7 Light-Weight Leadership Practices that Deliver Heavy-Weight Results
Tiny is huge.
“Manny” Yarborough held the Guinness World Record for the heaviest living athlete. He exceeded 800 pounds before his death in 2015. You might feel like a skinny kid facing “Manny” Yarborough, but there are light-weight leadership practices that provide heavy-weight results.
Don’t be impressed with size. Bees carry pollen. Worms dig tunnels that freshen soil. Hummingbirds would win the 100-meter dash against Usain Bolt.
Tiny leadership practices can change your life.
7 Light-weight leadership practices:
- Exercise for 1-minute 3X a day. 3-4 minutes a day of vigorous exercise was linked to reducing the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by about 48%. (Time)
- Write in a gratitude journal 3X a week to shift your attitude.
- Take 3-minutes of quiet time before every meeting to refocus. 1-minute will do in a pinch.
- Show up with an intention.
- Learn one new thing every day. (Read Leadership Freak. It takes about 90 seconds.)
- Read for a few minutes before you turn out the light for bed.
- Practice self-reflection for less than 5-minutes a day.
Benefits of self-reflection:
A coaching client recently began a short self-reflection practice. He chose five questions to ask himself at the end of each day. It takes less than five-minutes.
Don’t let your mind wander during self-reflection. A wandering mind goes to dark places. Give your brain something to reflect on. My client chose:
- I started the day with this intention (__________). Did it happen?
- Why did it happen? Why not?
- What did I learn?
- What do I want to do differently?
- What do I need to do tomorrow?
He says, “I feel more at ease with myself. I was reminded of positive things that happened and progress made. Challenges felt smaller after I wrote them down. I woke up more focused having done the thinking the night before.”
What light-weight leadership practices have elevated your leadership?
What self-reflection questions can you suggest?
Yuparama Dan! Great post today. Comes under my new mantra: Not More, Better!
“Yuparama” is an exuberant word. I imagine it’s a good thing.
My team uses the mantra “Take a breath with me” throughout the day. We often start and end our meetings with this short practice. This short pause, allows us to stop, reflect and be in the moment. It is a great practice that your post reminded me of. Gracias! Please take a breath with me.
That’s brilliant. One reason the day is a blur is we don’t create stopping moments before we start the next thing.
Wonderful guidance. Just take the first step toward improvement. Even that first step pays huge dividends!
Thanks Anthony. So true.
What light-weight leadership practices do I do? Well, I am subscribed to Leadership Freak! 😁
I try to learn something new–little or big–each day. I make it a point to share it with my husband each evening as well. When I reflect on my new learning, I try to answer the question, “how does this help me?” This question helps me be intentional on how to use what I just learned.
Thanks for being a subscriber. I respect anyone who allows me to send them another email.
Love your reflection question, “How does this help me?” That’s a real winner, Tracey.
Every Monday we have a 10-minuet reflection with the HR team leader. It’s Virtual and its very refreshing. We learn to breathe.