Creating 2020.

Leadership is nothing if not an inherently creative act. As a leader, you create a feeling when you walk into a room, a reality for others by the words you choose to speak, and specific outcomes and results by the actions you take.

In our rush from one conversation or meeting to another, we rarely take the time to reflect on what we are creating, and thus, we often make unnecessary work for ourselves. Slowing ourselves and others down just might be the most important discipline to develop this holiday season.

Here’s how to start:

Each morning set five minutes on a clock and do the following.

1. On a blank piece of paper, write down your intention for the day: the top two-three key things you want or need to accomplish and who you want to be as you accomplish them. On the latter, you might write a single sentence like “I want to be present, encouraging and inspiring.” Or “My intention today is to be open, curious and approachable”. Or, “I want to have fun and make the day fun for those I work with and through.”
2. Then, write down as many good, exciting, inspiring thoughts as the day ahead could hold for you if you let it. Capture what you are most grateful for and what you could be excited about if you wanted to be. The purpose is to ensure you are in the best feeling state to handle the events of your day with the intention you set above.
3. Fold this paper and carry it with you. Schedule a time to take it out at least once during the day to remind and refocus yourself and, to give you one moment of pause in your hectic schedule.

This one, five-minute exercise has the potential to be the most important five minutes you invest. Do this until it becomes a habit, a way of starting each day so that you can lead yourself, and therefore others, well in 2020.

The world needs you at your very best!