Four Personal Habits for laying the foundations of Significant Living in a Post COVID world

As we prepare to return to the “New Normal” after the COVID 19 pandemic and the associated lockdown side-effects, one question that is being asked by everyone is  “How it is going impact our social life?”. After all, social distancing was the mantra during the COVID lockdown, right? Will the society become more individualistic? Will we be more inclined to “look  after our own safety”? To me, a larger question that we need to address is, what has COVID 19 taught us about the purpose of our lives? Has it helped us to discover our “Why” as Simon Sinek would ask? Has it helped us to realise that there are always choices, lockdown or not? Choices for us to seek Success or to seek Significance?

Several experts will agree that pursuit of Success brings Happiness, but pursuit of Significance brings Fulfilment, and it is a no-brainer as to which is better. Happiness is fleeting, it is temporary, it will fade away soon. Fulfilment on the other hand, is lasting (sometime for a life time). One of the lessons I would request all us to consider when we reach the “New Normal” is to ditch the temptation to chase success and to pursue significance. This is an essential trait for Servant Leaders.

But pursuing Significance is not easy. It takes effort. It has to be  developed like a Habit, consciously first and then it will come to us in an unconscious manner. That is why we recommend four personal Habits for Servant Leaders. Let us take a look at the four personal Habits, that will help us to lead a Significant Life. These four are by no means exhaustive. To be significant you have to go further than this, but this will lay a great foundation.   

Habit 1: Take a Pause and Recharge Yourselves. As all of us are aware, our gadgets require recharging very often. However when it comes to ourselves, we ignore that need. Our task oriented life makes us so busy that we keep jumping from one task to another. That  is why we recommend a 15 to 45 minutes of Pause and Recharge time every day for Servant Leaders. Take a break from your tasks and find that 15 to 45 minutes of time to reconnect with yourselves (or a higher power if you are spiritual). It will change the way you see the world, and deal with what the world throws at you.

Habit 2: Apologise: Noe of us are perfect and we will mess up things. When we make mistakes (and most of the times it impacts someone else), let us pick up the courage to go and apologise for what we have done. But remember a good apology starts with honesty , and ends with integrity. Because if an apology is not honest or we lack integrity while apologizing, we are likely to make this into a “bad habit”.

Habit 3: Forgive: Who among us hasn’t been let down or hurt by someone else? Those who are able to get over it and get going are those who have mastered the power of forgiveness. There are always a thousand reasons for us “not to forgive”. But there is one reason why we should. “Not forgiving someone is like drinking poison yourselves and hoping that the other person will die”. So do it for yourselves, so that you are rid of the bitterness and anger related with the person and/or incident.

Habit 4: Self-Healing: Let me repeat again, none of us are perfect and we will mess up. Self-healing is the ability to forgive ourselves and bounce back from our failures. Inability to self-heal will only make us live in guilt for a longer time than required. Let the baggage go, and move on.

So those are the four habits that can help us lead Significant Lives. Start practicing them now, so that when we start the “new normal” we are well on our way to becoming Servant Leaders and Significant Leaders. Note that two of the Habits are purely for self, and the other two involve others. That is the beauty of Significance.  Significance in a practical sense is when we add value to ourselves , with the intention of adding value to others.

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