#WeeklyNRG – Hats

#WeeklyNRG – A Snapshot of All Things #NRG

This week’s theme? Hats — the ones we wear, the ones that suit us, and knowing when to take one off.

As leaders and business owners, we can move between several roles in a single day. The question isn’t just how many hats we wear, but whether we are choosing the right one for the moment — or trying to wear the whole collection at once.

The Weekly Debrief

Last week was half and half. No, not rice and chips — work and play.

I started the week in France, closing the gîtes for the season, and travelled to Cyprus on Wednesday. Along the way, I switched between gîte owner, traveller, business adviser, coach and, finally, holidaymaker enjoying afternoons at the beach. Quite a collection, even before we get to the actual hats.

Kyle has developed a soft spot for interesting baseball caps while he’s been here. His growing collection includes “Crabbie” and “Cash Cow”, and I decided I wanted one too. But which one? “Queen Bee”? Too obvious. “Karma Chameleon”? Not quite.

Then I spotted the word “Bad” beside a picture of a donkey. “Bad Donkey”, I thought. Perfect.

It took me two whole days to realise it meant “Bad Ass”.

I now love it even more. Something to live up to — although perhaps I should start by improving my speed at decoding pictures.

The hat has also got me thinking about the roles we step into. Business person, partner, friend, parent, coach, leader — which feel natural? Which stretch us? And which do we keep wearing when the situation really calls for something different?

The Week Ahead

This week, I’m testing a different rhythm: working from 7am until midday, then taking the afternoon off.

The aim is to give work proper, focused attention in the morning, rather than allowing it to spread across the whole day. Then I want to put the work hat down and enjoy being here with Kyle.

Will everything fit? Will I switch off, or spend the afternoon mentally composing emails? Will interruptions pull me back in? We shall see. It is an experiment, not a promise of perfectly balanced days.

My “Bad Donkey” hat may need to help me hold those boundaries.

Lessons Learnt

All this reminded me of Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. Unlike the different roles we have in life, these hats represent ways of thinking: white for facts, red for feelings, black for risks, yellow for benefits, green for ideas and blue for managing the thinking process. The framework encourages us to explore a situation deliberately, rather than letting every perspective compete at once.

For a board or leadership team, that offers a useful distinction: you do not label one person “the cautious one” and another “the creative one”. Everyone explores the same perspective together, then moves to the next. It creates space to consider possibilities and challenge them, without making the discussion a battle between personalities.

There is something in that for my own experiment, too. I want to notice which hat I am wearing, what the moment needs, and when it is time to change.

Perhaps I’ll discover that a shorter working window sharpens my priorities. Perhaps I’ll need to adjust the plan around particular commitments. Either way, the lesson won’t be about squeezing the same overflowing diary into fewer hours. It will be about making conscious choices about my work, my availability and my time off.

Here’s to choosing our hats thoughtfully — and remembering that being good at wearing several doesn’t mean we need to wear them all day. Just the right dose of #NRG.

Which hat fits you best — and which one do you find hardest to take off?