I remember a leadership retreat I attended where every participant went off by himself/herself in the afternoon to a place in the building where s/he could see no one and no one could see him/her for three hours.  One of the assignments during that time was the creation of a “Worry List.”  Everything that I worried about had to be on that list.  There could not be one worry focus remaining in my mind that didn’t make the list.

If my recollections serve me right, this took me about forty-five minutes to empty the “worry closet” of my mind and get it on the list.

The next step was taking another sheet of paper and creating a “To Do” list from my “Worry List.”  What could I do about any of the items on my worry list?  This took about another half hour to complete that list.

Following the session the assignment was to begin taking action – checking things off the “To Do” list – addressing those components of the “Worry List” over which you could take some action.  It amazed me the level of  empowerment that came from this simple exercise.  Taking back control over those things I could control helped to move me from a fear-based paralysis to an action-based plan with thoughts that no longer fed my anxiety.

Maybe you might find a similar activity helpful for you in your leadership role and its accompanying worries.

Categories: Self Responsibility

Tags: responsibility