The Illusion of Control—The Power of Reflection
As an executive, you’re expected to have answers. You chart the course, allocate resources, and provide confidence when others doubt. But here’s the paradox: the more control you appear to have, the less you often stop to reflect.
There’s no room in your calendar for stillness. No one schedules a pause for perspective. And over time, decisions become reactions, not reflections.
“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.” — Epictetus
Burnout by Busyness
Many executives conflate busyness with productivity. But constant activity is often just a mask for avoidance. Reflection is what separates a flurry of motion from a moment of insight.
In the same way a GPS recalculates when you miss a turn, you need regular recalibration. You need space to ask:
- “Is this strategy still aligned with our values?”
- “Are we solving the right problem—or just the loudest one?”
- “What assumptions have we stopped questioning?”
Mirror, Not Megaphone
Peer advisory groups function like a mirror. Not to feed your ego, but to reflect your blind spots. In those conversations, executives hear themselves in ways they hadn’t before. Sometimes, clarity emerges not from a solution—but from the right question at the right moment.
In The Martian, astronaut Mark Watney survives by constantly reassessing. He pauses. He recalculates. He adjusts. Alone on Mars, he doesn’t just act—he reflects. It’s what keeps him alive.
You don’t need to be stranded on Mars to need reflection time. You just need to be honest about how easily leadership can drift into autopilot.
“To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony.” — Marcus Aurelius
High performance doesn’t come from more hustle. It comes from intentional pause. From reflection. From clarity.
And that clarity often begins when you surround yourself with people who know how to help you see yourself more clearly.
