I Need A Good Stretch
I find myself needing to stretch more often than I used to just to do relatively simple things. Let me be clear, I’m not overweight and out of shape but I do feel my age (46 at the time) some days and I really feel my previous injuries more often. Most days I get a good stretch in before I go to bed and a bit of one as I get my day started. Other days require a little bit more. Stretching, especially deep stretches, is uncomfortable and almost even painful at times but the lesson that’s true of life is also true of leadership; stretching is an uncomfortable but necessary part of growth. In life, that’s holding your leg or body in a position to pull that particular muscle group taught. In leadership it’s being put in uncomfortable positions that force you to do things differently or perhaps reach a little further to accomplish your task or goal.
I recently watched a video on YouTube in which the man in the video was talking about a few things one needs to do in order to stretch well and in doing so become healthier. I’ve found myself that these things work well when I’m physically stretching but I think these things can apply to our leadership as well.
HOLD THE STRETCH
The first thing this gentleman talked through was holding stretches longer than you think you need to. One of the first mistakes people make when stretching is not staying in the stretch long enough. When we “reach down to touch our toes,” we can’t immediately stand back upright as soon as things get uncomfortable. In our careers, lives, and leadership, the same is true. We will always have a tendency to pull back towards the comfortable over the uncomfortable, the known versus the unknown. We don’t grow there though. We have to choose to remain in the places of stretching, holding that stretch longer than we think we need to.
BREATHE THROUGH THE PAIN
The next thing he talks about is breath control. He goes on to say that many people will shorten or even hold their breath when they get into uncomfortable stretches. The obvious is that you’re constraining the amount of oxygen your body is taking in. The not so obvious is that when you to this, your body is telling your brain that something isn’t right in the uncomfortable area and goes into self-preservation mode. When your body is self-preservation mode, it releases things like adrenaline and other chemicals the get us into “fight or flight” mode. At this point, we are not at our healthiest. When it comes to leadership, sometimes we have to just breathe through the growing pains. When we choose to stay in places of stretching because we know it’s for our growth we also have to choose to stay as calm as possible through that time. When an athlete breathes through their stretches, they are telling their body that everything is okay and to function as normally as possible. When leaders “breathe” through growing places, they’re telling themselves and their organization and teams everything is okay and normal and to function as they should through the growth.
GO DEEPER
The final thing he talks through is going a little deeper into your stretch. Maybe not at first but you should get to a place where you’re needing to “touch the floor instead of your toes.” This is similar to the idea of not being satisfied with where you are but longing for more growth. Even though he never actually says this, the interesting thing about this step is you’re starting over in some ways. You get to a place where in order to be stretched you have to go deeper so you have to hold that stretch a little longer than you think you need and you have to breath well through it. The same is true as we lead.
We will have seasons of stretching that are necessary if we choose to grow. In those moments we can choose to panic, stress out, or revert back to the comfortable or we can choose to be stretched. He concludes the video by basically saying that as we do these things, stretching becomes a normal part of our healthy lives. That’s what I want to leave with you today; stretching becomes a normal and healthy part of our leadership journey. It’s how we grow! Keep stretching, keep breathing, and keep growing! You have what it takes, stay the course!