Clarify boundaries and roles is the seventh tool in my grab bag of tools and tricks.

Be Clear In Your Role At Any One Time

Are you being leant upon as a friend, a family member, in a professional capacity or as a volunteer in the community, or all of the above? We only have a certain amount of fuel to spend and in times of stress we need to be judicious about where that energy is spent and make some decision on priorities.

Each role in the various parts of life is different and your obligations will vary. Be clear which role you are in, are you in family provider mode or in work mode. The family may not want a manager, they most likely will want safety, reassurance, love, care and attention.

Your community may look to you as a leader but that doesn’t mean it’s your job to be a rescuer of others at the detriment to your own needs, which leads me to the next point.

Set boundaries to allow recovery time.

“Stress is not the problem, the problem is lack of recovery” is a phrase used by Mark McKeon, a high-performance coach. Rest allows us to regain essential head space.

There is only so much we can take on. We can’t continually fill up our tank with the worries of the world and our community without having a relief valve. We can’t administer selfcare if we don’t create the space to do it.

Living and working in small communities means we socialise with clients, customers, stakeholders and those that serve us in shops  and health facilities, most likely know us personally.

It’s tricky and feels like there’s little escape when everyone wants a piece of you as you go about your daily life, especially when we are feeling vulnerable. To serve our community well, we must find time to relax and recover by doing enjoyable things without the pressure of being in leader mode 24-7.

Decent people are generally respectful of boundaries, so don’t be afraid to set them.

Simple strategies like turning your phone off or not looking at it every five minutes and saying “no” to some demands, will give you time and space to reset.

In Closing, Weathering the Storm, using personal power to steer yourself and your community through uncertain times – a grab bag of tools and tricks and this BLOG series;

Positions of leadership are satisfying and extremely rewarding but it can be difficult. Tips to minimise the personal impact of leading through adversity include:

  • Be aware of your personal power; manage your thoughts.
  • Look after your resistance.
  • Tap into your awareness of self and others.
  • Use tools to navigate uncertainty.
  • Be clear in your role.
  • Be mindful of taking another person’s stress.
  • Be compassionate, we are all human and all different at the same time.
  • Set boundaries to allow recovery time.

Thank you for following this series of BLOG’s, I trust they have been of value to you and if so, I invite you to

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REAL Insights purpose is to provide clarity, by shining the spotlight on the things that most influence long term profit and returns from farming and provide relief from worrying about aspects of farming that may not actually matter that much, when it comes to making money in the long term.

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