Taking a Break: What I Learned from my Reset

When I made the decision to leave my corporate consulting role, it was not without a great deal of contemplation, discussion with loved ones and overall trust in my path forward. I loved my job; the amazing teams I was surrounded by, the close community I had built after years of complex projects together, the constant state of learning and delivering. After almost 30 years working for someone else, it was time to try something new and venture out on my own. I knew I didn't want to sustain the expected pace at the firm, and that I wanted to prioritize time with my daughter and my health. But with a level of self-awareness and my nature to do everything at 100%+ all of the time, I knew I needed a reset if I really wanted to make change in my life, shift my priorities and focus on what brings me joy.

With that in mind, I ended my big 4 consulting career on my terms, leading the go-live for a global ERP system, working side by side with some of the most talented people I have had the pleasure of learning from. Forever grateful for all of the opportunities, challenges and relationships I had made in my 6 years at the firm, but steadfast in a need to drastically alter my life to come back into alignment on my purpose, be a better mom, daughter and friend, and live a longer and healthier life.

And with that, I started a 6-month break with a completely different focus in mind. Knowing myself, I couldn't go through this time without some sort of plan in place. I am structured and goal-oriented by nature, so being authentic to me, I entered this period with 3 objectives in mind.

• Connect - consciously spend quality time with those that I love, especially focusing on my daughter

• Wellness - move into a healthy state; mind, body and soul

• Creativity - use the "whitespace" effectively to move into a creative space and bring life to the ideas that have been swirling in the back of my head for years, ie. Lead for Flow

As I close out this reset time, I had so many "aha" moments along the way. Taking the time to re-evaluate my life and purpose has been an experience beyond my expectations. I have centered on my path forward, turned my creative side on, re-connected with my loved ones in a way I would not have been able to on a couple of 1-week vacations, and created habits that will lead to longer and healthier life. My biggest personal learnings were:

• Community - re-evaluating my community around me; who is there to support me, help me grow, bring me joy and maybe just sit in the stillness with. Consciously finding and choosing who I spend time with rather than going with the flow, and noticing the impact on my energy and my mood based on who I am interacting with

• Wellness - I needed to slow down and take the time to reduce my cortisol through breathing, yoga and being in nature before I could amp up my toning and weight loss. Ultimately, I needed to reduce the stress and inflammation in my body before I started to put more on it. This led to wellness habits that continue to stick and are getting results

• Music - deliberately choosing music throughout my daily activities, leading to increased creativity, stress reduction and feelings of joy through old and new memories

• Whitespace - slowing down and having the time to think rather than running from back-to-back meetings and solving hundreds of problems throughout the day has allowed me to get in such a creative space, and bring together ideas that have been floating around in my head for decades

Now the trick for me, how to bring all of these learnings into everyday life moving forward, balancing work, family and life responsibilities. By taking this break, I have been able to reset, and see the value in all of these aspects to living a happier, healthier and more fulfilled life.

Leadership Insights

How can these learnings help you as a leader. I realize not everyone can take some time away from their careers for a reset but we can build time into our days to have micro connection, reflection and learning points. Some simple questions to ask yourself and your teams to allow for more self-awareness, connection, trust and understanding.

• Community -

  • Who are those champions in your life? How do these people help you? What awareness do they bring to you? How can you nurture these relationships further?

  • Who are your friends and peers that bring you energy? Guidance? How can you find more time with them? How can you continue to share with them? How can you increase reciprocity with them?

  • Who are those friends and peers that dilute your energy or bring you down? What can you do to protect yourself from that? What can you do to build self-awareness within yourself and others on the impact? How can you turn this situation differently?

  • Based on the areas where I want to continue to develop and learn, who should I connect with to expand my network? What organizations are active in that subject matter?

• Whitespace - How can you create time in your day to "think and reflect"? How can you get yourself in that mental state - is it music, smells, location, preparation? Where can you plan this time in your day and keep it protected? Where can you create that space for your teams?

• Wellness - When and how are you moving your body every day? What feels good for your body right now - breathing, slow movement, hard cardio/HIT workouts? How can you prioritize this into your day? Where can you create this space regularly for your teams? How do you make it acceptable to prioritize within your days?

If you or your teams would like help thinking through options for a "reset" or working through any of these thought areas, please don't hesitate to reach out to me to chat through ideas at shannon@debackerassociates.com