Solitude and Reflection

Two essential aspects of leadership that are easy to miss (or skip)

Bedroom at Arles by Vincent Van Gogh, 1889 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons, CC by 3.0)

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection, will come even more effective action.”
— Peter Drucker

When’s the last time you were alone with your thoughts? No, truly alone.

I’ll give you a moment to think about that.

Before you say anything, yes, I recognize the irony of asking you to reflect when I’m here, annoying you in your inbox.

The pace that we’re all on can seem frenetic, even on the best days. From a perpetually clogged inbox that can dictate our every action, to calendars that are filled with so many meetings we have scant time to do any actual work, the rigors of work life take a toll.

And that doesn’t even begin to touch the multiple updates we get from Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, text messages…I could go on.