I good friend of mine mentioned a sign at his health club that says, “The greatest gift that you can give your family is your own health”. I agree, as I think as a servant leader it is also the greatest gift that you can give your team as well.

I am a great believer in “extreme self-care” to enable leaders to be fully present and deliver peak performance in all situations to those they serve. Extreme self-care for the servant leader is not only a matter of the body, but of the mind, and spirit as well.

It is important to focus on all of these areas. Leading a fully engaged life begins with a multi-coordinated focus on your life’s worth.

• Relationships matter more than anything
• Health determines the quality of your life
• Work gives voice to your giftedness
• Hobbies engage your energy beyond work
• Learning animates your imagination
• Faith gives your life purpose

To insure the proper focus on all these areas sometimes requires a close look at what we are tolerating. Tolerations are things we put up with that rob energy, presence, focus, and peace. There are a number of ways to deal with tolerations. We can do, dump, delegate, deal with, divide, defer, due date, or discuss to address them. 

We all have tolerations. I am currently working with a group of senior leaders, each of who publically committed to dealing with at least their top toleration that needs to be addressed in their life to enhance their performance. At our one-month check-in last week, everyone had made significant progress, and was feeling great benefit from getting serious about addressing these issues. 

I recently read a blog titled 20 Things that Life is too Short to Tolerate.  This is a great list! I thought you might enjoy it as well. http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/05/01/20-things-life-is-too-short-to-tolerate/

What are you currently tolerating in your life that when closely examined really needs to be addressed to enhance your performance? Make a commitment to deal with it and ask someone to hold you accountable for the initiative. It will be the start of giving your family and co-workers a great gift!

Mark Deterding