Lessons from Jacinda

I’ve been thinking a lot about the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and her recent announcement of her resignation.

She said, “I am leaving because with such a privileged role comes responsibility. The responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead, and also, when you are not".

“I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It is that simple”.

Such self-awareness is admirable. As is making the hard decision to step away. Especially when you will be seen by many as being selfish.

I have been re-reading Oliver Burkeman’s excellent book Four Thousand Weeks (it’s one of the books I’m talking about in my next Connected Learners book club). The title refers to the number of weeks we have to live if we live to be eighty years old.

He reminds us that at the end of the day, we’re all dead. And, for most of us, we have no control over when this day will come.

So many of us live our lives stressed out, burnt out, and tapped out.

Burkeman asks us if this is really the best use of our four thousand weeks?

What do we need to do to pay ourselves first?

To claim the time to do what is most important to us first?

To prioritise ourselves? To reclaim rest? To embrace pleasure?

Deloitte’s 2022 Women at Work survey found that 53 percent of the female workforce say their stress levels are higher than they were a year ago, that 46 percent feel burned out, and a third have taken time off work due to mental health issues.

As leaders of ourselves and of others, what are you doing to recognise the symptoms of stress and burning out? How are you temporarily (or permanently) stepping away so you can take the time to rejuvenate?