Your mind is dominated by pleasure and fear.

When you think of pursuits that bring you pleasure, your mind is scattered, driven by seeking “fun” and enjoyment — food, sex, entertainment, stimulants or drugs (caffeine, nicotine, sugar, etc.), and other things. It is seeking a feeling born out of desire, and pleasure-seeking leads ultimately to suffering. When you seek pleasure, you consciously avoid discomfort, and remain stagnant.

The other side is fear, and fear is often the aftermath of pleasure seeking. “Oh, no! What about the report I need to hand in?” Fear leads to avoidance, and worse than stagnation, often leads to losing ground. You’re afraid things aren’t good enough, so you burn everything down to start again.

When you are in a position of leadership, your pleasure and fear drives ripple outward to your Team. Pleasure-seeking leads to delays and unclear specifications as your mind shifts rapidly to chase the most easily grasped ideas. Fear leads to second guessing, rework, and morale decline. Both cause shifting goals, and lead to avoidance in your Team as ultimately they mirror the chaotic environment in which they work.

The suffering you create leads to stress (depression and anxiety) which most will bring home with them, just as you do, and cause stress in their home environments.

Stick to the middle path. When you feel fear, breathe deeply, in and out, and be mindful of that breathing. Let go of all your thoughts, dismissing them as they come into your mind as nothing, and focus only on your breathing. Remind yourself of a very simple truth: “There is not a grain of sand out of place in the universe.” Everything is as it is meant to be.

When you are calm, focus only on the present moment. Let go of desire — desire of a different present, desire for a future outcome. Act, and from that action, grow and change. Break the cycle of reaction, and you’ll break the cycle of stress. Break the cycle of stress, and the Team grows together.

Be patient; when you are calm the world will change around you.