Spring is a season of rebirth and renewal. March 20 each year is officially the first day of spring in the US. The bare trees and empty planters of winter give way to young leaves and flowering new growth. Birds begin to sing and nest. The sun shines warmer and color returns. Spring seems like a reward for enduring the cold months just passed. It’s a time of the year filled with possibilities.
Your leadership will have seasons as well. A recent change in jobs or your workplace role, a new project or goal, a new boss or a new report—so many elements of work or career can bring about a season of rebirth and renewal. If you are in the springtime of leadership at this moment, here are few reminders to make the most of this season:
Clean out and make space for the new. Do some “spring cleaning” in your leadership and professional development. Look carefully at your current activities and commitments and determine if you can “clean out” any of them to make room for something new. A spring season in leadership isn’t about adding more to do. Doing something new requires you to stop doing something you are engaged in right now. Take an inventory at how you are spending your time each day. Are there one or more activities you could take off your plate? What about your monetary commitments? Community activities? You don’t necessarily need to replace anything, but you will need room for new commitments that are coming in this season.
What is one “old habit” you could break in this season?
What is one thing that wastes time that you could forgo in the future?
What is one area of spending in your finances that you could curb going forward?
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19
Water the roots. Springtime in the yard means planting for new growth. And those plantings need plenty of water at the roots to soak up the nutrients they need for a good foundation. Your life and leadership needs watering as well. Springtime in leadership is the time to invest in your own development. Is there a new skill you need to develop? Is there new knowledge that you need to move forward? How about spiritual or philosophical development? It may be taking a class, or as simple as reading a book, or investing in a time with other leaders to feed off one another for advice and accountability. If this is your springtime, don’t forget to water the roots.
What is a book you might read in the coming weeks?
How might you spend more time with God daily as you go forward?
What is one area of your life or leadership that you need to work on?
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:16-17
Put out some birdseed. Spring is also a time to feed those around you. When a beginning is happening in your life, you tend to notice those around you more. It’s an opportunity to renew relationships and build new ones. Just like hearing the birds of springtime and putting out some seed for them to feast on as they begin to nest, consider how you can reactive connections with those in your sphere of influence. When you are starting over or beginning something different, relationships are doubly-important for feedback and perspective, so that you can make the most of spring and truly see a growing new season in your life, your profession and your personal and spiritual development. All it might take is a phone call, a text, or a handwritten note to pick up on a friendship that could be tremendously beneficial to you both!
Who is someone you used to talk to daily but don’t anymore? Can you renew that friendship?
Is there a group of people in your life that encourage you and build you up? If not, why not?
How is your relationship with your closest companion—your spouse, or kids, or accountability partner? How might you improve on it?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
