E28: The Journey Towards a Flourishing Life with Matthew Lesser

As leaders, how do we prevent ourselves from burning out? It’s important that we don’t just live for the sake of surviving. We have to go beyond thriving. You have to be flourishing. You don’t want to be in your 40s and 50s, climbing and getting on top of the ladder, only to realize you have climbed the wrong ladder.

In today’s discussion, Matthew Lesser joins Adam to talk about dealing with burnout, intentional living, and creating a culture where people flourish.

Matthew Lesser is the founder and CEO of Uniquely Normal, which helps organizations build flourishing cultures by building individuals that flourish. Matt is a bestselling author of the recently released book UnSatisfied: When Less Is More. Matt has been training leaders, teams, and boards in over 40 countries over the past 20 years.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

• Matthew’s experience with depression
• The concept of a personal board of directors
• How to deal with burnout
• Flourishing versus thriving
• The definition of intentional living
• How leaders can create a culture that allows people to flourish

Episode Highlights:

[12:20] Your Personal Board of Directors

Find four or five people that you know love you and care about you enough that they will speak the truth to you even when it hurts – because that's the time you need to hear it the most. The primary purpose is threefold: encouragement, challenge, and accountability. Therefore, the right type of community is a powerful tool.

[22:50] Steps to Take When You’re on the Brink of Burnout

Write your story. It's difficult to know where you want to go until you know both where you are now and where you've been. When we get into a funk, it's so easy to just focus on the negative. But when we’re able to look at our story and see both the struggles and successes, we begin to see the big picture.

Then ask yourself these four questions:

• Passion - What are you passionate about?
• Skills - What are you gifted and skilled at doing?
• Value - How do you contribute value to others – and that's affirmed by others?
• Calling - What do you feel called to do?

In the intersection of those four is the place where you can begin to intentionally live a flourishing life, or at least you're on the journey toward a flourishing life.

[29:23] Flourishing vs. Thriving

Flourishing is all about giving back. It's thinking beyond just here and now and today, and it's beyond accumulation. Thriving is more accumulation-based in terms of wealth, power, position, etc. Whereas flourishing is a “flowing out of.” You realize that life is so much bigger than you and that you have a purpose and meaning, beyond just yourself.

[35:33] Creating a Culture Where People Will Flourish

When people flourish, organizations flourish. But when we treat people as just “hired help” and we treat them like they're “less than” then what we’re going to get from them is also “less than.” Rather, think of people in terms of how you can help them flourish.

Resources Mentioned:

www.uniquelynormal.com

UnSatisfied: When Less Is More

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/matthew-lesser

Email: Matt@UniquelyNormal.com