Tag Archives: Mountain Top Time

Quiet Moments – Unlocking The Power Of Mindfulness

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Our brains are overflowing with information, well beyond capacity. Tidal waves of details hit us from every angle: instant access to everything; emails and social media updates that pour out every nanosecond; the pressure to be MORE, do MORE, juggle MORE; rushing, moving, reacting, it just never ends. We trick ourselves into believing that we haven’t lost touch but in truth, we have. We’ve allowed ourselves to become robots, moving from one “thing” to the next “thing”. And to cope with it all, any number of ways exist to tune out the endless noise.

When was the last time you spent an entire day alone, free from all distractions, for the sole purpose of re-anchoring your sense of self? 

When was the last time you truly felt centered and  grounded, totally free from the rat race? 

 

Achieving and sustaining balance in life is not born of skills alone nor is it a goal or an accomplishment to be achieved. You cannot “create” balance in and of itself. Living in balance is a philosophy, a way of life, a discipline and practice that gets stronger the more you embrace its rituals and truths. Kinda deep. Kinda hard to understand. But nonetheless true. We achieve greater levels of balance over time. As we grow as human souls, as we learn to cherish more and more the “here and now”, the gifts of the moment, our sense of balance, deepens – grows – expands just a little more.

To be in harmony with life, with its many ups and downs, is to learn mindfulness. To be mindful is to be fully aware and present, no future, no past, just the moment regardless of what that might look like, free of judgement, detached but connected. Much easier said then done! Just this weekend someone really triggered me, ticking me off big time. It was such a minor thing, so minor that I didn’t see it coming. That’s usually what happens, I’m caught off guard and in that state, my shadow sides are more likely to appear. The result? I forgot everything I know to be true and just reacted, primal and base, I lashed out. And so here I am, teaching balance in the hope that I, along with you, will grow stronger in this area. Practice not perfection, my friend.

Growing Your Mindfulness Practice
•  React less, effectively respond- more. Its a process and that’s ok.
• Detach from strong emotions in order to get some perspective. Reactions are fueled by strong emotions, wherein wisdom is born from a place of calm insight.
• Cherish being effective over being right- always.
• At any cost, schedule, protect and fully utilize at least three (15) minute mini-vacations per week, wherein you completely remove yourself from the rat race, doing mindfulness exercises to strengthen those skills. With time, you will learn to completely remove yourself from the chaos, existing in pure, fully present moments of clarity and calm. If you truly do this, within 30-45 days your productivity and your overall sense of wellbeing will soar.
• Learn to “let go” on a regular basis, even on the big stuff. The ability to “let go” is the ability to say, “I will no longer give this situation and/or person any power over me. I am calm and I am free.”
• Get in the habit of regularly scheduled “mulligans” or “do overs” for your life. Essentially, you take a few hours, sometimes a whole day, to regroup from a very calm, mindful place that is free from all distractions. This technique pays off HUGE!!! When the rat race is the most intense and your response is, “DO OVER!!”, claiming that time, your whole life will change.

Several blog posts that I have already written will greatly enhance these concepts. Please read the following articles to further strengthen you mindfulness skills:

http://rogue-sage.com/blog/mountain-top-time
http://rogue-sage.com/blog/leadership-bobisms-being-effective-vs-being-right

Perhaps your reaction to this post is that I’m pushing a specific spiritual tradition on you. Nothing could be further from the truth, these teachings apply to all people of all faiths. Perhaps you don’t see the business relevance, why in the hell should you care about being mindful, right? Mindful, wise leaders have changed the course of human history on more levels then I could ever document. To manage is common. To wisely lead is both noble and rare. Which do you want to be, common with a common career, or wise beyond your years, destined to leave a legacy? Life is choices.

Food For Thought-
Bob Olmstead

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Mountain Top Time

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If we are to effectively contemplate the issues before us, the things heaviest on our hearts and minds, then we need slow down and claim a space for this sacred work. We claim space when we create calm and nourishing environments from which to experience our contemplations. Our cell phones and email programs are always turned off. We work and explore uninterrupted for a designated period of time, which can range from an hour to several days.

There are many kinds of Mountain Top Time and thus many kinds of spaces that can prove useful. A local coffeehouse or a favorite lunch spot that you can sink into might work well for shorter-term sessions. A cozy chair with great food at home for half a day or a weekend at a low-key spa that is designed to facilitate longer work, can be game changers. The key is to create worlds that you can disappear into on a consistent basis for effective and meaningful contemplation.

 

 The Journey Begins: A Template For Executive Contemplation

What do I need to let go of? Although leadership ideals continue to mature, strong cultural influences remain that evangelize the idea that true leaders should be lone wolves, heroes and saviors. And so we hold onto any number of issues, personality conflicts, bad feelings, events and other things largely out of our control. The Wise Minded Leader knows how to let go and does so frequently.

What am I missing? Often the very best solutions to a problem are simple, to the point and right in front of us, if we could just slow down long enough to see the light of day. But instead we dig in; we draw hard lines and eliminate options. Truly opening up to new perspectives is essential to effective leadership. Thinking outside the box needs to be more then just a cool cliché; it needs to be something that you live every day.

Where are the solutions? In adopting a steadfast commitment to being a solutions driven leader, you do yourself and those around you a great service, for in being solutions driven you all but remove personality from the equation. The focus is not on the drama or all the myriad of things that you cannot control. Rather then get sucked into all of that, your obsession is crafting well thought out, intelligent solutions that show imagination and generate results that benefit all concerned.

How can I have impact? Cherished and revered are those leaders who not only get results but do so in a way that builds strong, lasting relationships. People skills, emotional intelligence, these are the hot commodities of exceptional leadership. Auditing your solutions and strategies to insure they are people centric helps to insure sustainable buy-in.

Food For Thought-
Bob Olmstead

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In Leadership: Are You A Seeker Or A Driver?

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The stress explodes off the snow capped mountain top of life into a full blown avalanche, rapidly approaching with all its fury… what will you do?

In business and in life, you’re constantly facing any number of storms; some gigantic, some tiny, some utterly terrifying, some merely an annoyance. The question is, how do you typically respond? What is the behavioral pattern, when it comes to crisis management? Do you immediately dive in and grab the bull by the horns, to save the day? Or do you slow down and take a step back, to get some perspective? We embrace, cherish even, our hero driven leadership mythos. The Driver is the one who can instantly make things happen. But is that a good thing? Perhaps, a longer view is needed.

There is a wonderful blog post by Leo Babauta, entitled “Finding Your Voice”:
http://zenhabits.net/voice/ It’s a great blueprint for how to slow down to get some perspective. There is a vast difference between intensely felt reactions and well thought out, calm decisions. The former is “in response to”, wherein the latter is “in spite of” any given set of circumstances. Executive Wisdom is about rising above the fray, plugging into and being led by a sense of vision and purpose.

PS: Thanks, Tolly Mosely (http://thataustingirl.blogspot.com/), for turning me onto the Zen Habits blog!

The Seeker in Leadership is forever looking for The Truth, the real things going on, solutions that are sustainable and that add value, strategies that elevate the narrative while unifying the people. Seeker Leaders find the deeper truths to a situation and therefore are able to resolve issues at the root, versus merely reacting to the evidence at hand. Seekers tap into the kind of rich wisdom that can only found by engaging in a broader dialog- one that includes many points of view and possibilities.

Your reaction might be, who the heck has the time for all that? You do. In fact, you have plenty of time. In truth, making the time to find sustainable solutions will always, ironically, save you TONS of time (and money). But the problem is this, wise minded decision making just doesn’t feel good, at first. I mean, when we’re taking control we feel in control, even if it’s just an illusion.  But the price we pay by living in reaction is that we never really build anything to last, we build it for the moment. Wise, well thought out, timely but effective decision making, being The Seeker, is the secret to building things with lasting meaning and value.

My advice? Slow down and look for the things that are true and real- for you, for your business, and for the cause you serve. A new friend of mine, Bijoy, reminded me of this principle of being true to yourself in a wonderful chat we had today. Thankfully, I was willing to slow down long enough to take in the reminder.

Food For Thought-
Bob Olmstead