Perhaps, like me, you’ve had dreams that seemed almost too big to achieve. Dreams that, despite the odds, you’ve held onto.
As I looked at my daughter with her head resting on my shoulder, the evening streets of Barcelona passing in the window behind her, two powerful realizations washed over me:
“We are here. We actually made it happen.”
“These are the moments. Today is tomorrow’s good ol’ days.”
Earlier this summer, I fulfilled a 20-year vision, a 10-year goal, and a 5-year plan by taking a 3-month sabbatical with a month in Europe with my wife and 10 and 8-year-old kids (if you’re interested in the source, motivation, and purpose).
My life and business were built around this “north star”. While the timing was far from perfect (but is there really ever a perfect time?), it proved to be a transformative experience for my family, my business, and me.
I am a different human being on the other side of the sabbatical.
Buddhist monks have long shared that detachment from outcomes is the secret to happiness: things are neither good nor bad, besides the stories we attach.
Any time I’ve tried this philosophy, I found it challenging to stay detached without also becoming disconnected and disengaged. During one of the many amazing conversations I had this summer, someone asked me about a time when I felt both detached and connected, and the answer was clear and simple.
In the Fall of 2019, I had the privilege to be selected to attend the Global Leadership Academy, where 30 entrepreneurs from around the world gathered to become even better leaders. A small group emerged from the week with a daunting challenge: publish a piece of content every day for 50 straight days.
From this experience, I gained several unexpected learnings, including the power of Becoming a Reporter On My Own Life. This mindset gave me just a little space for the immediate reaction to adversity (like a global pandemic) to become “this will make for an interesting post,” which removed much of the emotional spiral from these situations. This was when most experienced an elevated perspective of detached connection.
The mental and physical space created this summer has rekindled my passion to share the good, the bad, and the ugly of the experiences I’ve accumulated over the last 20 years of building a business, a family, and myself. I hope some of these will help you avoid at least one wall I’ve smashed into or maybe just make you feel like you aren’t the only one struggling at times through this journey of life.
If I had to distill all my experiences and learnings from this summer into one thing, it’s this:
As leaders, it all boils down to the energy we bring to every situation.
Are we elevating or destroying the energy of those around us?
Energy = Meaning x Health
To create a positive impact as leaders, our people need us to lead them with energy, which we can only do if we first lead ourselves to build and protect our own energy.
My sabbatical helped me break free from the inertia of life’s accelerating speed. In this slowed pace, I noticed some hidden connections in my life and leadership I believe can be beneficial to share.
I look forward to us growing and achieving more seemingly unachievable goals together.
Lead with energy,
Derek
If you aren’t already, sign up here to get experiences like these in your inbox each month.