Photo by Joe Caione on Unsplash
One of the reasons I’m on Facebook is to watch cute animal videos. I love watching puppies flop around, bunnies eat lettuce, and baby pandas slide down hills covered in snow. Part of my reason for loving these videos is that they remind me of what joy looks like.
The pup in the photo is filled with joy. It gets to run and be with its hooman and be in the moment. We aren’t always so lucky as humans. We often need to make choices to carve out time for joy.
Several weeks ago I was “given the opportunity” to attend an event on a Saturday, near my home, that was not required but strongly recommended for my work. The event time conflicted with my weekly adult tap class and I really didn’t want to miss tap. It’s one of the only times on my weekly calendar that I guard with fervent zeal. So I did some research and it turned out there was another of the same event happening just 15 minutes further from my home on a Sunday afternoon. Can you guess what I chose to do?
Yep! I chose to attend tap class and go to the event on the other day. Granted, I was lucky that there were two of the same events happening on different days near my home. And what I’m most grateful for is that I got to do the both-and. I didn’t have to miss tap class and I attended the event.
Often I hear people lament that they “have” to do things or “have” to go to this meeting at this time, without having any input. As leaders we need to be creative, and this includes finding solutions to conflicting priorities and calendar events. If we can’t come up with creative solutions for ourselves, we will have a hard time authentically encouraging others to do the same.
Questions to ponder:
When was the last time I came up with a creative solution? How did I make it a win-win?
Stay curious friends!
Make sure you’re listening to season one of the Dream Big Authentic Leadership podcast, found on Apple, Google, Spotify, and Stitcher.
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