Sometimes doing nothing is doing something

I was fortunate to go away for the 6 weeks of school holidays. It was a glorious mash-up of all our covid-cancelled holidays from 2022 and 2021; and judging by the amount of people en route at the same time, we were not alone in making up for lost travel opportunity.

I was very determined to read a pile of books and to return with profound insights to share with you – however I completely and utterly failed!

Instead, I introduced my children to family they have never met, connected with old friends, and walked around in circles (Avebury, Silsbury and Stonehenge to be precise!). I didn’t think about much, didn’t question the universe, and didn’t pick up a single one of those books. I felt terribly guilty for a few weeks and then I embraced it. I figures it was meant to be. I needed to go blank – I needed to feel instead of think, to still my mind, busy my body and to reconnect with loved ones.

It did me the world of good and I’ve returned with a clearer sense of purpose and a higher level of energy than I’ve had for years.

So maybe my profound insight is this:

Sometimes it pays off to listen to your whole self, not just your brain. Our brain is not as smart as we think it is really (I’m coming to the conclusion that mine certainly isn’t) so sometimes just letting your intuition make the decisions might be the brainiest thing you’ve done all day.

I often hear myself asking B-Suite leaders – are you doing it because it’s what will make you happy, or doing it because you should?

I lugged those books around europe because I should, and I walked around in circles, talked nonsense with family and got told home truths by old friends – not because I should, but because it made me happy.

Dr Anders Hansen tells us why Swedes are famously happy, and it turns out I’d accidentally stumbled across their secret formula.
“Sweden is never out of the top 10 on the World Happiness Index. And it’s not down to their social security benefits. Studies show they walk more (15-18,000 steps per day), very few are isolated, they have close bonds between the generations and they don’t spend seven hours a day on a screen.” Which, it turns out, is exactly what I did and I can attest to the positive benefits of it!

So – try walking in a few circles, putting down the thing you should be doing in favour of something you love doing. Unless it’s a seriously nasty thing that you want to do, chances are you’ll be doing what your body needs you to so you can go back to doing what you should with more energy and focus. Try it out.

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I came back with so much energy and focus that I’m walking 45kms in May. Last year, the BoldHR™ family lost a loved one to heart health, and so I’m walking to raise money – and awareness – for Heart Health. If you’re interested in supporting this charity, and motivating me to ignore my blisters for a great cause, then please click here.

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In return, I have a gift for you! This month we are launching the first of the B-Suite Benchmarks™ and I would love you to receive your own copy. The Snapshot is a short quizz which you can access here. It is designed to help leaders determine where they sit in relation to other B-Suite leaders, what’s in their way, and what they need to focus on in order to level up their leadership impact.

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