Leadership and stillness

In the past few months, given the pandemic and teleworking, I have had the luxury of trying to spend a moment by myself in the quiet space of my home every day.  Doing nothing, sitting in stillness… I have been amazed at how challenging this has proven to be. There is always something to do at home, be it the laundry, the dishes, whatever else. The distraction is constant. For some it is children and other people in the house, for others it is chores and screens.  

Our lives consist of everything we engage in, from showering in the morning to sleeping at night and everything in between. It is a race: do, do, do… Basically, we make sure that we are so distracted that we keep away from looking at our lives. Why do we do this? Because of that little voice that may question how we run our lives, the choices we make. Sometimes that little voice reminds us of that dream we once had. It is uncomfortable. In our busy lives, we have become out of practice when it comes to connecting with ourselves. 

You may have noticed how unnerving it is to have a moment to yourself. As a result, you stopped trying to carve out that time to take a seat at the center of your life. You prefer to watch a movie, read a book, reach out to a friend, or have a relaxing time with your partner and consider it your time. Reconnect with that little voice and feel how you have been avoiding it. It knows much more about your way forward in a world where everything is crumbling. Little makes sense and disinformation is everywhere. Leadership is not out there; it comes from within.

Time for boredom!

For leaders and most of us it can be challenging to find time for ourselves, separate from the outside world, to feed our inner world. I decided this year to take real time off over the holiday season. I realized that taking a break was, of course, necessary to attend to built-up stress and indulge in nurturing activities. It allowed me to push back on responsibility, play, walk, and (re)discover the joy of being lazy and the gift of boredom.

Have you noticed how we human beings thrive on novelty, and how quickly we get past novelty to find our new source of pleasure transforms into a tedious activity after a while. We get easily bored in search of new experiences. At core, life may just be about experiencing, and boredom the necessary “evil” to motivate us and drive ourselves to explore new experiments, new ideas, and summon creative energy. This may actually be THE pathway to self-awareness and inner work.

Among the key trends for today’s leadership, greater self-awareness has been identified as a must for leaders, and necessary for most of us in challenging times. Boredom may actually be your best friend! It all depends on how you CHOOSE to respond to it; whether you reach out for external drivers–possibly vices to fill the emptiness–or whether you reach within to generate your own way out. In fact, a bored mind may become the canvas against which innovation is born. It takes leadership to find your way out of boredom, but it also requires inspiration and creativity. May you all get inspired in 2019!