn't thinking of anything else.  I was truly "in the moment."

There's something special about allowing ourselves to be overtaken by an activity or event so deeply that we think of nothing else.  It is almost like we're allowing our whole being to focus in, and the life of the "average" leader rarely allows us to truly do this.

The best leaders, however, understand that this type of leading and living is a necessity, and do it regularly, realizing that there will always be time to plan and reflect, but we may not always have time to live in the now.

This is an area I need to work on.  I tend to plan and reflect often, but don't always allow myself to become absorbed in what is happening around me as much as I should.

The best leaders are those that are ever present.  For if we're not there, where are we?

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