Drink Before You’re Thirsty

Thirst is a late indicator. This means that by the time you feel thirsty, you are already somewhat dehydrated. Many people are constantly dehydrated. It is often claimed that 75% of Americans are under-hydrated. There is no verifiable research to support this claim, but unless you’re drinking about 15.5 cups a day (11.5 for the ladies), you are probably under-hydrated.

I have always struggled to drink enough water. I enjoy coffee and like to say that I drink my water filtered through coffee grounds. However, coffee and beverages containing alcohol act as diuretics and cause your body to increase urine output, leading to dehydration. A little coffee is fine (3-4 cups a day), but it is not a substitute for simple, clean water.

There are many situations in life where, by the time we know we need something, it’s too late to get it in time for it to matter. The time to buy insurance is before you need to make a claim, not after. Saving for a rainy day is much easier when it’s sunny—and almost impossible once it starts raining. Giving yourself some cushion is much more effective than trying to make up time after you’re already late. The list goes on.

So it is with leadership. There are many things leaders must acquire before they are needed. Let’s look at a few that are critical to healthy, successful leadership. Great leaders have learned, practiced, and cultivated long before they need those skills in a crisis.

Learn. Be a lifelong learner. Learning requires both a curiosity about the world around us and a commitment to devote time to absorbing new information. The tendency as we get older—both chronologically and experientially—is to dismiss new information in favor of the experience we already have. We also get busy. Leaders must set aside protected time to read, listen, watch, and explore. 

Practice. In engineering college, we were often assigned the even or odd problems in the textbook. I worked them all. When it was time to take the test, I wasn’t smarter than the other students—I just had more practice working problems and was therefore faster and more certain of my results. Every day is like homework. Lean into every opportunity to lead. You may be able to function just doing the even problems, but when test time comes, you’ll be glad you worked them all.

Cultivate. If you are the senior leader of a team, that is not your team. Your team should be a group of your peers who can understand the role you are in, support you with good advice based on their experiences, and hold you accountable from a place of knowledge tempered with grace. Find people who meet these criteria and make friends. Remember what your mother told you in grade school, “To make a friend, you have to be a friend.”

Obviously, if you find yourself in a crisis and need to learn something, practice a skill, or find a mentor or adviser, you will do what you can. It just isn’t ideal.

It is easier (and more fun) to explore and wander through a wide variety of information and experiences than it is to hunker down and get a minimum understanding to solve an immediate problem. You may be “practicing” in a crisis, but the benefit of repeating an action or activity to develop a more consistent and quicker response must occur before it is needed. Finally, you can always find someone to talk to (and even easier, someone who will talk—though maybe not listen), but it takes time and shared experiences to develop trust and to truly be known.

Great leaders realize that the time they invest in themselves is actually an investment in the people they serve. It doesn’t do any good to lead people to water if we won’t drink ourselves. Healthy communities are supported by leaders who are constantly learning, practicing, and cultivating the culture they want to create for their teams. So, remember to drink before you’re thirsty so you are able to lead the Bison Way.