"It"s a totally new way to make sure the weekly goals you set for yourself actually get done, when you planned to do them. It"s a great way to cultivate the self-discipline you need to become a visionary leader when you might not have developed as much of it as you should have. Strategic time blocking will profoundly change your personal effectiveness and revolutionize your productivity. Most leaders suffer from a dreaded disease. Any idea what it"s called?"
"Haven"t a clue, Julian."
"The disease I am referring to is the disease known only as "dilution of focus" - and it is one of the most dangerous diseases known to humanity. By diluting their personal focus and trying to be all things to all people, these leaders get nothing done. By diluting their focus and trying to do too many things in too many different directions, they become the victim of their good intentions. Focusing on the worthy and only on the worthy will set your leadership free. It will allow you to do all the things you have wanted to do and dreamed of doing. And strategic time blocking will help you do it."
"Okay, so how do I do it?"
"The first thing you need to do is designate the different days of your week in terms of different areas of focus. It"s almost like building a mold according to subject matter for each day and then pouring specific activities into it. If you do so, you will no longer waste your days scrambling to do a hundred different things. Instead, you will focus on a particular area each day and then devote your time to it. For example, Monday could be your day to concentrate only on issues and initiatives that involve your employees. You might label Monday Human Relations Day. Then make sure that any weekly win dealing with that subject gets scheduled on that day. Don"t think about sales issues or work on new product development on that day. Stay focused. Next you might designate Tuesday as your Business Development Day. Again, that day will be strictly reserved for activities relating to generating new business. Wednesday might be your day reserved for marketing or finance-related issues. Thursday might be your Open Day, meaning you will be free to deal with any crisis that might come up or to catch up on general administrative issues or just be available for anyone who needs you."
"And what about Friday? What should I designate that day as?"
"You can set it aside for whatever worthy area you would like to focus on. As I"ve said, you need to be the one to craft and tailor the kind of week that is best suited for you. Let time be your servant rather than your master My suggestion to you, however, is that you reserve Friday as your Renewal Day, the day that you set aside to revitalize your leadership and re-create yourself as an executive. All your weekly wins dealing with this subject are scheduled at this time. You might spend it on strategic thinking and clarifying your future vision for the company. You might dedicate it to preparation and future planning priorities. You could use it to go to a leadership seminar or work with a personal development coach. You might devote it to catching up on all those publications you subscribe to but rarely get a chance to review or to get deep into a hot new management book that will give you some new ideas to catapult GlobalView up to the next level. Or you might use it to brainstorm with your management team. By committing to the time leadership method I am suggesting, you will finally be able to turn all your good intentions into tangible results. Are you beginning to see what strategic time blocking is all about?"
"I am. By applying the concept, my time becomes concentrated on the things that count. And as you and the greatest thinkers have said, concentrating effort and focusing on the worthy is the secret of getting meaningful things done in life. I will no longer get pulled into a million different directions every day and do a hundred different things in a half-hearted way. I will no longer have to leave everything I start unfinished and rush off to put out the next little brush fire. Instead, I"ll bring focus to my days by following a weekly cycle of designated focus areas and spending time on the "worthy" activities that will get us closer to our vision. I can also see that the process will allow me to make time for those all-important "big-picture" activities, such as flexing my imagination and strategic thinking. I"m really impressed and I can"t wait to try the process out."
"So let me summarize," interjected Julian. "There are five steps to the Time Model for Visionary Leadership. First you must adopt a weekly planning practice and carve out some time, say on Sunday night, to connect to your vision. Your vision will serve as your personal lighthouse, offering guidance and keeping you on the proper course. Step Two involves reviewing your annual victories, those goals you have determined you need to accomplish this year to keep moving forward. Step Three in the process is to come up with a series of weekly wins, or micro goals that you must accomplish during the coming week. Once you have your weekly wins, Step Four requires that you schedule them into your days by applying the technique of strategic time blocking. Every day of the week has a designated area of focus. Schedule each activity into the particular day designated for it and you will ensure that it gets done. It"s really pretty simple once you do it for three or four weeks."
"And what about Step Five?"
"Step Five is about what Yogi Raman called "regular reflection." Reflection is the mother of wisdom, Peter. Never forget that. And having wisdom allows you to make wiser choices, which, in turn, leads to a richer life, both professionally and personally. Every Sunday night, as you plan the coming week, take a few moments to deeply consider the week that you have just lived. Did you do what you planned to do, when you planned to do it? If not, why not? What would you have done differently if you had the chance to spend that week again? Did you truly "focus on the worthy"? Awareness precedes change, and if you are not aware of the activities you are spending time on, you will never discover that there are ones more deserving of your energy. By reflecting on how you spend your time, you will not only be more effective during the next week, you will also get to know yourself."
"Don"t most people know themselves?"
"Not at all. Most people have no real idea of their strengths or their weaknesses. And as a result, they keep on making the same mistakes over and over again, throughout their entire lives. By taking the time to reflect on how you are leading and how you are living, you will be able to make those all-important course corrections every week so that you continually grow as a leader - and as a person. Remember, my friend, there"s nothing wrong with making a mistake. Mistakes allow us to mature and become wiser. But there is something wrong with constantly making the same mistakes. It shows a complete lack of wisdom. Instead, begin to leverage past errors for future successes. Allow your past to serve you. That"s one of the greatest abilities of visionary leaders. That"s also one of the fundamentals of effective living. Regular reflection will ensure that you practice this habit. As Seneca stated, "As long as you live, keep learning how to live.","
Darkness now filled the sky and the only sounds in the air were those of the bullfrogs and crickets. I was really enjoying this evening with Julian. Two old friends, sitting quietly under a starry sky, savoring the pleasures of each other"s company and contemplating the larger issues of leadership and life. I wondered why I hadn"t thought about these things before. Was I really so busy that I didn"t have time to think about the things that truly mattered?
In the weeks since Julian first showed up in the rose garden outside my office, striking changes had taken place within GlobalView. His leadership wisdom had served to give me the wake-up call that I so desperately needed and to show me the path I had to follow if we wanted to reach world-cla.s.s status as an organization. I had put many of his lessons and philosophies into practice and had trained my entire management team in the rituals for visionary leadership that I had so far been exposed to by Julian. And the changes I had witnessed were nothing short of incredible.
People were buzzing with a new sense of excitement. They felt inspired by the future vision I shared with them and believed they were an integral part of something meaningful. I"d heard some employees saying that, for the first time in years, they were being listened to and their interests were understood. Our new rewards-and-recognition program was a hit as was our first Crazy Day We had started to come together as a closely knit unit to manage change to our advantage.
After much soul-searching, I myself made some very personal improvements during that period. Through the wisdom Julian had brought into my life, I realized that my role as a leader really was about "freeing people"s strengths" and allowing them the freedom to develop themselves as we realized our dreams for GlobalView. I now appreciated, for the first time in my life, the importance of keeping my promises, "listening aggressively," "being consistently compa.s.sionate" and becoming "fanatically honest," to use the vocabulary Julian favored. And I started to work hard to manage my temper. Believe me, all my efforts made a world of difference. My wife Samantha especially noticed a change in me. Julian was absolutely right when he said that I had to stop blaming others for the troubles of our organization and a.s.sume responsibility for its failings. Like he said, "great leadership precedes great followership."
Morale began to skyrocket, loyalty and commitment returned; people became more productive than they had been in years. They actually started talking about the company as if they were part owners in it, as if they had an investment stake in its success and as if they were in business for themselves. I liked that. Our new suggestion program, which allowed anyone to send management an idea to improve the way we did things at GlobalView via e-mail, led to some amazing innovations that helped us cut costs, enhance effectiveness, serve our customers better and get closer to our vision for the future. Rest a.s.sured, the employees who made those suggestions were amply recognized and rewarded. The leadership wisdom that those sages up in the Himalayas shared with Julian had really worked wonders for us.
"Why do you keep looking at that star, Julian?" I asked as he again stared at the brightest star in the sky. "You said you were going to tell me."
"I will, but the time is not quite right. Soon it will be, for we are coming closer to the end of Yogi Raman"s system for visionary leadership. For now, let me just say that that star has been a friend to me. You know I"ve been through a lot in my life, especially during the past few years with my heart attack and all. Leaving the corporate world was a major act of faith for me and I left a lot behind."
"Like that beautiful Ferrari," I piped in.
"Like that Ferrari," Julian acknowledged. "That star has helped me along the way."
I still had no idea of what Julian was speaking of, but sensing his unwillingness to explain his relationship to that star, I decided not to press the point.
That night, as I climbed into bed and snuggled up to Samantha, my thoughts remained on Julian. Here was a corporate superstar who had come close to the brink of death. He then gave up everything he had and headed off in search of the wisdom that he knew he had always lacked. The man trekked through India and high into the Himalayas until he found the sources he had been searching for. While the Sages of Sivana gave him the secrets of youth and happiness, they also shared with him the rituals of visionary leadership. The transformation he had undergone as a person was nothing short of miraculous. I now realized that the transformation I had begun to undergo as a leader was no less astonishing.
I reached over to the table next to our bed and flipped on the night-light. I stared at the small object that I had carefully placed next to my reading gla.s.ses. It was made of wood and had been given to me by Julian, just before I left him alone at the military base. It was the next piece of the intricate puzzle that had grown over the time we had been meeting. Once again, I could not make out the lightly colored design on it. And once again, it carried an inscription. It read simply, Ritmi 6: Leader Lead Thyself Chapter 9 Knowledge Summary * Julian"s Wisdom in a Nutsh.e.l.l The Ritual The Essence The Ritual of Personal Effectiveness The Wisdom * The secret of personal effectiveness is concentration of purpose * The art of getting things done lies in knowing what things need to remain undone * If you do not lead your time, it will lead you * If your priorities do not get scheduled into your planner, other peoples" priorities will get scheduled into your planner The Practices * The Time Model for Visionary Leadership * Strategic Time Blocking Quotable Quote Never forget the importance of each and every one of your days. As you live your days, so you live your life. Do not waste even one of them. The past is history and the future is but a figment. This day, the present, is really all you have.
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari RITUAL 6.
Leader Lead Thyself
CHAPTER TEN.
The Ritual of Self-Leadership
There is nothing n.o.ble in being superior to others. True n.o.bility lies in being superior to your former self Ancient Indian proverb Mount Percival is the tallest peak in this part of the country. Mountaineers and adventurers come from far and wide to scale its north face, apparently one of the most treacherous of all of the climbs in our locale. A few years ago, the son of one of my colleagues lost his life on a summit attempt. He and the seven members of his team had been found frozen to death, about two hundred feet from the top. For the life of me, I could not figure out why Julian wanted me to meet him here.
As I drove my four-wheel drive up the winding highway that led to an area near the base of the mountain frequented by tourists and hikers, I realized I had come to rely on Julian"s regular coaching sessions. Every single one of our meetings had not only been rich with leadership wisdom and powerful lessons on organizational transformation, they had also been mini-adventures that moved me out of my "region of security," to borrow from Julian"s language, and into new pathways of thought and action. I sensed that he would not remain in one place for a very long time since I knew he was deeply committed to spreading the philosophy of the sages throughout our part of the world. And I knew that when he left, I would miss him.
As I drove up to the base area, crowded with people from all across the world on this fine day, I spotted Julian. Unlike the last time, today he had on his traditional ruby red monk"s robe and his well-worn sandals. As usual, his face radiated vitality and good health. And as on each of the previous occasions, it carried a smile. It was still a little hard for me to believe that this youthful-looking man was actually Julian Mantle, the once hard-drinking, fast-living corporate player who had collapsed from a ma.s.sive heart attack in the middle of a packed courtroom.
"Greetings, Peter!" Julian said with his usual degree of enthusiasm. "It"s quite a day up here on the mountain," he added, taking a whiff of fresh air deep into his lungs. "Kind of makes me feel as if I was back in the Himalayas with Yogi Raman and the rest of my wise teachers."
"Do you miss their company?"
"Terribly. They were the kindest, most giving men and women I have ever known. They treated me like I was a part of their small family and I felt like they were a part of mine. Those days, up in that natural oasis of beauty, peace and knowledge were truly the best of my life. Having said that, I made a promise to them and I plan to keep it. I have a duty to perform and will dedicate the rest of my days to spreading their ideas about leadership in business and in life, making sure that their timeless message is heard by all those who need to hear it."
"Mind if I ask another question?"
"Not at all," Julian replied as we walked to the lodge to purchase a ticket up the mountain by cable car.
"Why are we going up there?" I asked as I strained my neck to look up at the summit.
"Because there is another leadership lesson I wish to share with you. And that is the perfect place for me to share it."
As we rode up the mountain, neither of us said a word. The beauty of the scenery was simply breathtaking, something to be taken in fully-and silently. With the feeling of joy that came over me through this connection to the gifts of nature, I wondered why I did not leave that oak-paneled office of mine more often to get outdoors and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. At least, I could bring Samantha and the kids up here on weekends. I really needed to spend more time with them. And I knew that such an outing would bring a greater sense of perspective to my days along with energy to my weeks.
After about half an hour of steady climbing, the cable car stopped abruptly and a voice on the public address system asked us to "de-car," a term I had never heard before and prayed I wouldn"t again. Julian, obviously familiar with the place, led me along a snow-covered walkway lined on both sides with thick strands of rope. I silently followed my friend, placing my full trust in this man, who I had learned had my best interests in mind. Finally we arrived at our destination. And it was like nothing I had ever seen.
The ridge we were standing on looked out across the entire region as well as over other smaller mountains, which struggled to push through the billowy clouds in the otherwise clear blue sky. I truly wished Samantha and the kids were there with me. This sight would have amazed them. I felt deeply peaceful in this heavenly place and shared this sentiment with my youthful companion.
"I know what you mean, my friend. I know what you mean." After a few minutes of soaking in the view, Julian began his lesson.
"Ritual 6 is an extremely important one, Peter, one that visionary leaders practice on a daily basis. If they fail to do so, even for a few days, their vision is diminished and much of their effectiveness is lost."
"Exactly what does Leader Lead Thyself mean?" I asked as I pulled the sixth piece of the puzzle from the light ski jacket I had put on for the occasion and glanced more closely at it.
"Ritual 6 is the ritual of self-leadership. Sadly, self-leadership is the discipline most neglected by leaders in this part of the world. And yet, it is the foundation from which all other success in business and in life springs."
"Is self-leadership the same as self-improvement?"
"It"s about so much more than that. Sir Edmund Hillary, who as you know was the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, said it best when he observed, "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." That"s really the essence of self-leadership - it"s about conquering and mastering yourself."
"Interesting."
"Most leaders believe that effectiveness and excellence come from external factors like an efficient work force or application of the latest technology. The truth of the matter, as visionary leaders have known over the centuries, is that success is an inside job. Excellence begins within. Market leadership begins with self-leadership."
After inhaling another deep breath of the crisp mountain air, Julian continued. "You see, Peter, how can you lead an organization if you"ve never learned how to lead yourself? How can you coach a team if you"ve never mastered the art of self-coaching? And how can you expect to manage others if you"ve never refined the skill of managing yourself?"
"My dad used to say that you can"t do good if you don"t feel good."
"Precisely. And Goethe made the point in a similar way when he noted that "Before you can do something you must be something." You cannot be the inspirational leader you hope to be if you wake up every morning feeling miserable and depressed. You cannot guide your people forward to victory if you are being kept behind by a lack of energy. You will not be able to capture their hearts and energize their minds if you are still yelling and screaming at them all day. Remember, before you can like another person, you must like yourself. Success on the outside begins within.
"It"s like that old story my favorite professor told me when I was in law school," Julian added. "One night a father was relaxing with his newspaper after a long day at the office. His son, who wanted to play, kept on pestering him. Finally, fed up, the father ripped out a picture of the globe that was in the paper and tore it into many tiny pieces. "Here, son, go ahead and try to put this back together," he said, hoping this would keep the little boy busy long enough for him to finish reading his paper. To his amazement, his son returned after only one minute with the globe perfectly rea.s.sembled. When the startled father asked how he achieved this feat, the child smiled gently and replied, "Dad, on the other side of the globe there was a picture of a person, and once I got the person together, the world was okay""
"So the lesson is that success on the outside really does begin within. It all starts by getting myself together. And once I do, my own world will be okay, correct?"
"Yes, Peter, that"s it exactly."
"Are you suggesting that I make personal mastery one of my major goals?"
"Make it a vow." "What"s the difference?"
"A goal is something you aim to do, a positive intention that you plan to achieve sometime in the future. I discovered from the sages that a vow is something much deeper than that. Making a vow means you are committed, from the very core of your character, to keeping the promise you have made. Failure is simply not an option. By making a vow, you simply refuse to lose."
"Self-leadership is really that important?"
"Definitely. All the great thinkers have known of this truth. Seneca said, "To master one"s self is the greatest mastery" while Confucius noted that "good people strengthen themselves ceaselessly" "Man is made and unmade by himself," discovered James Allen, while the sixth-century Chinese military leader Sun Tzu said, "To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands." Even the modern leadership philosopher Peter Drucker observed that "Self-development of the effective executive is central to the development of the organization, whether it be a business, a government agency, a research laboratory, a hospital or a military service. It is the way toward performance of the organization."
"You see, my friend, one of the most enduring of all the ancient laws of humanity is that we see the world not as it is, but as we are. By improving, refining and defining who we are, we see the world from the highest, most enlightened perspective. By mastering ourselves, we see the world and all its limitless opportunities and potential from the top of the mountain rather than from the bottom. Commit yourself to excellence. Raise the personal Standards you have set for yourself. Strive to do everything spectacularly well. Remember that when you settle for mediocrity in the small things, you will also begin to settle for mediocrity in the big things. And anything less than a conscious commitment to peak personal performance is an unconscious commitment to weak personal performance.
As I absorbed this profound piece of leadership wisdom, I gazed off into the horizon. I had never taken the time to think about self-improvement. I had often seen other executives reading personal development books, such as As a Man Thinketh, University of Success, Think and Grow Rich, Psycho-Cybernetics and MegaLiving, on my frequent airline flights and thought silently, "There but for the grace of G.o.d go I," a.s.suming that these were poor souls suffering a professional or a personal crisis. I now realized that while those who could effectively manage others were wise, those who had mastered themselves were enlightened. The most important thing any leader could do to improve his organization was to first improve himself. My dad was right. You can"t do good if you don"t feel good. It is impossible to do great things if you are not thinking great thoughts. I had to make a "vow," as Julian suggested, to get serious about the development of my self so I could achieve all the things I wanted to achieve. I had to Focus on the Worthy and make the time to lift my inner life to a whole new level of effectiveness.
"Now do you see why I brought you up to the top of this mountain? To gain leadership over others, you must gain true leadership over yourself," Julian said. "You must climb your own mountains and rise to the top, conquering yourself in the process. You must stop making excuses for why things have gone wrong and a.s.sume some responsibility for a change. Visionary leaders are alibi-free."
"What do you mean by alibi-free?" I queried.
"As a litigation lawyer, I had the opportunity to cross-examine thousands of witnesses over the course of my career. No matter how guilty they were, they all did the same thing. They all came up with an excuse that shifted the blame to someone else. Not once could they clearly and simply admit, "It was all my fault. I was wrong. And I am truly sorry.""
"They all had alibis."
"Right. But visionary leaders are the masters of themselves, as well as of their destinies. They know that if there is a problem with morale in the company, there is a problem with their leadership. They understand that if their relationships are lacking in depth and warmth, there must be some lack within themselves. They know that if their levels of personal achievement are less than outstanding, the thoughts they are having and the actions they are taking must be less than superb. That"s why I say that visionary leaders are alibi-free. They have the power of character to realize that they ultimately control their futures and that their outer lives are shaped by their inner ones.
"And just like scaling any great mountain," added Julian enthusiastically, "the higher you climb within yourself, the more you will see. The more you come to know who and what you really are as a person, performer and as a leader, the more value you will be able to contribute to the world around you. The saddest thing I know of is a human being who has no sense of self, no idea of what she could achieve in her life if only she had the courage to liberate her full potential through the discipline of self-mastery. Too many people live far below their potential. It"s like Wordsworth once wrote, The world is too much with us; late and soon,/ Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:/ Little we see in nature that is ours;/ We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!" The point I"m really trying to make can be made very simply: Leadership in your world begins with leadership of your life."
Julian then walked over to a long wooden bench that rested along the ridge and sat down. Closing his eyes and again deeply breathing in the cool, clean air of this spectacular mountain hideaway, he paused before continuing his pa.s.sionate discourse on the value of self-leadership.
"You know, Peter, I really love this place. Since I"ve returned from the Himalayas, I"ve probably been up here fifty times. It really keeps my head clear. Life with the sages was so serene and peaceful. While they were enormously productive people, their achievement was of a graceful sort. Now that I"m back, I have to admit that I must constantly try not to get swept up in the frenetic pace that dogs our society."
"I feel the same way," I replied. "I mean the pace that I keep at the office is crazy. I"m like a wild man most days. Did you know that my executive a.s.sistant, Arielle, has already organized my appointment schedule for the next thirteen months? The number of people I have to see and the amount of work I have to do is absolutely unbelievable. Though the Time Model for Visionary Leadership that you shared with me is beginning to free me to Focus on the Worthy, I still feel the stress."
"Which brings me nicely to the first of the 5 Ancient Disciplines for Self-Leadership. These disciplines are formulations of the timeless wisdom that Yogi Raman gave me for personal mastery. Best practices for human excellence and inner leadership, if you will. Yogi Raman saw that I was in pretty bad shape when I arrived in the Himalayas, still recovering from my heart attack. So he offered me a series of philosophies and techniques to get my internal world back into shape. Let me simply say that the changes that followed when I applied these strategies were profound. The sense of tranquility that I had lost as a corporate superstar returned. I was able to conquer the worry habit that had plagued me for so long. My energy levels soared. I began to feel the way I had as an idealistic kid at Harvard Law School. And I knocked many years off the way I looked."
"No kidding," I observed with a smile. "I thought you were some kid when I saw you standing in my rose garden that day. Your transformation is astonishing. I"d love to hear how you did it. What"s the First Discipline for Self-Leadership?"
"It"s the Discipline of Personal Renewal. All visionary leaders regularly renew themselves. They make time to revitalize their bodies and energize their spirits. You see, in these information-crazed times that we live in, leaders and managers are being driven to do more with less, to work smarter, faster and harder. This frenetic pace that you are required to maintain just to keep up with the compet.i.tion takes its toll on the way you think, feel and perform. But the thing you need to remember is that it"s not really the stress that diminishes your effectiveness and leaves you feeling utterly exhausted at the end of the day."
"It"s not?"
"No. What really does the damage is the failure of most leaders and managers to gain some relief from the inevitable stresses they face. As I told you earlier, some anxiety is always a.s.sociated with change and change is the dominant force in business today. To thrive in this new economy, you have to work harder and aim higher. But virtues can become vices when practiced to excess, and overwork needs to be balanced with downtime. The best way to do this is to get regular relief through self-renewal activities. As the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, All action begins in rest. That is the ultimate truth." This will make you stress-hardy and allow you to maintain high levels of stamina and creativity for longer periods of time. I suggest you make a weekly sabbatical a top priority."
"What"s a weekly sabbatical?"
"In the old days, people were required to observe a day of rest at the end of each working week. This day, known as the Sabbath, was used to relax, connect with family, enjoy personal hobbies or pursue spiritual activities. As a result, workers would begin the new week full of energy, zeal and conviction, ready to face the challenges their jobs would inevitably provide. Sadly, this tradition has been pa.s.sed over, for most people and hard-driving executives believe that nonstop work routines are the only way to get to the top. It is only when they are afflicted with ulcers, migraines and early heart attacks that they wake up and begin to change the way they work and live. Unfortunately, by then it is sometimes too late. Believe me, my friend, I"m speaking from personal experience.
"So what I"m suggesting," continued Julian, "is that you designate a period every single week for some serious personal renewal. Time spent recharging your batteries is never a waste but a necessary aspect of any peak performance routine. Recreation is about re-creation. Time spent on genuine recreation makes you stronger, smarter and a better leader. Abe Lincoln captured the essence of what I am saying when he remarked, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I"d spend six hours sharpening my axe.""
"So what you are saying is that working the way I do, without ever taking a vacation or even a regular day off to unwind, is the same as driving my BMW full-out, day after day without ever taking the time for a pit stop."
"Right. Failing to devote time to the discipline of self-renewal is like saying you are so busy driving that you don"t have time to stop for gas. Not the smartest way to think, is it?"
"I agree. But how can I make time for myself?"
"I"ve already given you the secret."
"Really?"
"Use the Time Model for Visionary Leadership and the technique of strategic time blocking that I shared with you when we were at the military base. During your Sunday night planning practice, which I know you have begun to ritualize, block out a period over the coming week for recreation, relaxation and the renewal that you need to perform at your best. Make sure that at least one of your weekly wins revolves around quiet time. And plan to invest at least one hour on your weekly sabbatical. It will return huge dividends to you over the long run, especially when it comes to effective thinking and problem solving in your work as a leader."
"Seriously?"
"Sure, Descartes made many of his most important intellectual discoveries while relaxing in bed, and Newton formulated the laws of gravity while meditating under an apple tree. Archimedes stumbled upon the laws of hydrostatics while soaking in a hot bath and Mozart composed one of his most famous pieces over a game of billiards. Even the sewing machine came about through an act of renewal."
"Really?"
"Elias Howe, a Ma.s.sachusetts instrument maker, was deep in sleep when he had a bizarre dream. In it, he was being chased by a man carrying a long spear with a small hole at the end of it. This served as the inspiration for his invention that later became known to the world as the sewing machine. Are you beginning to see how much the world would have missed had these visionaries not understood the power of self-renewal?"
"I am, Julian. I am," I replied as I pondered this lesson. "Can you give me a sense of what kinds of things I should be doing during my weekly sabbatical?"
"The best suggestion I have is to go for a walk in natural surroundings and discover the power of solitude. According to Native American tradition, a human being is like a house with three rooms - your mind, your body and your spirit. To live fully, you must fill these rooms daily with sunlight and fresh air. In our time-starved, fast-paced world, we have forgotten the importance of time spent alone, in silent contemplation. And yet, such reflection is also the surest route to wisdom, both in your leadership and within your life. Reflection and introspection allow you to a.n.a.lyze why you do what you do and how to make continual improvements. The practice of quiet contemplation will enrich your judgment and allow you to begin to understand not just what is happening around you at the office but why it is happening. It will allow you to grow more aware of the consequences of each of your choices and, therefore, improve your decision-making abilities. Essentially, making the time for regular reflection will allow you to learn from living. All of humanity"s great advances, whether technological or artistic, came, not from frenzied activity but from the deep reflection and introspection that quiet time brings. And connecting to nature will soothe your frazzled nerves and bring a greater sense of balance into your life."
"Any other ideas for my weekly sabbatical?"
"How about planning to spend an hour in a used bookstore, just flipping through great books and enjoying some time alone. Why not go for a ma.s.sage or watch the sun rise early on Sunday morning. Why not take one of those wonderful kids you have out on a long hike or simply spend a Sat.u.r.day afternoon by the sea, watching the waves break against a rocky sh.o.r.e. Don"t be so busy chasing the big things in life that you neglect life"s simple pleasures. Don"t be so busy striving to make a living that you forget how to live a life."