You’re working against yourself 🧶
↩️UNFOLLOW University — March 24, 2023
Live footage of your boss’s brain. 🧶
Happy Friday!
I’ve spent the last 15 years leading transformations. Typically, I was hired for 1 of 3 situations:
A smaller company wants to grow bigger
A big company wants to act faster
An old company wants to die slower
At one point the word “transformation” was in my formal job title but I refused to use it on the grounds that I wasn’t Optimus Prime. Big or small, fast or slow, 70% of organizational transformations will fail. To make matters worse, virtually all of these failures will be for one avoidable reason: doing too much.
Change is healthy but changing is hard. Instead of pushing through the temporary pain of becoming new, we convince ourselves that the antidote for discomfort is doing more. More stuff. More priorities. More meetings. More work. More like everyone else.
As our unguarded focus becomes misguided time, we tiptoe away from our own finish line. Why?
We’re not dumb, we’re distracted.
🤯 Radical Truth
Leaders with traction move toward their goals. Distracted leaders move towards their to-do list.
We’re all wired for survival, safety and acceptance. But our workplaces are designed for competition, comparison and exclusion. Instead of curing the crisis, our efforts to improve (ourselves, our teams, and our companies) create more distractions.
🧠 We think the problem is education so we seek new information.
💰 We think the problem is economic so we earn more money.
🛠 We think the problem is productivity so we build better habits.
But what if I went back to the beginning? Back to who I am, why I was created and what I was designed to do. None of these require more of me. In fact, they invite me to be, do and say less.
Successful change often requires me to do the last thing I want to do: submit.
To me, the word submit looks like a headlock I can’t get out of. It sounds like surrender - something quitters do before they lose.
But submission means to “place oneself under the mission.” Instead of resisting or working against a mission, submission invites me to place my needs lower and someone else’s higher. To minister to someone literally means to subtract from yourself and be “minus” to others.
Submission isn’t for every situation but it’s a prerequisite to working with others. Often, submission is less about punishment and more about protection.
Submitting my time to a workout plan protects my fitness. Submitting my money to a budget protects my finances. Submitting my life to my wife protects our marriage. Submitting my will to God’s way protects my future.
Submission doesn’t ensure success but it does protect me from unhealthy success and distractions. I’ve had my share of both.
Sometimes, the frustrations you feel aren’t signs to do more, fight harder or go higher. Sometimes, we move forward by subtracting. By getting low and letting go.
⚡️Courageous Question
What are the things I’m doing (or not doing) that work against the change I want? Who is a distraction?
🗣 Wonderful Words
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.
Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
-Rumi
🙏🏽 Prayer Package
Lord, I (re)submit to your will for my life. Place my purpose under your mission so I can succeed in what you have for me. I know my obedient life is a greater witness than my words. Show me who or what is a distraction so I can focus beyond what I can see. Amen.
🛠 Practical Tool
I haven’t read this book - I didn’t want to get distracted - but the podcast was more than amazing. “Immunity to Change” is on my list as one of the few books about change that zeroes in on why we resist transformation, and what our resistance means.
It also includes a framework for asking yourself simple questions to reveal why you’re distracted from the very thing you want. Too busy for another book? One of the authors walks through the process with Brené Brown on her Daring To Lead podcast. Trust me, it’s good.
Your pick. Buy the book, listen to the podcast, read the article, take the course or jump right to the template. Just submit to the process and don’t get distracted.
Have a courageous weekend! I’m cheering for you.
If you’re new to UNFOLLOW University you can learn more about me here or check out my previous posts.
See you next UNFOLLOW Friday!
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Every Friday I’ll send you 5 courageous ideas to help you redesign your work life by making better career decisions:
🤯 Radical Truth - A story from me
⚡️ Courageous Question - A challenge for you
🗣 Wonderful Words - A quote worth remembering
🙏🏽 Prayer Package - A moment of meditation
🛠 Practical Tool - An actionable resource
