As CeCe and I were shopping and enjoying a casual day in the Florida panhandle, I saw a sign in a shop that reminded me of one that we saw way back in 2012 when we were in the British Virgin Islands. Open Some Days, Closed Others! CeCe of course had a picture of it on her phone.

I have always found this humorous and even feel some hints of jealousy as I am one of those who loves to control my schedule. We found the sign to be very accurate on the islands as “island time” was very different from the way we have always viewed time.

As I gazed at the picture, smiling as memories came flooding back to me, two leadership lessons stuck with me. Two concepts that might be overlooked when it comes to our ability to reach our full potential and our ability to influence others.

How often do we show up when we are really closed for the moment or the day? We are present yet not fully present. Maybe we are on a project and for some reason we are simply not focused on the opportunity at hand. It’s really easy to get into the habit of not giving our best effort or being distracted by too many things. Before we can lead others, we must be able to lead ourselves. Let’s practice being fully open and reduce the days that our team members experience us at 60% or 80% or anything less than our full potential.

The other side of this sign might say, Work Hard, Play Hard. We must recharge ourselves to be fully open. This means we should prioritize days when we are “closed.” Time off to recharge is critical for us to reach our full potential. Now, with this comes a little more commitment on our part than might be indicated by this sign.

Communicating when we will be recharging and collaborating on our commitments with the team are critical to making this a win for us and the team. Open some days, closed others. Hope this helps as you continue your journey to reach your full potential.

CeCe, have they opened for lunch yet? I’m getting a headache….

Leading with Significance has officially hit the Retail market and is now available at these online locations: 

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-A-Million 
• Bookshop
• Walmart.com

For more information on my presentations or to access my beBetter blog library go to joeyhavens.com.

The post Open Some Days, Closed Others appeared first on Joey Havens.

Joey Havens Author

Joey Havens, CPA is the author of Leading with Significance. He is currently a partner with HORNE LLP a top 25 CPA firm. He previously served as managing partner of the firm from 2012 to 2021, leading more than 1,800 team members to build the Wise Firm© while passionately living out his life’s calling to help others see and reach their full potential. Prior to being named managing partner in 2012, Joey served as the managing partner of healthcare services and the managing partner of government services, respectively.