Three Minute Leadership: On the Joy of Rest

To: The Great Leaders Who Have a Passion for Continuous Learning

To stretch and push their limits relentlessly, passionately and excitedly pursue new challenges and opportunities, and test the bounds of their perseverance and energies in the  daily routines their professional and personal life offer are well-known companions to the great leaders’ journey. As Mark Twain tells great leaders: “If you have no time to rest, It’s exactly the right time.”

Maya Angelou in her book, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now, give great leaders gentle counsel about the importance of rest:

“Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our ego permit us to confess, that they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.”

Ovid tells us: “Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” May gentle leaders be gentle with themselves and take time to rest and replenish. Eleanor Brownn cautions them: “You cannot serve from an empty vessel.” And Plutarch reminds great leaders that: “Rest is sweet to those who labor.” Take time and enjoy the sweetness. Take time to smell those beautiful roses in the garden of your magnificent life. Yes, you do what you got to do. Find time for you. You are very, very special. We want you to be the best you can be… please… for all of us.

Have a beautiful day and a magnificent week!!!

Mike

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