Top Ten Signs That A Leader Needs to Take Time to “Reset”

Have you ever had one of those days or even weeks where everything goes just a wee bit crazy?

People get angry for seemingly no reason or the wheels come off of a project that seemed to be going along well or you get triggered by someones behavior in a highly reactive way.

When things get chaotic it is often a sign and a time for us as leaders to hit the ‘reset’ button.

When we are on the other side of the period of time of chaos we can see that there was a necessary ‘clearing’ of energy or an opportunity to ‘clear the air’ and start anew with greater awareness and learning.

When we are in the ‘crazy’ stuff we often ask ourselves ‘why’ stuff is happening or we may overreact to the situation or the way other people are behaving.

Chaos is an opportunity for us to shift our perspectives and to look for the learning and the growth. On the other side of tense events or of conflicts there is always a ‘new level’ of awareness that is established.

How do we know the signs that is time to ‘reset’ ? Here are ten signs:

1. People who are normally rational and calm attack you or your ideas for no apparent reason or trigger.

2. Your tension levels are high, you have not taken a ‘break’ away from work or from projects for a long time.

3. You stop doing the things that help you manage your stress such as exercise, spending time with family or taking down time.

4. You want to ‘quit’ what you are doing and you decide this abruptly as a reaction to a stressful situation.

5. You blame others for your stress and you have low tolerance for others mistakes.

6. You do your work or commute to work on ‘autopilot’ you go through the motions without a sense of joy or engagement.

7. You become dramatic and focus on what’s not working and how its affecting your health/life/work etc.

8. Things aren’t working as smoothly as before, your computer crashes, you keep getting roadblocked on a certain project or direction.

9. Time feels like your enemy you feel like there is never enough time and that you are rarely on top of time.

10. You speak in ‘absolutes’ like always, never, should and you use these words with co-workers and family.

All of these ‘signs’ are really an open door for us to walk through and to take a big breath before shifting to an empowered approach of taking time to reflect, review and reevaluate what we are doing.

It’s when we are in times of challenge that our true character and true version of ourselves really shows up.

When we reset – we get to take what we have learned and choose new behaviors and recreate the next chapter of how we are going to do things in a new and improved way- before we get to the next cycle of change and opportunity to reset.