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Leadership requires energy. It doesn't necessarily call for the kind of energy needed to run a marathon or take care of ten 2-year-olds for an hour. But for me, and perhaps for you, leading requires a great deal of mental and emotional vigor.
Think about it. If you're a leader, you have to initiate, which means you often have to be the first one to rise and say, "Let's go." You frequently have to say, "Let's go," to people who don't want to go, which means you have to persuade them that they need to follow you.
You have to make tough calls that directly affect the lives of other people. You have to solve complex problems. You have to serve as a mediator, negotiator, counselor, encourager, and teacher to the people on your team. And so on.
The work of leading is intellectually stimulating and personally fulfilling—if it weren't, who would want to do it? But it can also be incredibly draining, which is why we all need regular refueling.
Leaders re-energize in various ways. Some read. Some cook. Some fish. Some play tennis—or golf. Those activities all have their place. But in my life, I also get a great deal of energy from certain personal relationships.
Not all relationships fall into this category, mind you. Some people can literally suck the life right out of you if you're not careful. Sometimes you can avoid such relationships, but many times you can't. That makes energizing relationships even more critical.
Do you have people in your life who energize you when the work of leading has sapped your strength and zapped your spirit? If you've never thought of your relationships in that way, perhaps you should start. To help you begin the process, here are eight types of relationships that energize me.
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