Managing Fatigue as a Leader
Many of us are working through fatigue. This blog post offers leaders practical questions to ask themselves, as well as powerful insights on how to move forward with their work.
Everyday people do extraordinary things
On a recent trip to Atlanta to visit a friend, I was inspired by a trip to the King Center. Although I’ve been to Atlanta dozens of times, my friend and I decided to take the MLK tour together. I was surprised by how moving the experience was for me.
I soaked in the history as I walked between the exhibits, each chronicling a different part of Dr. King’s life. What struck me most was the ordinariness of it all. The people who boycotted buses in Montgomery and crossed that bridge in Selma were regular, everyday people.
They were being treated unfairly. Unjustly. In response, they took decisive collective action. Some paid with their lives.
As I stand here, I think of the cruelty of it all with the knowledge that it wasn’t that long ago.
-Photo taken at the King Center, The Center for Nonviolent Justice
I left the Center feeling inspired. As I reflected on the faces from the large photos, I thought surely they must have had tired days.
Surely.
I think of the Montgomery Bus Boycott that started on December 5, 1955 and lasted 381 days, the nation’s first large-scale anti-segregation protest. Certainly, there had to be exhausting times, even as people had a deep commitment to forcing a just outcome.
Similarly inspired, I watched this documentary about civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. It’s called Fannie Lou Hamer’s America (run time: 60 mins). I highly recommend it.
I think of the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, as she spoke about the poor economic conditions and obstacles to voting in Mississippi that she encountered when she said, “We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.” That resonates with me so much, as does her activism.
Yes. Some days I feel sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Between the everyday news cycle, life, work, and trying to avoid COVID, it's exhausting right now.
It is from that space that I recorded S2, Ep 5 - When Fatigue Sets In
Here are three takeaways for leaders to think through confronting exhaustion.
Answer this question: What kind of tired are you? Be honest with yourself. You don't have to share with me, but be honest with yourself. Are you tired because you're unsupported, undersupported, or under-compensated, or are you being undermined at work? Once you know this, decide what you can do to move forward. That might mean you're not at that same organization anymore. That is not what people want to hear, but that's just the reality of it.
Where can you best contribute? Are you trying to be in every space at once? What can you do right now in the space that you're in to speak up for someone else, to name an inequity when you see it? It doesn't have to be every single space you're in. I'm not asking you to do that. What about one space? Let's start there.
How can you bring someone else along? For those of us who are further along in the journey, how we can better care for ourselves and encourage others to join us in the work?
It is important to name and plan for when we get tired. Remember to rest, reflect, and rejuvenate. Ultimately, we are who we're waiting for. Nobody is coming to make the world that we're living in better. It's up to us.
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