This week in Wellington, I stumbled across the iconic Bucket Fountain in Manners Mall. This is a colourful fountain with a colourful past (you can google what Orlando Bloom has to do with the fountain) but my interest was actually in the way if functions.
The water source targets the highest bucket first, and when it’s full, it tips into the next bucket down - and so on until the whole fountain is filled with water. This got me thinking about Leadership Habits.
As leaders we are encouraged to take care of ourselves, both for our own good, and for the long term impact we can create in the world. This is challenging when we are juggling busy work schedules, full lives, relationships and everything in between, and I’m always looking for ways to streamline the process!
As I stood there looking at the fountain, I noticed that by putting effort into filling the High Bucket, the other buckets in turn began to take care of themselves. I call these HIGH-BUCKET HABITS, the ones that have a flow-on effect into other parts of our lives.
Getting up early is a huge challenge for me (too many years of the rock’n’roll lifestyle), so a HIGH-BUCKET HABIT is to address the other end of the day. The discipline of getting an extra hour of sleep in the evening, creates a flow-on effect into my mood, my ability to focus and of course my ability to start the day earlier.
Hydration.
Sleep.
Organising your calendar, or your wardrobe.
Packing a gym bag or a lunchbox in advance.
Take the pressure off the fountain by finding a habit that makes the rest of the day flow a little easier.
I’m going to be hitting the pillow a bit earlier at night!
What is one HIGH-BUCKET HABIT that you could explore this month that will have a positive flow-on effect in your leadership journey?