jacaranda blues

I live in the subtropical city of Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia. Every spring, around early September, it’s exciting to see the first jacaranda blossoms of the season. These flowers have a distinctive purple-blue hue and their vibrant colour brightens the landscape right across the city.

Jacaranda blossoms are very delicate and as they fall from the tree, they create a soft, rich carpet. The arrival of the jacarandas excites me now, but it wasn’t always the case. As an undergraduate at the University of Queensland, the sight of those first blooms was always a cause for great fear and dread. It heralded the imminent arrival of exams and a very stressful time of year. It was said that if you hadn’t started studying before you saw your first jacaranda flower—it was too late!

Part of the folklore at the university was that if a jacaranda blossom fell on your head, you would forget everything you'd learned. You would never see students sitting under jacaranda trees in bloom. That's a shame because they are magnificent trees, with strong branches and sweet, delicate blossoms. Since my first graduation, I now welcome the appearance of the beautiful blossoms and the upcoming festive season.

I may not have the same exam pressures as I did when I was an undergrad, but I still have deadlines. Some are externally imposed, but many are the deadlines I set for myself. Like writing my next book. Of course, I have to set time aside to do the work required to meet these deadlines and certainly at times this generates stress, as I struggle to balance commitments and get everything done.

During writing of one of my earlier books, a friend said to me, 'Don't worry, they're only self-imposed deadlines'. The implication is that deadlines we set for ourselves are somehow less important than those set by others. If we set the deadlines ourselves, then surely, we can change them to suit ourselves? I think that's only partly true.

Students don't choose the date of the exam, but they do choose to study a particular course and to put themselves through a process that involves examination. In some way most deadlines are self-imposed.

If we can't keep to the deadlines we set for ourselves, how can we keep to the deadlines imposed by others, including our clients or our employer? If we want to achieve anything in life, we need to have an end-point in mind. There are many demands on our time and energy. So, why do we consider our own goals to be less important?

I challenge you today to set one goal for yourself that you'll complete before the last jacaranda blossom falls.

What will yours be?

This story is from my book, Leadership Assets in the chapter on Mastery. Mastery is one of the nine Leadership Assets I explore as essential for you to develop through your career as you journey from the workshop to the boardroom.

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