Get Deep Rest Now: A Commitment to Boundless Leadership

 

"I didn't realise how emotional it could get in the boardroom."

This was one of the salient comments from a participant on the Rice Industry's Established Leaders Program. The group had just completed a high pressure mock board scenario where the issues were convoluted and an injected crisis highlighted just how critical a director's role is in a company.

They were exhausted.

While the program focused on governance, it spoke to the bigger commitment in leadership, and to Boundless Leadership in particular heartfulness meditation near me.

Boundless Leadership is the relentless pursuit of a better future. It means more impact and less struggle.

The 'less struggle' is the part that many crave and sadly fall short.

It became clear to the participants that a Board Director's role has huge ramifications for the company, its staff, and all the people it serves. The Hayne's report and the many banking leader heads it has taken, and will likely take, in the next few months showcases this most clearly.

As leaders we owe it to ourselves to show up as the best version of ourselves. Clear headed, focused, and even keeled.

Sadly many leaders skate day to day on very thin energetic ice. Poor sleep, too much alcohol, rich meals, and a busy, distracted mind all get in the way of doing our best job.

It's just too easy to put our health last.

Since I started using my Oura Ring a sleep and activity tracking device, I have clear and unequivocal feedback about the effects of my self care, or lack of it, on my readiness for high performance.

On days where I read my iPad late (still trying to crack that habit), and ate some dark chocolate before bed (90% Lindt) I ended up with far less Deep Sleep time, which is the most restorative stage of sleeping.

My husband Rob said, 'everyone knows that - you don't read your electronic devices right before bed, and dark chocolate was always going to have a negative impact.'

We might 'know' that to be true. But it took empirical evidence on my sleep tracker to show me the real live effects of my self sabotage. And that really hit home.

I think if we could get more immediate, visible feedback on all our poor habits, we would have far fewer of them! Imagine your smartphone screen lighting up with cholesterol warnings just as you reached for that lovely slice of Brie...

There is an incredible amount of research and writing out there on sleep. I've done a short list here of what we need to do achieve deep rest.

We need to steer the senses. We need to stimulate, control, and also deprive the senses for deep rest.