Leadership Presence Series – Post 10 of 16: Quality #6 – In The Now

Being in the now is a quality of presence. Are you always present in the moment? Or always getting caught in unhelpful thoughts from the past or fears about the future? If so, read on…

Introduction

If presence is a key to leading well – and it is – we need to understand it. So what is it? What’s so great about it? How does it show itself? What’s the source of presence? How do you develop it? That’s what we’re covering in this 16-part series.

Welcome to part 10: Quality #6 – In The Now.

What This Quality Means

It means being present to what’s happening here, now. You see, the only reality is the now.

The past has gone. It’s a memory. Its emotional echoes may influence your reactions today. But they control you because you’re allowing the meaning you put on past events to live on and limit your options.

The future is a mental creation, a new imagined now. If you allow your anticipation of what may or may not happen to control your mental state now, you’re living in the future. Many leaders suffer in this way. They think, “If I can achieve X, then I’ll be happy, not before.” They’re like hamsters on a wheel.

Payoffs

Being in the now demands that you focus your attention on something – a task, a problem, another person – and not let your mind wander, but without becoming fixated on that object or losing your ability to self-observe.

This takes practice.

But with it comes freedom from tension and anxiety when you feel a frustrating sense of “gap” between the present and the future. It lets you respond to new challenges afresh without projecting past feelings onto today’s experience or the person before you, and blindly repeating old unhelpful behaviours.

This doesn’t mean you ignore or deny the past. Nor does it mean leaders shouldn’t envisage or plan for a future. But the fact remains: all you ever have is the now.

Growing This Quality

We grow this quality by practising mindfulness and resolving our limiting past- and future-related beliefs.

Self-Reflection Questions

Does this sixth quality feel abstract and philosophical? It’s not. It’s about facing reality. A reality many aren’t aware of, but a reality nonetheless. A reality athletes know well. And one all leaders need to accept.

These questions may make this quality feel more concrete:

• Can I focus my mind at will and keep it on the object of my attention?
• How quickly do I notice when I’m lost in my thoughts or feelings, not focused on the here-and-now, and re-centre?
• How often do I let the meaning I put on past events limit my inner state and behavioural choices?
• How much do I allow my anticipation of what might happen – or my desire for what I want to happen – to control my emotional state?

Next post in the series: Quality #7: Inner Peace Flow & Joy.

[This post uses content from my 2016 book, The Three Levels of Leadership.]

Are you a visual or audio-orientated person? If so, you might prefer to see and hear me talking about leadership presence in my eleven-episode video series on YouTube at my YT channel, The Leadership Mastery Suite. When you arrive at the channel page, scroll down until you come to Created Playlists and there you’ll find the series, “On Leadership Presence”.