Use It Or Lose It

By Linda Fisher Thornton

I recently started studying the German language again, relearning it a little bit every day. I studied it for years as a teen, and lived in Austria for a summer as a young adult. Once fluent, I haven’t practiced the language regularly and have become rusty over the years.

It doesn’t take long to begin to lose vocabulary, grammar and confidence if we’re not using a language regularly.

Losing fluency gradually over time brings to mind what happens to our leadership if we’re not learning new things every day. It’s sometimes a slow erosion of capacity, like losing a handful of grains of sand from a beach each day. We may not notice it’s happening until we find ourselves underwater.

How can you move your competence as a leader into your daily priorities?

What areas of your leadership are slowly going underwater due to a lack of attention and practice? What will you do today to stop the erosion?