Posture Reflects the Strength of Your Core

4 Steps to Building a Stronger Core as a Leader

If you feel like you are drowning one day and blown by the wind the next, it’s time to get to higher ground and anchor down. That’s a simple answer to the question of what to do. However, it doesn’t answer the more complex question of how to do it. If you are like most overachievers, every hour of every day is occupied and time isn’t on your side. You may even be borrowing hours from other areas of your life to fulfill upon what is expected of you as a leader in another area. In this case, your posture is being adversely affected because you are neglecting your core. It’s time to take action.

Steps to Building a Stronger Core as a Leader

Posture is the position of a person’s body when standing or sitting, or a particular way of dealing with or considering something. In terms of leadership, it’s a collaborative approach or attitude seen by the outside world, your game face. When posture is supported by a strong core, it’s genuine and sincere and builds strong character. When it’s not, it’s created artificially by insecurities ultimately resulting in deficiencies in character.

Core is the central or most important part of something. It embodies the guiding principles that direct behavior and action and help you know when you are on the right path and fulfilling upon your goals.

Your posture reflects the strength of your core. Building strength in your core can be difficult and painful and it may take time to realize its positive effects. The stronger your core, the easier it becomes to build strength in other areas which have a tendency to get punished when enduring long stressful days. Without a strong core, your posture is adversely affected ultimately resulting in poor body language, failure to accomplish goals, unhappiness, stress and an inability to communicate and collaborate effectively.

Here are four practical steps to building a stronger core as a leader:

1. Receive Your 182 Hours – Each year you receive the possibility of 8,760 hours. Take away one-third of that time for sleep and 5,840 hours remain. Remove just one 30-minute daily habit or task and receive your 182 hours. The next three steps require less than 176 hours.

2. Get Off-Site Once a Quarter – Open up your calendar and schedule recurring quarterly offsite all-day meetings for you and your team. Your quarterly offsite meetings will give you the opportunity to develop, define, refine or revisit your core values, review goals from the past quarter and set goals for the next quarter, discuss and solve issues together and train together.

3. Train Weekly – Get your team together every week for at least an hour in order to keep your core values at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Each week, highlight one of your core values and create training opportunities around it.

4. Journal Daily – What happens to you is not as important as the meaning you assign to what happens to you. For this reason, journaling for at least 15 minutes every day can help you sort through your experience and be intentional about next steps. It can help you clarify your thinking.

As a leader, good posture is expected. It’s vital that you be the chief collaborator while setting the example for good communication and at the same time maintaining the image of utmost integrity and pronounced character. Now go strengthen your core!