I\u2019ve lived with stress my entire life. You likely have, too. I\u2019ve not done much to avoid it. I mean, I said I have, but I can only think of really one time in my working life that I made a real effort to avoid stress. That was when I stopped working. I sold my company I had spent eight years building, and I took time off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The day I sold my company I went rock climbing. Lawyers worked in their offices and bankers transferred funds while I enjoyed time with two of my friends and mentors. It was a sweet time. It was the first time that I felt like I really could do nothing. Absolutely nothing. So, I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I took the next year off and played video games. I slept in late. I took my kids to school. I had leisurely breakfasts, lunches, and went to the gym. My wife was busy being a school nurse for most of the first month or so, but when summer came around, we took time away. We traveled for weeks at a time with only a vague plan of where we\u2019d end up. School started a few months later, and I was again alone \u2013 kids to school, wife to work. Quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I even joked with friends about taking \u201cnaked Tuesdays\u201d \u2013 walking around my house in honor. I never did. No, I didn\u2019t do much. I didn\u2019t fix the house. I didn\u2019t do yard work. I spent a lot of time doing a lot of nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A double-edged word. One moment, nothing implies that we take needed time to rest. The next, nothing implies no forward movement \u2013 nothing is accomplished. A blessing on one side, a curse on the next, and a razor edge between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I spent a morning this week with a company who stagnated years ago and began a slow decline. I was working with my team to present to them a new plan of action that would turn the company around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I began the meeting by describing a visual of the continuum we are all on from who we were, who we are, and who we will be. It\u2019s true of all of us. We were once at a place, doing a thing, in a certain way. We no longer do that \u2013 now we are \u201chere.\u201d Hopefully, who we are today is better than who we were. I encouraged them that they, as individuals and as an organization, need to also know who they are going to be. What will the organization be like in three or five years? What will the organization be doing? What\u2019s the plan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who we were Who we are Who we will be<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There in lies the stress. See, some stress is bad. The stress of my circumstances in my business before I sold it was doing me harm. It was too much. I was not thriving, and I thought how stupid it was to stay where I was unhappy when I could easily have changed things. That was a bad stress \u2013 relieved by definitive action. That stress is a curse. It pulls you backward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, some stress is good. It moves us on, calls us forward. It\u2019s the stress that keeps us from stagnating, from sitting around all day doing nothing. It\u2019s the stress that we feel when we are not who we yet will be. That stress is a blessing. That is the stress that is better characterized by longing. \u201cLonging to become \u2026\u201d It\u2019s the stress that keeps an entrepreneur pushing forward \u2013 wanting to create something amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The good stress of moving us forward into who we want to be is what keeps us growing. It\u2019s necessary. Without it, when we have nothing in particular to do, we become ineffective, not making a difference in the world, not using the amazing minds we have. We produce nothing. We only take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we are who we will be we are done. It\u2019s the company that stagnates at the top of their game, and several years later scrambles to turn things around. It\u2019s the individual who achieves great success and then takes too much time off with no plan. Longing for no stress, and achieving it, however momentarily, can have disastrous consequences. If you believe that you are capable of amazing things, you must understand the difference between the stress that moves you forward, and the stress that pulls you back. Otherwise, you will run from that which helps you and stay in that which hurts you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our new client is very excited about the next chapter, and they should be. They are revolutionaries. Our spark is going to help them reignite their fire. We are excited for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I took a year off, and then some. I didn\u2019t have a clear enough vision for what I would do next. It took me far too long to get my productivity back on track. I\u2019m not complaining \u2013 I\u2019m a blessed man. And, it wasn\u2019t without benefits \u2013 my family saw a lot of the country from our RV. But, I became complacent, which any wise man will tell you is code for \u201cslowly accelerating backward\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What about you? Do you have a clear definition of who you and your organization ARE today? Do you have a clear vision of who you and your organization WILL BE in the future? If not, then you\u2019re likely to stagnate. If you don\u2019t know have a clear vision of who you will be, then you can\u2019t communicate that to your team. If you can\u2019t communicate it to your team, then the team cannot achieve the vision. Today, start by defining the reality of who you ARE, and the vision of who you WILL BE. Then make that clear to everyone you work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hey, leader \u2013 that\u2019s your job! Sound stressful? Don\u2019t worry \u2013 it\u2019s good for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow me at\u00a0therealjtodd.com<\/a>\u00a0or on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve lived with stress my entire life. You likely have,…<\/p>\n