Since safer at home started it has been an adjustment. I am grateful for the extra family time that it has created as life has slowed down. We have enjoyed more dinners together and our 21-month old son loves safer at home because it means that mom and dad are home together with him more than ever. My wife is always pushing me to be a better version of myself than I was the day before and that includes exercise. She has successfully lobbied for me to join her and our son on almost daily walks. I begrudgingly go on the family walk and I have never admitted to her how much I enjoy the family time as we appreciate nature and time together.
Our walks started in March and the weather in Wisconsin can be brisk. Good days for a walk to my wife was basically any time it was not raining or snowing and it was above 30 degrees. We walked in 40-degree weather pretty consistently and we live a few blocks from Lake Michigan so there was almost always wind. Some of our walks were quite brisk but we knew if we could make it to the block where we turned, the wind would be at our back or not in our face and things would get better. The wind was our nemesis and we would joke about toughing it out through the rough stretches. We were always battling the wind.
Now it is summer in Wisconsin and it can be hot and humid. We went on a nice walk last week and the temperature was in the low 80’s but it was uncomfortably humid. The air felt heavy as you walked out of the house as it was so humid. I knew that the walk was going to be rough with the sun and humidity but I decided I would persevere. We began our walk and it was dead air and really unpleasant. As we got to the point where we change direction there was a nice breeze and it made everything better. The wind that we had battled through March and April was no longer our nemesis, it was our friend.
As we were walking, we were talking about this change in how we viewed the wind and it reminded me that everything in life is all about perspective. How we view things that come in life will be drastically impacted by the perspective in which we choose to view the situation. Perspective is absolutely important in leadership. One my favorite things is to assume positive intent. This shapes the perspective in which you view situations in a drastically different way. People are inherently good and when emotions get high it becomes easy to forget this, but by assuming positive intent you are grounded in a positive lens. This shapes your thinking and controls your emotions as you come up with a response to the situation. It shifts your perspective.
As you walk on your leadership journey it is up to you how you will perceive the wind. It can be your nemesis or it can be your relief. You choose how to view it by determining your perspective in which you view the situation. Control your perspective and you can control your response. In controlling your response, you will begin to shape outcomes in a way that benefit you and your organization.