Generation Take-care-of-yourself

Chances are very likely that you're part of Generation Flux. The term was coined by Robert Safian in Fast Company earlier this year. It is comprised of, "Innovators who embrace instability, tolerate--and even enjoy--recalibrating careers, business models, and assumptions."

How do I know that's you?

Because my clients, readers of my blog, and my closest friends are all entrepreneurial-at-heart.

Entrepreneurial-at-heart means you challenge what works for everyone else by asking, "What works best for me?"

If you're asking that question about your career and personal life, you are also part of Generation Flux. You are open to redesign, sometimes even reinvention.

In Fast Company's November issue Safian revisits the term to look at how leaders navigate the constant change that is today's business world in, The Secrets of Generation Flux.

There are insights throughout from executives at start-ups, Nike and Cisco, and some of the best ones are from retired general Stanley McChrystal. (By the way, he takes executives on a tour of Gettysburg to talk about leadership. I really want to go!)

My favorite passage of the article is toward the end:

Which leads us to the final irony of our story: To succeed, Generation Flux leaders absolutely must marshal time away from the job. "Leaders need to create times for reflection and ask their staffs to do it individually," argues Wheatley. "We need to tell the whole truth about what it is like to work in this environment. Distraction is overwhelming. You can't connect the dots when you're stressed."

I'm sure you're not surprised that this stood out to me. I wasn't surprised either.

That said, it's worth repeating.

To be a leader, or entrepreneurial-at-heart, you have to trust your instincts. And your instincts may tell you to do something others wouldn't in your situation.

That means that to be successful, you have to believe in your idea before anyone else does.

I know you face that on a regular basis. My clients do, too.

And if that's what makes a leader, why can't it include taking care of yourself?

Consider this:  when you do what you need to feel at your best, you are being a leader.

Naps, walks, bubble baths, yoga, driving with the top down, it all counts.

Trust that these are as helpful as the classes you take and the mentors you find. They are. You may be bombarded by messages that tell you otherwise, but you know what to do with those.

Say, "That might work for you, but this is what works for me."

You know it's true.