Each of us, in some way, shape, or form, falls into the category of “leader“. Whether you own a business, guide a church, teach students, or work a regular, old 9-to-5 — you are a leader.

I find that most leaders love what they do…most of the time. What prevents the enjoyment from overflowing is that we all fall into the same trap. The trap does what every trap is supposed to do. It captures you and holds you hostage until you, at some point, break free.

I believe there is a way to break free more often, but it will require us to stop doing something that we believe we are good at doing. We must stop chasing rabbits.

See, the rabbit is an elusive creature that God never designed to be apprehended by humans. No one has ever caught the rabbit, and no one ever will.

We chase the rabbit every time we try to do too much. This usually leads to some sort of agitation and frustration. We eventually burn ourselves out and then the next thing you know, you’re in the aforementioned trap.

So, can we all just agree that we aren’t any good at chasing rabbits?

However, if we stop chasing rabbits, what can we chase? We can start chasing a strongly defined reason for doing what we do.

We can chase our why.

Why are you in business in the first place? Why are you guiding that church or teaching those students? Why are you rolling out of bed each morning and commuting to your job? What is your why? What is the one thing that you are really trying to do?

If you are like me, you can come up with a myriad of answers for that one question, but a plethora of answers isn’t helping us give up our Elmer Fudd ambition.

More answers = more rabbits.

We need to whittle this thing down to the one reason why we do what we do.

As a relationship coach, my why is based around a desire to help people untie the emotional knots in their lives. That’s it. Staying focused upon this helps me say no to all of the things that take me away from it. My why keeps me away from the rabbits.

Once you develop yours, it will have the same effect.

Chasing this one thing doesn’t guarantee that I will live the rest of my life without frustration, but it helps me manage my life a little bit better.