Optimizing Your Leadership Outside Of Work

When you are focused on becoming the best Leader that you can possibly become it can...

Become your entire Life.

However, is that sustainable?

The answer is no - it isn't sustainable.

In order to thrive as a Leader, sometimes you need to put the work down and away and put your focus on other things.

The One We Don't Like To Talk About...

One of the most important things that you can do outside of work is... rest.

We all don't like to talk about it, especially in our "GO GO GO!" society.

However, 24/7 "Hustle" culture doesn't really serve you well.

Trying to work 24/7 ends up leaving you drained and broken.

Your body NEEDS to rest, it's an important aspect of our health.

Without rest, Flow States are impossible to reach.

In Flow, we are 500% more productive.

Along with this, we are actually much happier with our lives the more often we can get into Flow due to the neurochemicals that are released during the state.

This means if you refuse to rest, you are going to be significantly less productive, and you are going to be less happy.

However, the benefits of rest don't end there.

Rest also aids in many other processes.

It improves our immune system, making us less susceptible to becoming sick.

It improves our memory and leads to less brain fog.

It allows proper digestion to occur, allowing you to create needed energy (Mg-ATP).

It leads to the reduction of cortisol, stress, and inflammation.

When you look at all of the benefits, can you afford NOT to rest?

What Do You Do For, Like, Fun?

There are some people who Love their work, and that is fantastic (I do as well).

But for many more people, work is what they have to do to live the life they want (which is perfectly acceptable as well).

However, in both cases, work still shouldn't be "everything".

You need to do something that is fun and for yourself (For me, it is OCR racing, D&D, Reading, and I'm picking up my Lacrosse Stick again!).

There are a lot of reasons for this as well.

One aspect is community.

Within the things that we enjoy doing, we tend to find a community that we enjoy being a part of.

Having community has many great benefits in our lives - those with stronger connections with more individuals (strength is more important the quantity though), tend to lead healthier lives.

Social connections are an incredibly important part of having a strong brain.

Another thing that is important is that with the things we find fun, there is a tendency to actually alleviate stress.

With all of these, there is another secret reason that you want to do things for Fun.

Diversity in thoughts.

This is essentially a way to hack Flow States more often.

The Diversity in thoughts forces our minds to think in different ways, and those changes in our thought processes allow us to actually think more creatively!

Most of the best advancements in industries came from understanding something from a completely different industry.

So, by adding this diversity of thought processes, you will be benefitting your work as well!

Along with this, many people are able to find Flow States in things that they enjoy doing - and Flow tends to lead to more Flow.

We can never be in it "perpetually", but we can get into Flow States for significant chunks of our lives.

The Other One We Don't Like To Talk About...

Another incredibly important aspect to improve our work is something you wouldn't typically think of.

What are you eating?

What we eat has incredible influences on how well we can work.

For instance, if you are constantly eating certain types of food, you can actually put your nervous system into "Fight-or-Flight" mode!

This can actually prevent you from getting into Flow states at work.

Along with this, what we eat dramatically influences how much energy (Mg-ATP) can be created.

Healthy fats can create 4x the amount of energy that sugars and carbs are able to create.

Along with this, if we aren't getting enough of certain minerals (such as Magnesium or Mg), we may actually severely limit our capacity to create energy.

In the Standard American Diet today, there is a huge estimated energy loss due to a lack of nutritional quality and minerals.

This will limit the maximum amount of work you can do and significantly prevent you from entering Flow States as well.

To get into Flow requires a LOT of energy, and the more often you try to get into the State, the more quickly that pool of energy will disappear.

Another aspect of this is that certain minerals can help fix stress damage.

However, most people aren't getting those minerals in their diets.

Without those minerals, you can't fix whatever damage has been happening, and it begins to build up quickly.

As a Leader, you are responsible for more levels of stress.

If you don't fix the previous damage, then you are going to simply burnout more quickly, and get sick more quickly.

Final Note

To be successful as a Leader requires you to do a lot more than just be good at your work.

Anyone can be good at their work, however, Leading requires a whole different focus and understanding of our Psychophysiology.

If we don't take care of these things, then we will always be less productive as a Leader.

So, what are you doing to take care of these things?

How are you resting?

Are you doing it well?

What are you eating?

Are you getting the proper nutrients and minerals to succeed?

Are you getting the minerals to heal stress damage?

Are you connecting with communities?

Are you having fun in your life?