Increasingly I believe that the most important trait for a leader is mental resilience.
Notes:
- Last week I had a difficult week.
- In one week:
- My team were unfairly blamed for something others decided to do.
- One of my senior guys quit.
- I had a high-pressure martial arts test, which was physically and emotionally bruising.
- As a leader you are constantly dealing with problems and challenges, most of which are beyond your control.
- In my mid-life, I discovered the principles of Stoicism, mainly via reading the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, and later the work on Seneca.
- One of those principles is to accept those things that you do not control, because anything otherwise is folly.
- Increasingly I believe that the most important trait for a leader is mental resilience.
- You will have good weeks, but equally you will have some absolutely terrible weeks that will test you to the limit.
- It is those terrible weeks that will test your resilience, but remember:
- Anything that happened has already happened. You must accept this, and move past it.
- In a difficult, stressful situation: the only thing that matters is the facts. Your task is to find the facts, as they will determine what you will do next.
- When damage is inevitable, you next task is to limit that damage and put in place a plan for fast recovery.
- During my martial arts test last week, some things were within my control, while others were utterly chaotic and all I could do was react to minimize the literal damage I received.
- The takeaway from that is to maximize your effort where you can influence things, and minimize your effort were you have no influence at all.
- Other than that, watch your mental health guys as burnout is real: after a difficult week, make sure you do something fun and relaxing that weekend. Don't wait.
- What I am working on this week:
- Media I am enjoying this week:
- The Revenge of the Rose by Michael Moorcock.
Notes and subscription links are here: https://techleader.pro/a/649-Stoic-resilience-(TLP-2024w25)
