71. Getting Back to Basics

Hi everyone. I’m Saralyn Hodgkin, and this is the podcast to practice your leadership.

Hi folks. So I’ve been reflecting over the summer and I’ve been reflecting over the last couple of weeks. Oh my gosh, I think it’s a time to just come back to basics. Like there’s just so much being said in so many places and, things to think about. And the fall is like low time of engagement of employees.

I just read a study about that and I think it’s just because we’re all like just in a space in this season. I don’t know, is that true? Maybe. There’s something about, at least here where I am in Canada, seasons are definitely transition and transition takes energy, man. So all to say is that today I’m in a space of like, okay, what does it mean to come back to basics?

Basics are key. And so I was noodling on like, what are my basics? And I came up with a few things. So one of the things I came up with is limits and loving my limits. People are all about, Oh my gosh, be so productive. I can do more. Like whether saying it consciously or just their behaviors demonstrate that I have definitely been in that space.

And I’m like, you know what, I am in a moment of loving my limits. I am learning into what capacity I have on this day, on this minute, at this time, what I can work within, what zone allows me to thrive more than survive. I reflect on the time, the effort, the capacity, the commitment, the passion that I have, and that it all has limits.

And that drives me to require a reflection piece of, okay, so then what are my priorities? Because I cannot do it all. You cannot do it all, all at once. Like, it’s just… there seems to be with 8 billion people on the planet with iPhones and socials and there just seems to be in the water: you can do it all.

It’s like, actually, you know what? I can do whatever I want. And so let me get clear about what I want. And that means that I need to acknowledge and honor my limits and my constraints and those protect my peace. Thank you very much. And I feel good about that. So, loving my limits. And the other foundational piece for me is that energy is currency for me.

And I get really curious about how I’m investing my energy, how I’m spending my energy, how I’m earning my energy. It is a currency that allows me to show up as a parent, as a community member, as a family member, as a coach, as someone who holds space for a lot of energy of other people. And as in all of the identities that I hold, my energy has limits.

Thank you very much. And so the wisdom that I need, just like with your finances and with my finances, I got to be really curious and, uh, conscious about how I invest my money, spend my money, earn my money. I gotta be, like, my energy has the same valuation in this house. How I invest my energy, where I invest it, how I’m consciously investing it.

If that’s giving me an ROI, let’s stick with the financial lingo. What does that look like how I’m spending it where it’s just on the expense side right and I am spending it out. Where am I spending it? Why am I spending it there? Should I be doing a little bit of more savings here or there and how am I earning my energy?

Where am I putting my head, my heart, my body into places that earn energy. Okay. So the number one place I earn energy is sleep. I’m just going to say that’s another foundation is sleep. Oh my gosh, so much there. But all of that to say is having a personal strategy or just a personal dashboard. I don’t know, whatever cool term you want to use of the day of getting really conscious of how energy is playing in my life because I own that energy and that energy is a form of currency that allows me to have resilience in front of my kids, show up and help people rise in my coaching, allows my back to heal when it’s been triggered and strained, like on all fronts of my life.

Right. So energy is currency. Be wise. And then, um, the other foundational piece, folks. And this connects to actually loving your limits and energy and currency. Interesting. Uh, but it’s a real, it’s like, you know, brush your teeth with a soft toothbrush, kind of foundational stuff. Schedule your time. I really rely on scheduling, like I work my calendar, I schedule my time.

If it’s not on there, it doesn’t get done. If it’s on there, I can see how much is too much and where, where my energy is going and what that looks like, where I’m not respecting my limits, uh, where I’m double downing and what, where I’m actually making my behavioral choices of what I prioritize in my life and therefore what I’m working towards. It allows me to not get overwhelmed.

It allows me to say no to people, say no to opportunities that I would otherwise say yes to. Scheduling my time helps me work my day in a way that it doesn’t just all of a sudden get lost on me. Schedule my time. So love of my limits, energy is currency. What was the other one I had? Oh, yeah. I think I have two more.

Maybe I have three more. Anyways, at least two more. One is in scheduling your time, scheduling time to come off the dance floor. So I am in the weeds of my life all the time. And that might be, you know, wherever I show up, if it’s at the gym, if it’s at the family table, if it’s at the business table, like wherever it is.

And I need to make sure that I take moments to come off the dance floor onto the balcony so I can look across my world and take the time to say, what’s going on? What’s happening? What’s the trend line? What’s that look like? Am I always dancing with the same partner? I don’t know. I think this dance thing can only go so far, but it’s to come off of that dance floor, stand on the balcony and say, Hey, what’s going on?

Do I like what’s going on? What are some of the things that I’d change? Where am I flowing with and where am I just like dancing up against a door and hitting my head? Like what, what’s going on in my life? And sometimes I just find myself, I don’t know about you all folks, but that I am just in the weeds of the dancing and I need to come up onto the balcony and reflect and be in a place of observer.

It helps me out. It helps me be wiser in my world. Sometimes I don’t like what I see and that’s, that’s part of it. Okay. And then the other thing is about fuzzy pickles. So I was just talking to somebody about fuzzy pickles the other day. She’s like, what’s a fuzzy pickle? Basically if you have fuzzy pickles growing in your refridgerator, like the tendency is to like, are those pickles still good? I don’t know. They’re getting a little bit of fuzz. No, no, they’re fine. They’re fine. And then a week goes by. I don’t think those pickles are good anymore. Ok, I just don’t have time to clear them out. And then suddenly it’s like holy cannoliare those even pickles!?

So it’s like Okay, I’m totally taking them out tomorrow. I’ll compost them and drain the liquid. Okay, but it’s just gonna be a lot more work And they’re disgusting and I’m not in the headspace and okay I’m just gonna deal with it tomorrow and a freaking month later you’ve got like this whatever huge fuzzy gross pickles in your fridge and it’s like, oh my god now I’m just gonna toss it out.

Like I just it’s it’s over and I like you come to a tipping point and what would it be like if you had pulled them out of the fridge at the very beginning? Maybe you would have even been able to eat them at that time. Maybe you would have been able to, it would have been less work, or you wouldn’t have had as much emotional anxiety.

What the hell are you talking about, fuzzy pickles? Have the hard conversations, folks. That’s what I’m, that’s what I’m sitting with. Like, back to basics. Don’t let things fester. Don’t let things turn into fuzzy pickles. Have the hard conversation, because then you might even be able to salvage the pickles and enjoy the pickles or it won’t be as much work to take the fuzz off the pickles.

Okay, this is now going nowhere good, but it’s, there’s something about It’s looking at what is inside your refrigerator that is not going so well and addressing it. What’s going on in your life that’s, that’s not going so well and you need to address it. Have the hard conversation with yourself. What’s going not so great in your relationship with your colleague and you’re like, I really don’t want to talk to them about that.

You know, subconsciously sometimes even not even consciously, but talk about the thing, see the thing, talk about the thing. Talk about the dynamics, talk about the I wish that it was this way, but it’s not. How can we talk about that? Oh, mismanaged expectations, lack of alignment, whatever words, just talk about the thing and don’t let it grow into fuzzy pickles.

Okay. I think that’s good. I think those are some of my basics folks for right now. This is all about common sense stuff that when our resilience is lessened, it’s not common practice stuff. And that practicing the integrity in your leadership in your life requires time, attention, and intentionality.

That’s work, that’s invisible, unseen, unpaid, nobody’s rewarding you, they only like to see the results, they’re not jealous of the journey you’re going through, right? It’s, it’s doing that work, that invisible work, and when you can love your limits, have the hard conversations that don’t turn into fuzzy pickles, um, managing your energy like currency, taking hold of your time and scheduling it and taking time to come into the balcony to take a look around and use a soft toothbrush. Which I just learned from my dentist I should have been doing 10 years ago. Um, you know, some of these basics in life, it means that 10 years from now, you’re not talking to your dentist about your gums, right?

It means that you’re managing yourself on a daily basis so that you have the resilience to do and show up in the ways that you want, folks. Get into the basics. Get into the basics. It’s not sexy. It’s not new and fun. But it’s getting to the basics. Create space and time for that. Reminder to myself, hopefully a reminder to you all.

Stay in the practice.

Thanks all. I’m Saralyn you can find me at holonleadership.org. I walk alongside you as you practice your leadership.