What do you do instead of what you are supposed to be doing?
Personal Development
October 16, 2012
Christina Haxton
Topics
authenticity, Character-based Leadership, Christina Haxton, procrastination, productivity, self-leadership, The Character-Based Leader BookWhat do you do instead of what you are supposed to?
Top 10 Things You’re Probably Doing Instead of What You are Supposed to be Doing:
10. Eating something bad for you
9. Checking your email every 3 minutes
8. Looking for inspiration from others’ work
7. Reading just one more article about “how to do …”
6. Checking LinkedIn for who’s viewed your profile
5. Replying TY for RT’s to all of the Twitter Followers in the past 3 days
4. Looking on Facebook to find people you went to high school with you never really cared about anyway
3. Cleaning your house
2. Watching the news to find out the horrible things that are happening today
1. Editing the promotional page for your upcoming program for the 7th time today
I have a confession. With transparency and humility (Dan Rockwell, Max Brown and Chad Balthrop will appreciate this) but most of all because I am also one of the co-authors of The Character-Based Leader I have to walk my talk. Ironically, just last week I delivered a presentation to hundreds of HR Professionals at a Leadership Conference on how stress negatively affects productivity and teamwork.
AND I am guilty of doing all of those 10 Things instead of what I should be doing at one time or another. In fact, it happens much too often. Maybe I should re-title this: 10 Things I Do Instead of What I Am Supposed to be Doing. At least then I could add Personal Integrity to my list, too.
I could take this a step farther and feel guilty or ashamed about being so imperfect – and we could take it one step beyond that and say I’m a hypocrite.
Yet I choose not to … I choose instead to offer my human-ness up to you as an opportunity to learn and grow, for myself and most importantly for you if you so choose to take on the challenge.
When the shoe is on someone else's foot
It often surprises me when an apparently very publicly respected and successful executive coaching client says, “If people only knew what a fraud I am (or feel like at times), then the secret would be out. I would finally be discovered for who I really am.” After years of hearing this fear coming from powerful, influential business people, I now recognize where this shame and fear comes from – it comes from BS. Fear is far easier to recognize when it comes from someone else's mouth rather than from inside your own head.
My next post will focus on how to respond to this B.S. But before we proceed further, do you catch yourself doing this? I'm not the only one, am I? What are some other things you do that keep you from spending time doing the things you know you should do? Add those to the comments below and watch for our next post!
Who are some of the great leaders you have worked with and learned from?
#leadership #leadchange https://lnkd.in/gaymWXk5
Change Within to Create Change on the Outside #leadership #leadchange http://go.shr.lc/1Awdq5m
Numbers 10, 9, and 6…those are my usual suspects. Add to the list re-reading an email about three times after I already sent it… and binging on tv and movies.
I am proud to say, however, that I’ve settled number 3 once and for all. Once a month, some nice people come clean my house while I spend the time on activities that progress me personally and professionally. This was recommended to me a long time ago, and I finally followed the advice. Now, I highly recommend it. Plus, the house looks so much nicer.
Thanks for getting the confessions started!
#3 – Of course! Re-reading an already sent email (and finding a typo) should be on the list, too!
Thank you for your contribution and comment, Alan!
Are there any other Character Based Leaders who are ready to “walk your talk?”
[…] Yet I choose not to … I choose instead to offer my humanness up to you as an opportunity to learn and grow, for myself and for you, too … (read more here – LeadChangeBlog.com) […]
I’m replying to join the community of confessors! Thanks for getting the ball rolling. I confess to just about everything you’ve listed above except 2, 3 and 10. And, surely I can’t be the only one who often checks her email/Facebook/Twitter before she even gets out of bed most mornings…
[…] based leadership book, Time Management | No comments Tweet (This is a follow up to “What do you do instead of what you are supposed to be doing?” I introduced 10 things people (like me) do when we should be doing something more important. It […]