By: Chris Province

Coach Bobby Knight once said, “most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.” This is also how I think about well-being. To a person, everyone will claim a desire to experience joy and lead a fulfilling life - but only the people with the willingness to work are gifted that reward.

Well-being is a term that refers to the state of being healthy, happy, and content - both physically and mentally. The concept of well-being includes several dimensions, such as physical health, mental health, social support, financial security, and a sense of purpose and meaning in life. As it relates to a leaders ability to positively impact a family, teams, organization or community, I prefer to focus on four primary dimensions of well-being: 

1. Physical well-being; refers to the overall health and wellness of our body, including factors such as nutrition, exercise, sleep and disease prevention.
2. Emotional well-being; involves understanding our emotions, managing our stress and anxieties, growing through trauma and sharing positive, supportive relationships with others.
3. Intellectual well-being; refers to the extent to which we are able to engage in meaningful intellectual pursuits and feel a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment from these activities. These pursuits can include reading, learning new skills or languages, creating art or pursuing hobbies or other activities that challenge our mind.
4. Spiritual well-being; refers to a sense of connection with a higher sense of purpose. Our spirituality guides and affirms our values and morals - the basis on which others determine our worthiness to lead. Meditation, reflection, writing, prayer and mindfulness are all practices that can serve to develop our individual spirit. 

When I exhibit low-performance behavior or experience cognitive dissonance (the uncomfortable and stressful feeling that results from me failing to show up as the person I know myself to be), the root cause is a lack of intention around one (or more) of these domains. When my energy is not directed, inconsistent outcomes are the result. Inconsistent work output, inconsistent investment in relationships, chaotic scheduling – all the hallmarks of a low-performance, low-joy and low-fulfillment existence. The only way for me to reestablish consistency is to properly assess the situation in which I I find myself and do the required work to level-up the domain and disciplines that have been neglected. 

To provide direction to my energy, I like to practice “checking-in.” I do this exercise with myself, first, and usually recording the results in a journal. My approach to it is to ask; on a scale from 1-10, how am I doing in each of these areas – Physically? Emotionally? Intellectually? Spiritually?

After issuing an initial score for the domain, I will highlight behaviors that are 1) "KEEP" behaviors; choices I am actively making that advance my well-being 2) "STOP" behaviors; choices I am actively making or blind-spots I can now see that discount my well-being and 3) "START" behaviors; choices I can make or actions that I can take that while not currently present WILL activate and advance my well-being. Exercising this reflection helps direct my focus into the domains that require immediate attention and when actioned, move me closer to showing up as the best possible version of me. Once completed, I have a much clearer understanding of the type and intensity of labor I must complete.

By completing this check-in, the current and potential effectiveness of my personal labor is more clearly defined. My hope is to create a clear comparison between my current state and a more ideal future state – and closing the gap between the two with learning and doing goals. Labor refers to the physical or mental effort that people contribute to produce something of value. Labor is a critical factor in the production process and is commonly combined with capital (such as machinery and tools) and natural resources (such as land and raw materials) for purposes of value creation. The amount and quality of labor I apply to my personal productivity will greatly affect my individual growth and prosperity of my family, teams and organizations.

Labor is often divided into different categories, such as unskilled labor, semi-skilled labor, and skilled labor, depending on the level of training or education required for the job. What is more important for this conversation, though, is labor is also categorized by the type of work done, such as; physical labor, emotional labor, intellectual labor and spiritual labor.

Physical labor activates physical wellness. Physical labor involves tasks that require physical exertion and energy to complete, or decisions and actions I take throughout the day that directly influence the amount of energy I am required to extend. Our decisions about how we move, exercise, fuel, rest and rejuvenate our bodies represent our physical labors. Key questions: Am I preparing my body for my life’s next adversity or challenge? Do I have the physical horsepower and stamina to perform at a high level and exhibit resilience during times of enduring challenge?

Emotional labor activates emotional wellness. Emotional labor is the process of managing my own emotions AND the emotions of others to effectively perform a particular job or task. Emotional labor involves regulating emotions, displaying appropriate emotions and managing the emotions that emerge from an acute situation or operating environment. To do this effectively, it is important I continually develop my emotional intelligence, understanding the causes and consequences of emotions. My decisions about how to empathize with others, check-in for understanding, value minority perspectives, and seek honest advice is representative of my emotional labors. Key questions: Am I emotionally prepared for a crisis event or significant setback? Do I have the emotional strength to control not only my emotions, but model the way for other people in my family or on my team to follow so things don’t completely fall apart? 

Intellectual labor activates intellectual wellness. Intellectual labor is all about mental effort, problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity. Just as our body requires nutrition, so does our mind. The more intentional I am about what my mind is fed, the more aligned my work outputs will become. Reading and writing is to intellectual wellness what nutrition is to physical wellness. When I organize, plan and manage these efforts, my leadership performance elevates. New ideas can only be sourced from learning and old ideas are only iterated through experimentation. I must move boldly to challenge the status quo and not be lulled by past success. Cultivating a growth mindset for myself and my work teams is non-negotiable. I am obligated to aggressively seek advice on how to become better or improve my work products. To be the best in my chosen field, I am required to stay up to date on the latest research and industry trends that inform my work. Relative to performance improvement, improved outputs are only possible with different inputs. Great leaders embrace this idea and are always willing to do the lifting required to achieve meaningful change – engaging passionately with intellectual pursuits that advance them towards the inspired vision of a better tomorrow. Key questions: Is my mind being appropriately nourished with new information, concepts and ideas? Am I casting and rallying people around my vision for a better tomorrow? Am I able to lay out the steps we can to get there? Do I have the intellectual horsepower and fitness to help my team overcome any obstacle?

Spiritual labor activates spiritual wellness. Spiritual labor is all about personal growth and development. Through spiritual labor, I evaluate my personal values and test what I believe. Through this, I emerge more crystallized morals and am better outfitted to align how I behave with what I believe. Through spiritual labor, I cultivate my personal purpose and become more fully committed to the greatest good I can possibly achieve. How do I orient every day towards the creation of the world I most want to be part of? Spiritual labor can look like mediation, prayer, coaching and actively engaging in acts of kindness and compassion. Living a spiritual existence is about the work we do in-service to others. To do this effectively, I have to prioritize self-reflection, journaling, engaging in conversations with others who share similar values (friends, colleagues, mentors or coaches). Spiritual well-being emerges directly from doing spiritual work and I am always offered an immediate return on this effort. Engaging in acts of kindness and compassion cultivates my connection and belonging while providing opportunities for personal growth and fulfillment. Seeking out opportunities to serve and give wholeheartedly to my community activates my purpose and forges me with an existence greater than myself. Key questions: Do my behaviors align with what I actually believe? How does what I believe show up in my day-to-day interactions with my family, my work team and within my community? Am I comfortable with how my attention, affection and affirmations are currently being distributed?

The moment I raised my hand to be a leader, I assumed accountability for the well-being of others. This is the work of leaders. Leaders stay fit and ready for the next challenge. Leaders train consistently within each of the domains of well-being in order to optimize their contributions to the families, team, organizations and communities we love.

My leadership effectiveness scales with personal well-being. Like all other competencies, I was born with some level of leadership talent. Not much, but SOME. What was required for me to build any skill around that talent was a willingness to put in the work to study and practice leading. To make the mistakes, bleeding, crying and connecting with people and our work in remarkable ways. It is this willingness to practice and do the work that ultimately separates good leaders from great ones. While leadership skills are sharpened by experiences and refined over time, this growth does not happen organically or by accident. We have to train with consistency, intention and amplitude to be prepared when called upon. 

The harder we work, the luckier we get!

Let’s get lucky,

Chris