James, thank you for your thoughtful consideration of the importance of solitude in the life of a leader in your recent post. You noted very aptly that we very easily forget to find solitude and get caught up in the busyness of life. I find that life itself can be busy enough, but for leaders, there is a far greater increase in the daily things we have to juggle and handle. We all become very good at multi-tasking and it seems to be a virtue these days! However, when we multi-task we do not give our brains a chance to process all the pieces and settle itself to get to the real job of thinking.
As a leader, it seems counter-intuitive to focus on carving out time for ourselves for solitude, as leadership is all about being with people. However, Deresiewicz (2010) believes true leadership means “being able to think for yourself and act on your convictions”, and therefore, “solitude is the very essence of leadership” Why? Despite all the people around us and any advisors we may have, at the end of the day, we are only left with ourselves to make a decision. We must stand by that decision with conviction.
How do we firmly know our convictions? We must pursue regular times of solitude in order for the true process of thinking to occur. We must set aside the multitasking, seek solitude and concentrate on one thing for a significant amount of time until we have developed a new idea about it (Deresiewicz, 2010). This requires a certain amount of self-discipline to intentionally create solitude, particularly if we have a very busy leadership role. This may mean setting aside part of our day or week to have no interruptions. Or it may mean creating rhythms in our leadership practice to take time for solitude. Or, it may be as simple as being silent in the car as we commute to/from work. I enjoy walking, hiking, or skiing to enjoy solitude to truly process the busyness of my leadership life. I would be interested to know how others build solitude into their practice on a daily basis.
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