Great Leaders Don’t Juggle the Glass Balls!
The following is a chapter from my book – Against the Wind: You’ve Got the Power (pages 103-105) 2nd print 2015
“If we don’t prioritize those things in life that are important to us, someone else will” Rosita Hall
Last week I was delivering a session on leadership to a school board. I always bring self care and the human connection aspect to every presentation I do, regardless of the topic, because the bottom line is that if we don’t know how to care for ourselves and connect with people at the heart, most of our efforts will be futile. I told my audience that one of my greatest self-care strengths is the ability to prioritize those things in life that mean the most to me. I told them that every day I pick three things that absolutely mean everything to me in the world and I place them on my mental radar screen. They become the focal point around which all other activities must be built. For example, my three picks today are my health, my husband and my two sons Joshua and Christian. So today I must ensure that I save enough energy to have quality time with myself, my husband, and my sons. Everything else is secondary to those three priorities. Why? Because at the end of the day to me this is what really matters.
Those closest to me know that I live and breathe this model. On any given day, if the stress and activities in my life leave me depleted of enough fuel to attend to these things, I will choose to give up another activity or work related ‘stuff’ so that the main thing remains the main thing in my life. My family will always come out on top, guaranteed! For me, this is an amazing self-care activity because when I get that right, it refuels me over and over again. I feel invigorated and on top of the world. As a result, I produce good results both on and off the job.
During break time of this particular session, a participant came up to me and said, “When you were telling us about your ‘Pick Three’ self care plan, a thought came to mind.” She continued by saying,
“Your priorities are really your glass balls, and all the other stuff in life are your plastic balls. What you’ve indicated is that you can’t afford to drop the glass balls, namely your health, your husband and your two son’s right?” WOW! How insightful is that? She was absolutely right, and it was music to my ears that she got the message! Not only was she a wise woman, but she also gifted me a great piece to include in my presentations on work-life balance. (Stay tuned for my next blog on that subject matter)
Since that presentation, I have thought long and hard about the glass balls and just how powerful that participant’s statement was. As life happens and people come and go, I know that the glass balls represent the special relationships and specific priorities and I will do everything in my power to ensure that they stay intact and that those plastic balls don’t get in the way and crowd out my glass ones.
I believe that our relationship with the God we serve, our loved ones, and our health should be the balls we never drop. However, I witness glass balls shattering every day as I travel around the country as a speaker and trainer and am privileged enough to hear intimate details of people’s lives. It saddens me when I hear about heartache, separation, divorce, health issues, and unhealthy relationships issues in the workplace. I wonder if things would have turned out differently had people understood which parts of their lives both on and off the job were just too delicate to not keep in focus. In other words, they dropped the wrong balls. Perhaps because it was the only thing left to do or because they were so busy with what they were doing, they didn’t realize or lost sight of how precious the balls were in the first place until it was too late. It’s hard to put a shattered glass ball back together again.
So please pay attention to those fragile glass balls in your life. I have recently gone out and bought four glass balls, and I am going to have four names inscribed on them: Rosita, Norm, Josh, Chris. I will set them on my desk in a nice basket to remind me what truly matters. My individual ball will also have ‘Put God first’ inscribed on it, along with my ‘health is my wealth’. What would you inscribe on your glass ball and whose names would you put on the additional ones? It is a question that as leaders we must all be able to answer if we want to lead effectively in our workplace, home life and in our communities.
To book Rosita for a speaking engagement or to order a copy of Rosita’s Book visit www.rositahall.com
Please review my book trailer by clicking on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z45xd1wZsNg
