If you’re like me, you have more meetings on your calendar than you want. I’ve had plenty of days when I wake up and glance at my phone to see a full block of 4-6 hours of meetings – all important in their own way, but so many that the idea of adding one more is beyond undesirable.
If you’re an introvert, it can be even worse. I can feel myself being drained even before the meetings start. We have some great content on Leadercast 365 about the best way to plan and run meetings to make them more efficient and worthwhile, but that’s not my point today …
Because no matter how many meetings you have on your calendar, you may need one more. And it very well could be the one meeting that makes all the difference.
It’s with yourself.
I once had a mentor tell me that we avoid being alone because it’s the only time we have to face the one person who we hate being with the most – ourselves. Maybe that’s a little dark, but it also resonates as partially true to me.
The meeting with yourself that I am asking you to consider doing this week is actually more of an anti-meeting. By that, I mean there is no agenda. Nothing to decide or figure out or adjust. It’s truly just a time for you and, well, you. Nobody else is invited. It’s close-doored. And nothing else either – no phone, no computer, no music, no books, nothing. Just you. (Maybe just a pen and paper to take notes.)
Give yourself the gift of silence and solitude. It won’t take long before you begin to feel your mind, spirit, and body begin to defragment. To be blunt, almost every leader I talk to is too busy – extremely overly scheduled. Some even wear their busyness as a badge of honor. It isn’t. It’s making you a less healthy person, and that is making you a less effective leader.
So, seriously. Open your calendar app right now and find an hour this week. Set up that meeting with yourself. Cancel another one if you must. This one is more important.
