I love how transformational language can be: a well-chosen word bringing an otherwise dull topic to life.
‘Cognitive load’: an overloaded brain without the capacity to process the volume that you’re asking it to.
When I first came across this term, I felt able – at last – to describe how I’ve felt most of my life. It wasn’t stress, anxiety or burnout. How I felt was purely the consequence of thinking too much.
Having the language to describe my ‘condition’ helped with work with it in positive ways and I now feel like a totally different person.
So when a close friend shared the maxim below, it struck me as being potentially useful to share on account of its descriptive and visceral language:
“A fulfilled life requires a partner-in-crime, a story to tell, and a cause to fight for.”
My experience is that most CEOs don’t allow this type of language into their work.
‘Winner‘, ‘achiever‘ and ‘leader‘ are allowed;
‘Adventurer’, ‘crusader’, and ‘raconteur’ aren’t.
So – for the sake of this exercise – ask yourself how your work stacks up to the aforementioned maxim:
- Is anyone (partner, wife, husband, best friend) alongside you on your CEO journey?
- Do you feel that your work might end up being a story worth telling?
- Do you feel like your business is fighting for a cause that matters?
My hope is that each article I write – including this one – is slowly chipping away at a (possibly) hard exterior and an unhelpful narrative, revealing something new, fresh, human, and joyful in its place.
This cleverly worded phrase might inspire you to take off one more layer, getting you closer to the ‘genius’ CEO that we all desire to be.
