30 DAY FINISH: Staying Strong through the Final Stretch
We’ve come so far as a leadership team, scaling the summit and working our way to the peak. We’re getting so close now, we can see the finish line, but we may be starting to feel that as close as we are, we don’t have the stamina to finish this climb.
This feeling is 100% natural and many times we lose steam because we’ve become so focused on the goal and getting all the work done that we’ve begun to neglect our physical and mental health. Instead of investing in our resilience reserves, honoring our routines, and building our connection and collaboration with our team, we forsake all of our best practices for one more push, one more bit of work, one more sprint toward the finish line.
In mountain climbing, this phenomenon is known as “summit fever” or “summit syndrome” – the intense desire to reach the summit of a mountain despite the risk of danger or exhaustion. Climbers can become so focused on the goal that in neglecting their physical and mental limitations they can put themselves and their teams in danger.
In leadership, we need to be careful to prioritize our own mental and physical care and to encourage our teams to invest in their wellbeing as well. We need ALL of our personal and team strength to push through the last month of to-dos, unexpected complications, and the feat of seeing this transition through.
Just like climbers working toward the summit, we need to adopt habits that can help us keep our stamina and prevent us from missing the mark and succumbing to summit fever.
Here are some tips to help you sustain your mental and physical fitness through the end:
1. Set realistic goals: Make sure you’re working with your team to realistically assess where each person is most capable. Re-align tasks and to-dos based on the strengths of the team, available resources, and most pressing timelines. Be sure to identify potential obstacles and prepare in advance for contingencies.
2. Stay hydrated and fueled: You’ll need all of your physical strength to keep pushing to the peak, so be sure to get back to basics and stay hydrated, eat healthy, and get enough rest. Re-committing to these simple habits will help you maintain your energy levels and mental focus.
3. Take breaks: You need dedicated time to unplug from the swirl of activity and recharge in order to prevent burnout. It can be as simple as stopping between meetings for a 1 minute reset: closing your eyes, taking several deep breaths, and re-centering before racing into the next to-do. It could also mean bundling up for a restorative walk around the block at lunch instead of scrolling through your phone. Get creative and coordinate with your team to build in tiny pockets of time to regroup and recharge, supporting one another in building back your strength.
4. Use positive self-talk: Keep a positive mindset and use affirmations to boost your confidence and motivation. Use a journal to stay focused on your strengths and accomplishments and reframe any negative thoughts into positive ones. Post encouraging notes on your locker, bathroom mirror, and team boards to keep morale and encouragement high.
5. Focus on the process, not just the outcome: Stay focused on one small step at time rather than becoming overwhelmed with everything that still needs done over the next month. Break down your goals into manageable tasks and simply put one foot in front of the other until you reach the peak. Be sure to stop and celebrate your small wins along the way, sharing your excitement and progress with your team, expressing gratitude, and acknowledging how far you’ve come!
6. Follow a structured plan: Lean on your transition plans and make sure there’s a clear outline for each teammate’s roles and responsibilities. Use your rounding time and 1:1s as checkpoints to measure progress and post your plan on your team boards to maintain accountability and momentum.
7. Know when to pivot: Stay flexible and adjust your plans and strategies as needed based on changing circumstances and new information. With so many details to manage during the transition, there are bound to be unforeseen challenges. Work together with your team to adapt to what comes and regroup with a strong plan on how to move forward.
You have come so far as a leadership team and this final push to the summit is the next chance to bond together, support one another, and bring Trinity Health into its next level of evolution and growth. You were chosen for such a time as this and have everything you need to lead our organization to the peak. Stay focused on simple habits and self care practices and encourage your teams to build their reserves and stay strong. Together, we can reach the peak stronger and more united than ever.
OVERCOMING OVERWHELM: One Thing to Break the Cycle and Bring in More Calm
Author and Speaker Mel Robbins can help us break the cycle of overwhelm with one simple practice: adding in an activity to your day that’s all about you.
Just like our resilience challenge, Mel encourages us to adopt a new fitness habit, take up journaling, meditation, walking, taking time for a hobby, or learning a new skill.
Admittedly, it feels very counterintuitive – how can adding more into our day decrease our overwhelm? Isn’t that just one more thing on our list?
But, this research-backed method is so successful in breaking the pattern of overwhelm because it gives us something back in our day that’s 100% within our control.
Overwhelm envelops us in a feeling that everything’s out of our control, we’re standing under an avalanche of to-dos, swept up in the waves of chaos and confusion, and everything’s a blur.
Adding in an activity that aligns with growth and change pushes our gaze upward and gives us something to look forward to everyday. It helps us distill what’s most important and put on blinders so we can stay focused on what truly matters, all while improving our health and wellbeing and re-building our confidence in our abilities and capacity to effect change.
Taking on this simple practice creates structure in our chaotic world and helps us regain traction and continue making progress toward our goals.
Mel’s husband found great success taking on a fitness challenge after being diagnosed with depression. The structured plan helped him take one positive step forward every day and build himself back onto more solid ground.
Her daughter experienced the same effect adding in a few healthy habits after graduation when the stress of finding a new job and moving out on her own was taking over.
What simple habit or practice can you add into your life for the next 30 days that’s all about you? What structure can you create to give you an anchor in the sea of chaos during this last sprint of the transition?
WEEKLY MENTAL DOWNLOAD: Emptying Your Mind and Making a Simple Plan for What’s Next
At Triannual III, we used a tool called the Weekly Mental Download to help you get everything swirling in your mind out on paper. Getting everything out of your head can help you regain perspective, free up your capacity to see more objectively, and start to make a simple path forward.
Use the worksheets on page 17-18 of your Triannual III workbook, or any blank piece of paper to download everything you’re worried about and then use your new perspective to reorganize those worries into a simple, actionable plan.
You may find that a few of the things that are causing you stress can be dealt with next week, some may be tasks that can simply fall away, and maybe a few things will take 1 minute or less to tackle – do them right away and clear them off your list!
Ask for help from a colleague or friend if you’re so overwhelmed you can’t see the path forward. A third-party who’s unbiased and outside of the cloud of overwhelm can help you calmly work through your list and get back your sense of control.