Career Trek#3 : Badges of honor that blinds us - Self Leadership

Hello Career Trekkers, Welcome to the third edition of the #CareerTrek. I will be sharing personal reflection on #SelfLeadership

Let me take you back few years. I was starting off on a national leadership role. After the initial excitement, I started getting overwelhmed at work. The days were getting longer and I was getting completely drained out by end of the day. With low energy, I used to walk into home grumpy. Life was all work. I was laughing less, thinking always about work and on short-fuse for anything that goes wrong.

You dont make great decisions when you are in that state of mind. So

My team and my family said, I was taking myself and work too seriously. 
I attributed my grumpiness to my work pressure and I felt perfectly justified.         

My son and my wife made statements like, You are too serious these days, You are not as chirpy as you used to be You have changed a lot We want our old father/husband back

?I reasoned with them saying I have much bigger responsibilities now, than what I had before and that they should understand and support me. After all, all that I do is for them. chasing professional success,, laurels and more...

I was wearing this responsibility riddled grumpiness as a badge of honor and as a valid excuse to not being my best self at home, rather, not really enjoying life.        

?My wife and son in unison said, we dont really want this new role ( whatever benefits that come with it); what matters to us is the quality of living; We want your cheerful smile and giggles at home back.

?Thats when it struck me that I was wearing the 'added responsibility' as a badge of honour (rather as an invalid excuse) whereas it is actually a development area for me and I was blind to this. I realized I need to get better at handling the pressures of work and not get pulled down by it. ?

I can still be myself, enjoying life as I grow/thrive in life in all dimensions. I took to meditation, took courses on mindfulness, got into physical activities and many other things, that gave me the strength to deal with the responsibilities of my new role. With time, I did get better at I stopped using my badges of honour as excuse to what I should ideally not be.

That reminded me of the quote, "As you grow in life, things dont get easier; but you get stronger"        

?Self-leadership is the biggest lever and the foundation for any leader. Self-work in that sense is a lifelong journey.

You cant grow as a leader without self-development

Wishing you a great week Ahead. #CoachRam #CareerTrek #PersonalEffectivness #SelfLeadership