Being a leader does not mean you are good at everything.
You realize that, right?
Some things will be weaknesses forever and you just need to own that and stop wasting time trying to get great at things you are just plain mediocre at.
I fall foul of this desire to be super amazing at everything…
When I became a mum, I decided I was going to be super mother and super wife, which at the time meant getting really good at doing the laundry and making sure my hubby had ironed shirts.
And it lasted for about 2 seconds…
The conservatory started getting full of clothing waiting for me to iron them. They were being dumped in there after leaving the washing machine and I just was not able to convince myself to iron them so finally, I gave that up and gave my hubby back his stuff and carried on wearing mine un-ironed.
Now I have help with the laundry and only do it if I must because I finally realize that I am not here to spend all my time doing laundry, OK?
Today, I am off to Bali and I am a weird blend of excited and slightly scared.
Excited because I have never been to Bali before and at the beginning of the year, I decided this was going to be my year of travel and so far this will be the third country I have visited this year so I am feeling pretty good about that and yes, there is a part of me that feels excited to be going off on my own without the princesses. #guiltypleasures
Scared because I am not the most organized of people.
There is a huge part of me that thinks that leaders such as myself should not have to do the mundane, everyday stuff. (yes, I know I sound lah-dee-dah but just telling you my truth 😀 )
I normally get hustled by my hubby and asked appropriate questions about what I need to pack but this time, as he is not coming, it is all on me to organize myself and I find that hard so I am scared I am going to forget something.
Having said that, he did just this very minute before he set off for work, ask me a few questions about things I had forgotten to do and he made me write a list so I did not forget.
Yes, I love this dude! Everyone needs a dude like my dude 😀
This is the thing, you can be ashamed of the fact that you are not good at certain things or you can just own the fact that this is not your area of expertise.
So blinking what if you are not absolutely excellent at everything?!
Stop beating yourself up about it…
And just get on with the stuff you are designed to do!
I used to do the whole beating myself up thing and occasionally, I still fall foul of it.
We are leaders and we think we must be good at everything…
We want to be seen as having it altogether in every area…
We want to be seen as experts with no flaws…
And we were probably even brought up to think that we are lazy when we do not do every single little thing…
But it is just not true!
We have flaws, We are human, We stink at some things…
And we are absolutely GREAT at others and that is where most of our attention MUST GO!
There are so many different people on the planets with different strengths and different weaknesses BECAUSE we all complement each other.
If you are not good at something, the chances are, you can find someone who is good at that and ask them to help you out with it. That person might even be your life partner and you may even have been brought together for this very reason.
However, most partners are trying hard to outplay each other even though they love each other so they never figure out how to work together. Such a pity!
( I can only say this from experience 😀 – No judgment here – Just a hope that you will see what you are doing and get to supporting each other instead of competing with each other. )
Stop trying to be the best at everything…
START BEING the best at YOUR THING!
Deliberately work at shedding the areas of your life that you do not enjoy and stop forcing yourself to waste time on things that bring you no joy.
FOCUS!
Figure out what you love to do and do more and more of that.
Find someone else to assist you with the rest.
Listen, we have limited time on this planet and unless we start to own who we are, we keep wasting more and more of that time trying to be someone we are not.
Your strengths are given you for a reason and it is so you can lead with them and while you spend all that time faffing around trying to be good at things you are bad at…
You are reducing your effectiveness as a leader.
Enough already!
Step up and claim your status as leader in CERTAIN areas.
Leave behind things that weaken you…
Yes, some people will think you are just plain lazy and selfish but who cares what they think. You are on a mission to be your best self and no one but you and God, get to judge that.
Let them talk…
YOU LEAD!
