Leaders need to take themselves seriously. Leaders have a lot riding on the respect they have with the teams they lead.
Losing the respect they’ve earned can be a damaging blow a fallen leader may never recover from.
In guarding their respect, many leaders become hardened. They see life as one big job. Maybe they see it as one big masquerade they have to keep up.
However they view life and leadership, they feel they can never let their hair down and have a good time. This is where they’re mistaken.
Image via Creative Commons
What Happens When You’re Always On Guard
There’s always someone watching you.That’s a truth of leadership you’ll have to come to grips with.
Wherever you go, you run the possibility of crossing paths with someone you lead, someone you led, or someone you may lead in the future. Knowing this makes you feel the pressure that you need to be on guard all the time.
And that’s good. We need to be aware those we lead may see us in normal situations. In the grocery store, at our kids’ little league game, or at church. This keeps us on our toes.
We’ve got to be alert to this reality. You don’t always have to have your guard up though.
Our bodies aren’t designed for the mental stress being on guard brings. This mental stress can bring physical maladies we wouldn’t have if we could relax once in awhile.
The stress of always being on guard brings:
Pain
Heartburn
Flatulence (Yes, stress can cause farting)
Decreased sex drive
Insomnia
Wow! Those are symptoms I don’t want to have. What about you?
Stress, caused by always being on guard and uptight really brings us down.
At this point, you might be wondering, what can I do about this? I’ve got an answer.
Go Have Fun
I’m sure you’ve heard the silly saying about a mullet. The mullet was called: Business up front, party in the back. Take a look below to see why.
Image by Tony Alter
The front of the haircut is close to being business-like. It’s a shorter, clean cut. Now head to the back and you can see the long, flowing locks going below the shoulders. That’s where the party comes into play.
I think the mullet can teach us that leaders need to let our guards down once in awhile. We need to relax. We need to have the party (-;
Your party will look different from others. When I think of letting my guard down and having fun, I think of:
Going for a run
Fishing with the guys
Walking with my wife
You can see having fun can take on many shapes and forms.Your form of fun won’t always match mine. That’s okay. You need to find your fun.
And then you need to go have fun.
Question: When’s the last time you let your guard down and had fun? Share this memory in the comment section below.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.