It’s hard. 2022. It just is.
There, I said it. People are struggling, the world is a bit chaotic right now and people are at the edge of their comfort zone or in many cases, well beyond their comfort level. All of that is coming into the workplace. Demands are being made and it’s your choice as the leader whether or not to meet them. So one of the first things you can do is simply acknowledge the reality. So many of my clients have the thought that they should be different. They should be above the fray and not experiencing the hardness of 2022, but we can’t escape it. I have the same thoughts.
But my life’s work is managing my mind, I should be better than this!
No matter how much you try, you can’t break free of your humanness. Resisting it and judging yourself only adds to your own struggles and drags you down. Instead, let’s just show ourselves a little compassion and accept the reality. Let it be hard and yet, know that doesn’t mean it has to be crippling. We are women and we are leaders, we can do hard.
The second thing I want you to do is take care of yourself. Don’t wait for it to get easy before you decide you can fit in that yoga class or plan healthy meals instead of working through your lunch. Maybe it means hiring people to help you with things you normally squeeze into your schedule like groceries or laundry so you can get a few extra hours each week of rest or putting barriers around your work and no longer checking email after dinner each night. The interesting thing about work is that it will always flex to you. Meaning, if you add more hours to your workday, more work will appear and you will still feel like you didn’t get enough done. Yet, if your schedule gets squeezed, you still find a way to do what is most urgent and important. So if you are going to feel like the work is always still there anyway, would you rather have a life outside of work or spend it trying to convince yourself that eventually you will catch up? Plan your self-care, rest and downtime in your day first. Put it on your calendar and adhere to it like an important meeting. Accept the fact that hard times might call for more rest than normal.
Finally, know that leading through these times means that you need to be the voice of clarity. We are spending way too much time beating around the bush pretending like we are going to meet everyone’s demands when we simply can’t. As high achievers, we want to do it all. We want to say yes to everything possible and be the person who made it all happen. But the world is calling for leaders that are just as skilled at saying no. What is on your “no list” right now? Do you even have one? If not, I want you to create one, share it with your team and with the leaders above you. Get really clear on what you will not do, in order to accomplish what you will.
2022 may be a challenge, but how can you use it to your advantage and leverage that for further growth?