I thank all participants of our leadership development program last week in Rome for that intense and very personally engaged work. We worked with the concept of Full Engagement and I must say, I respect everyone for trying to cope with any type of situation so sincerely. We covered the four sources or areas of energy: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. Here is one more thing for you, that came to my mind after leaving. The open key question for me was: How do we notice, that we are low, medium or high in mental energy?We talked and practiced mental training techniques. But how do you know how you are doing? Indeed, it can be very difficult. And as all areas are closely linked to each other, mental energy can be low, if in any other given area the energy level is low. But how do you notice your mental energy level, if all other areas are ok? In order to detect this, you need one major thing: Awareness.
And this means, that you need to focus on your inside world - in the mental arena especially on your thoughts. Sometimes it can be frightening to listen to ones thoughts and it is important that you do not identify yourself with them: You are not your thoughts, you have your thoughts. The task then is: to feel responsible for your thoughts. What is it that you think all day? What thoughts do you „like“? Which ones bring you energy? With what do you WANT to deal with? Is there any „beauty“ in the way you think, for example to solve problems and enjoy that? It is very simple then: Do more of this.Sure, mental energy is more than problem solving. But the way you solve problems or decide as a leader might give you a strong hint. One of my colleagues is a Mathematician. If you ask him about beautiful thoughts, you would get a couple of great stories. But that is only his way of knowing when he is mentally in good shape. In the end, you need to develop your own map for „good thougts“ and take responsibility for them…