#412 Drains. Must stay clear.

A flooded patio taught us more about leadership, mental health, and resilience than any whiteboard session ever could. We take a humble, everyday object—the drain—and stretch it into a practical framework for clearing emotional, relational, and professional clutter before the storm hits. If you’ve ever felt “off” without a clear reason, or watched small problems become big messes, this conversation offers a simple lens to spot the leaves and keep your system flowing.

We break down the difference between vision and maintenance, arguing that the best leaders are quiet caretakers of flow. You’ll hear how to anticipate pressure like incoming weather, why ignoring little clogs invites a flood, and how small routines—movement, reflection, counseling, clear agreements—work like a leaf screen over your day. We get personal about off-center mornings, naming what’s stuck, and choosing action that shakes debris loose when insight won’t come. The lower-level office story anchors it: when the rain arrives, readiness—not willpower—determines whether we mop or move forward.

Along the way, we offer a handful of practical tools: brief daily check-ins, team prompts that surface friction early, a lightweight prep habit for tomorrow’s work, and a simple recovery kit for tough days. It’s a conversation about clarity, maintenance, and compassion—how to build systems that drain well so your best work can flow. If you’re a manager navigating team bottlenecks, a creator wrestling with mental clutter, or a human trying to stay steady through storms, you’ll leave with a clearer path and a calmer mind.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with someone who needs it today, and leave a quick review to help others find the Growth Instigators Hotline. Your stories and reflections keep this community flowing—tell us what “leaves” you’re clearing next.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Today’s Metaphor
• 0:25 Drains as Leadership and Life Lessons
• 0:49 Noticing When You’re Off-Center
• 1:36 The Flooded Patio Example
• 2:14 Practical Clearing and Listener Invitation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Growth Instigators Hotline. I'm Aaron Havens, your host and growth coach. This is message 412. This week is all about drains. An everyday normal object that we can assign deeper meaning to, something that can grab our attention and represent something beyond. So, what are some lessons we can glean from drains? The message Chris from Oregon left is so true. She said drains must stay clear. Ignoring leaves and debris is the quickest way to cause flooding. Stop the flow. Leaders must continually, nonstop, clear the leaves. Emotional, relational, professional, personal drains before they back up and create damage. I can tell when I'm off. Can you? Sometimes I just wake up off. I've warned the people in my life to have patience with me when I'm not centered. I'll do my very best to do the deep work needed to show up ready to go. But sometimes though, I just have to put my shoes on and get about my day. Hoping whatever is off can just work itself out. Anyone else like that? I mean, sometimes I can tell something is blocking my drain and I don't really know how to remove it. Those are not the days for me to quote unquote stay home, if that were even an option. No, those are the days I need to dig deep, repeat what is true in my mind, and get to it. Here's an example. My office is a lower level office with a patio. So if I'm standing on my patio, my eyes are just above ground level. It's a cool little place to kind of it's kind of dug down into the ground. And yes, when hard rains come, about a hundred percent of the time, guess what? It floods. I continually have to anticipate a drain blockage and make sure debris is cleaned up before the rains come. Isn't that true? None of us are superhuman, all of us have none of us have only good days. In fact, I think it's safe to say all of us have bad days. Maybe today's message can remind you to do the work to make sure your drains actually drain. Clear the debris, do the work, work out, meditate, chat to a counselor, get help, dig deep. If not, it's only a matter of time until your patio is flooding, and then we have a mess. That, my friends, is how a common everyday object can instigate growth. I'd like to hear some more of your observations. What growth lessons can you apply to drains? For those of you calling the Growth Insigator hotline, I'd love to hear your thoughts after the beep. For those of you listening in on a podcast, visit growth instigators.com and send me your thoughts. Let's never see drains the same.