Achieved Strategies

So much has been said here on this blog  (and in countless others) about achievement: a series of actions culminating in an outcome.  Hell, the name of our company, Achieved Strategies, is about accomplishing something.  In the world of business we focus, and rightly so, on being in action to complete something.  It’s do do do, run run run.

Being in action, though, is not the only way to achieve success.

There is beauty (yes, beauty) in turning off the computer, silencing the phones, cancelling meetings, putting down the reading material, and turning off the music to create silence.  And in that silence is stillness.  In that stillness is the opportunity for you to be alone with your thoughts and ideas.  It’s the opportunity to think about next steps, possibilities for a project, for your business, to further an idea in progress without the constant interruptions caused by the tools of business.  It’s the opportunity to do nothing.

It is true that leaders need to connect with people to get things done.   But we also need time to be in the stillness.  It’s there where we can discover ideas and possibilities that won’t battle for our attention in our distraction-filled world.   It is in the stillness, the silence when insights are revealed that would otherwise be unavailable to see with a hurried mind.

In our world, dualities exist everywhere: good/bad, rich/poor, big/small. Let us not forget that as leaders we need to find success in the stillness and in the chaos.