Declare Your Independence from. . .

Since the Fourth of July is a celebration of freedom from tyrannical rule, it presents us with a great opportunity to reflect upon  our own tyrannies from which we would like to declare independence.   If, for some reason, you're short of ideas, here are a few.

• Liberate yourself from the idea that you need to be right 100% of the time.    It's not practical or even realistic.   Know that great ideas and solutions can, and should, come from all members of the team.
• Equally liberating can be the exercise of balanced, constructive, critical thinking.  Not everything is (in fact, hardly anything is) perfect.   Find the opportunities for improvement in yourself, your team and your processes.
• Declare freedom from the idea that you need to be a martyr to be really good at your job.    Yes, great work requires hard work and dedication; it also requires that you have a life outside of work that nurtures you and allows you to continue to be productive and creative.
• Speaking of which, free yourself from the office. . .escape the cubicle. . .take a few days off.   It provides you with a new perspective as well as needed rest;  it gives your team the chance to exercise greater responsibility.  (By the way, even for  leaders and teams that work exceptionally well together - it's good for the leader to spend time away from the team. . .and it's good for the team to spend time away from the leader!)
• Break away from the routine.    We establish patterns that work for ourselves at a certain place and time.     To a fault, sometimes we carry forward those routines not realizing that they really aren't working for the place, time or us.   Feel free to re-invent your worklife and leadership style for greater effectiveness and efficiency.
• Free yourself  from group dynamics that are not advantageous to you, your team or the mission of the enterprise.     The only way to get out of the ruts, quite frankly, is for you to lead the way out of the ruts.

Here's the big one:   are you happy with what you're doing and where you're at?   If not, strategize how to free yourself to be a happier, better and stronger professional.

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Brent Frerichs is the author of "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders," available for all types of e-readers and PCs on Amazon Kindle.  https://kindle.amazon.com/work/courageous-questions-confident-leaders-ebook/B0095KPA6A/B0095KPA6A