We all fight bat­tles at some point in our lives and careers, and some of these strug­gles can last a long time. Lengthy bat­tles cause weari­ness. Over time, weari­ness erodes our con­fi­dence. When we lose con­fi­dence, we can eas­ily lose our perspective.

When a leader loses per­spec­tive for too long, it can be terminal.

So what should one do who finds them­selves tired, fear­ful, and con­fused? Here are 5 sug­ges­tions for those of you who might be trapped in this very uncom­fort­able place right now.

1. Take some time OFF. This may feel like the last thing you can afford to do, but it could be exactly what you need right now. Don’t take a trip — take a vaca­tion.  Unplug and rest. Take some time to sleep, read, exer­cise, eat right, and con­nect with those who encour­age you. The pur­pose of this OFF time is to reju­ve­nate you, not to fur­ther drain you.

2. Pro­tect your sacred spaces. iPhones, Black­ber­ries and TVs are incred­i­bly use­ful tools in our lives, but we must estab­lish bound­aries. If we are sit­ting in bed late at night or first thing in the morn­ing check­ing Face­book, watch­ing the news, and respond­ing to email, we are liv­ing in reac­tive mode 24/7. We won’t get the rest we need, and we will wake up feel­ing fur­ther behind. Instead, make your late evenings and early morn­ings a reflec­tive, rest­ful time. Use this time for the things that refresh you. Pro­tect your bed­room as a sacred space, and keep cer­tain times of the day as sacred.

3. Feed the machine. Our bod­ies will break down over time if not prop­erly cared for. Make your health an A-1 pri­or­ity. Make healthy meals, daily exer­cise, plenty of sleep and lots of water a habit­ual part of each and every day. Don’t take your body for granted, or the machine will break down just when you need it most.

4. Spend time with your cheer­lead­ers. Make sure you find time in your week to spend with peo­ple who love you, believe in you, and who truly want to see you at your best. Hope­fully this takes place already in your home, with your close friends, and with cer­tain team mem­bers. Be mind­ful of who you invest your time with, and if needed sched­ule extra time with those who encour­age you most.

5. Con­sult the map daily. Look at the plans and books that guide your direc­tion every morn­ing. Keep your Life Plan, Busi­ness Vision, and Busi­ness Plan in front of you. If you lose sight of the big pic­ture, the tired, mun­dane, con­fused and even fear-filled days will surely follow.

I am con­fi­dent that one or more of these tac­tics will help you to get your per­spec­tive back. May you be for­ti­fied for the bat­tles of your life.

Related posts:

1. 11 Tips for Inten­tional Liv­ing and Lead­ing in Uncer­tain Times
2. You’ve Got More to Give
3. Things Will Not Fall Apart
4. Ques­tion­ers and Truth Tellers
5. They Must Leave Bet­ter Than They Arrived

Tags: Crisis, Disciplines, Down Time, Leadership, Perspective

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 at 7:32 am and is filed under Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.