Do you spend hours making spreadsheets and room reservations or filling in list-serves? You’re definitely a leader, and at Ithaca College, we live and breathe student organizations. I know that most of my time is spent on my student organizations and I have become extremely versed on what the definition of leader is. Since I love being involved, I recently attended Leadership Weekend, a program hosted by Ithaca College’s Office of Student Engagement and Multicultural Affairs. This weekend was created for emerging leaders to discuss their own thoughts on leadership and how to bring their ideas back to IC.
During the weekend we attended different workshops on ways to improve our leadership taught by our Student Leadership Consultants. Honestly, I thought I knew everything about being a leader, but this weekend has proved me wrong. After attending a workshop, we discovered the main ingredient to being a leader: taking time for yourself. We began the workshop by discussing our thoughts on what a leader is. “Authoritative”, “responsible”, “creative”, and “open-minded” were all words that we thought of. No one said that a leader will also take time for themselves. It was very interesting to reflect on the idea of taking a step back to breathe and just relax. Student leaders are constantly working on projects, events and thinking of ways to improve someone else’s life. We do not think that we need a break from our busy schedules because if we stop, nothing will get done.
Why is it important for leaders to take time for themselves? I look at it as the “snowball” effect. If you are not mentally and physically healthy, you are not going be able to perform to the best of your abilities and nothing will be accomplished. These are the key concepts I learned from Leadership Weekend and why it is important for leaders to take time for themselves.
Mentally Healthy
From school work to organizing volunteers or actually hosting an event, your brain can turn to mush. To accomplish all that you need to, (like putting a concert together in less than 48 hours), you need to stop and breathe. When you are constantly working on different projects, your brain will not be able to handle all of that information. There are a variety of ways to mentally prepare yourself for being a student leader:
-Take a walk outside
-Take a yoga class
-Watch Netflix!
-Hang out with your friends
-Call your parents
Having a healthy mind will undoubtedly improve your leadership skills. Leaders will not be as stressed, leading them to have more ideas for new events. My friends are definitely not as involved as I am (I may take on too much…), but it is difficult for me to balance school work, student orgs and my friends. Try to have lunch or dinner with your friends every day or grab coffee and do homework in IC Square. Spending time with your friends will relieve stress and any pressure you are under. Also, call your family! Sometimes we forget to call our mom or dad to catch them up on our busy lives. Talking to your parents is also a great stress reliever because they will tell you how proud they are of you (a wonderful self-esteem booster).
Physically Healthy
For me, going to the gym is a way to relieve my stress. I go every day to burn off some steam and lose calories. Being on the Executive Board for four different clubs on campus, you could say that I am kind of involved. There are times when I cannot go to dinner with my friends, leaving me to grab a panini from La Vincita or a smoothie from Freshens. While these food choices are not incredibly bad for me, they are still not the best choices. It is easy for student leaders to pack on the pounds because we do not have time to sit down for a meal. Stop and think before you eat your 6th piece of Rogans pizza and how much you will regret that later. Taking the time to plan out your meals will benefit you in many ways:
-More energy for homework
-More energy for all of your student organizations
-You’ll look great for spring break!
Taking care of yourself physically is going to improve your leadership skills. Student leaders are pressured into eating free food at meetings and different events. Luckily for us Ithacans, there are plenty of stairs to lose those extra calories, plus we get nice calves and a tight buns!
Students at Ithaca College are constantly under pressure to work harder so they can get their dream job or internship. To achieve that goal, of course you have to be a leader, but you have to be a smart leader. The students that I met at Leadership Weekend are unbelievable people. Every student is dedicated to the organization that they are involved in and are no doubt amazing leaders. But we need to remember, as leaders, we cannot always be working for someone else. We need to stop, take a deep breathe and take a break. I know that I work myself to exhaustion every week, in fear that my goals will not be accomplished. I now know that once I take time for myself, I will ultimately become a more poised, innovative and experienced leader.
Leadership Weekend was filled with unforgettable laughs, inspiring chaperones, dedicated SLC’s and incredible students. I learned that as a student leader, there are many ingredients to my character. I have to be organized, I have to be hardworking, and I have to take time for myself. Leaders are forgetting the most important ingredient to their leadership qualities: to think about yourself. If you take care of your well-being, you are, in theory, taking care of the people who are in your student organizations.