John Stanko

"What I feared has come upon me;
    what I dreaded has happened to me.
I have no peace, no quietness;
    I have no rest, but only turmoil" - Job 3:25-26.

Job was a righteous man and a leader in his community, but he had one problem: he was a worrier. By his own admission, what he had thought about and feared came upon him when he lost everything that he held dear. His worry and consequent fulfillment of his worrisome fears robbed him of his peace, quietness and rest. Leaders make decisions that involve risk and impact many lives, so it is easy for them to worry about the outcomes of their decisions or all the unexpected events that may affect those decisions, requiring adjustments and more risk. If they are not careful, leaders forfeit their rest times away from their work because of worry and anxiety over the present and the future.

LEADERSHIP STEP: Your Step today is to read a poem written by Rudyard Kipling entitled If, which you will find here. After you have read it, go back and study what it has to say about worry, loss, risk, success, failure, and all the other consequence of a leader's life. Take Kipling's advice to heart and see where worry is robbing you of joy of work and the mental freshness needed to do your job effectively. What changes do you need to make to get some rest from worry?