From the board room table to the dining room table, it’s what I tell most of my clients, the behaviors they are working hard to demonstrate as leaders carry over to their team at home. The team’s faces, activities and expectations are different, but we need to show up in even more important ways, we need to prioritize how we spend our time with the team at home the way we do with the team at work. How are you prioritizing your time? Are you making sure you are being mindful with how you are spending your time?
My cousin told me, treasure every moment, don’t pass up any time for things that can wait; the laundry, the groceries, the errands, all of those things can wait; but life will not wait for you, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll miss it. She wasn’t wrong and her words have been present in my mind since.
At work we are focused, making sure we are meeting expectations, developing relationships with our teams, making ourselves available, asking to be put on projects; we are deliberate and intentional in how we spend our time, because the consequences of not achieving and delivering results can cost our jobs, our income. What would happen if we were intentional and deliberate in how we spent our time with our team at home? Really prioritizing and focusing on the most important things. We get so caught up with completing our to-do list, being productive, that we often leave the other moments for later, when we have more time, when it’s more convenient, when I get everything else done. Life doesn’t wait, our time is the most precious thing we have. We cannot deposit our time in an account for later use, we cannot borrow someone else’s time when we are short, we only have our present time. It is my cousin’s words that allowed me to enjoy the last few months with my father; intentionally spending moments with him, listening to his stories, playing cards, visits to the doctor, short walks around the block, sitting outdoors watching the cardinals. I will never get those moments back, and thankfully I have the memories of having spent them with him. The laundry waited, the dishes were left for later, the most important tasks were completed, spending time with my dad while he was with us. Be intentional with your time and the moments you spend with your team at home. Go to the game, take a walk, listen to the stories and their favorite song, ask questions. Ask yourself, how can you be your “leader best self” with this team?
Being productive with the moments that matter, being intentional with the time you spend, meeting the expectations of your team, it matters at the boardroom table, but is even more critical at the dining room table.