I had a blah day earlier this week.
Nothing terrible happened. There was no direct trigger.
I just didn’t feel great emotionally.
Chances are you have more than a few of those days yourself.
Sometimes they’re provoked (a nasty email, conflict on your team, a difficult meeting) and sometimes they’re not. For me, my blah day wasn’t provoked by anything I could see.
Sometimes bad days and seasons just happen. As John Mayer so poignantly puts it:
When autumn comes, it doesn’t ask.
It just walks in, where it left you last.
And you never know, when it starts
Until there’s fog inside the glass around your summer heart.
So many leaders I meet live in that space for more than a short season.
I believe misunderstood and unaddressed emotions sink more leadership potential than most of us realize.
And I also realize if I don’t jump on a bad day quickly, it can lead to a bad season.
If you don’t understand your emotions or know how to manage them, you will never reach your leadership potential.
So how do you do that?
There are at least five ways emotions can help you or hurt you in leadership.
Understanding how emotions can work for you or against you is key to becoming a healthy leader and cultivating a healthy culture on your team
Two Ways Emotions Help You
Emotions can be great friends to any leader. Here are two ways your emotions can make you a better leader:
1. Emotion fuels passion.
Who wants to follow an emotionless leader?
There is no passion without emotion.
As John Wesley said:
Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to see you burn.
That’s just true.
You are attracted to people who are passionate, or at least you can’t easily dismiss them.
When you lead with passion, teach with passion and preach with passion, your leadership becomes far more magnetic.
Plus, passion ends up fueling you. It’s what makes you get out of bed in the morning and drives you on.
When your emotions are healthy, passion comes more naturally.
2. A fully alive heart generates powerful leadership.
When your heart is engaged and alive, you become a better leader.
When you feel a full range of emotions (both positive and negative) you can empathize with people who are hurting and celebrate with people who are celebrating.
You can walk with a group or congregation through a hard time and celebrate joyfully in the great moments.
To do that, you need to keep your heart healthy and in tune.
I wrote about the top 10 habits of leaders who effectively guard their hearts here.
