The Starving Baker

1. Personal growth and wellness is incredibly influential in leadership. In Habitudes, it states "we're like the baker who spends so much time baking bread for others, we forget to eat ourselves" (9). Instead of focusing on how we can grow as leaders, we often spend the majority of our time focusing on how we can help others grow. Personal growth and wellness is a key characteristic to good leadership because it allows us to metaphorically "eat bread" which allows us to have some to give to others without starving ourselves. 

2. My biggest hindrance to taking time for personal growth is the busyness in my schedule. I am often so busy with school and making time for my friends and family that I do not make enough time for myself. This leads to my lack of personal growth and self-care. In order to be a better person and a better leader, I must allot time in my schedule for myself and for personal growth. A quote in Habitudes stood out to me and it states, "the Starving Baker reminds us that leaders must feed themselves before feeding others" (9). By recognizing that I will have time if I make time, I cannot let busyness be a hindrance to growing and taking care of myself.

3. I think that we fail to "sharpen the axe" because we so often believe that taking time for ourselves means that we will have less time to lead and pour into others. By thinking like the first lumberjack, we think that it is a waste of time. It prevents us from getting to lead and work with others sooner, but in the long run it will lead to burnout if we do not take the time to sharpen ourselves first. Like the second lumberjack, we will get more done quicker if we first take the time to sharpen the axe. 

4. We feel guilty when we stop to take care of ourselves because it means we have less time to take care of others. The lumberjack believed that he could cut down the most trees without taking the time to sharpen the axe. As leaders, we also believe that it can be wrong to put ourselves first because it takes away time from pursuing our goals, planning events, or spending time with our organization's member. Like the second lumberjack, taking that time benefited everything else he did. We feel guilty for focusing on ourselves rather than devoting the majority of our time to our group, organization, or team. In reality, we must stop feeling guilty for putting ourselves first because it is going to benefit us and the people we lead in the long run. 

5. I think staying "sharp" requires you to be mindful of how you spend your time and who you spend your time with. A proverb states "iron sharpens iron". I can stay sharp by surrounding myself with people that are going to sharpen me and hold me accountable. I feed and refresh myself by making time for what I want to do and what I know is going to make me happy, which can include spending time with friends, shopping, exercising, or simply watching my favorite show on Netflix. I think this allows me to take a break from what is going on in my life and focus my mind on something that does not bring stress.