“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.”- Herman Hesse
I recently joined the local YMCA. I know this is surprising to those of you who know me since I have always appeared to be in top-notch physical shape. (sarcasm font)
Lately I’ve been participating in a weekly form of group torture known as a Spartacus workout.
During a recent session the instructor shouted over the blaring Bon Jovi, “The harder you grip the weights, the heavier they seem, loosen your grip”
After every muscle in my body stopped screaming and I lifted myself off the floor I realized that was kind of a profound statement.
How many things in life do we grip too tightly making them heavier than they need to be?
Loosen Your Grip: Life
Think about all the things we hold onto that weigh us down during the course of the day.
That recent failure, it’s over but you are holding on, making it much heavier than it was. Guess what? We all fail.
Loosen your grip.
A comment someone made about you. They haven’t thought twice about it, but you’ve kept it, thinking about it, weighing you down.
In her book 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do Amy Moran calls this giving away your power. In other words don’t give other people the power to determine how you feel about yourself.
Loosen your grip.
Loosen Your Grip: Work
I think there is an application for leaders here. How often do we “grip” things at work making people or projects seem heavier than they are?
We may grip our employees too tightly, making their jobs seem heavier? Ask anyone who has ever worked for a micromanager how this feels.
We often hold tightly to an important project or assignment afraid to delegate, because it may make us look weak or dilute the credit we may receive.
What about change?
Clutching onto the past making change much more difficult than it needs to be. We need to loosen the grip so we can embrace change, not push against it.
Guess what the old system is gone; we need to stop gripping it so tightly we make the new system heavier than it needs to be.
Finding Balance
What happens if you don’t grip your weights tight enough?
We potentially lose control. The weight could fall out of our hand, land on our toe; embarrass us in front of the class.
Wait a minute…sound familiar
If we loosen the grip on our employees, we could lose control, the employee could mess up and embarrass us in front of the organization. This mindset leads to micromanagement.
As leaders we have a responsibility to ensure our employees do their jobs, however we should not become a barrier or make the job more difficult than it needs to be.
Hold them accountable, don’t hold them back.
We need to find the balance between holding on too tightly and not tight enough.
The Cool Down
Every good workout session should end with a cool down period. This is a time for your body to recover and prepare for the rest of your day.
If you’re like me you try not to think about the workout anymore after it is done, however if you don’t allow yourself a time to cool down, your body will remind you for the rest of the day.
Give yourself a cool down period next time you want to grip something a little tighter than it needs to be.
If you don’t then it will stay there weighing you down. Life is hard enough without you working against yourself.
Loosen your grip.