There are many reasons to exercise regularly and eat healthy. I get that. What I don't get is why we continue to chase the next new "perfect" diet or fitness plan only to be surprised and disenchanted when the too-good-to-be-true results are not realized.

Stop chasing. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to health and fitness. What works for one, won't work for another and what works for you today, may not work for you tomorrow.

The only perfect plan is the one you will follow.

Today, the plan I am following includes a paleo-ish way of eating (I completed an 8 week Paleo challenge last month) and CrossFit. I've had amazing results in strength and flexibility and am feeling better overall with less cravings, more energy, and stable blood sugar levels. But the rigidity of the LuRong plan is too much of a long term commitment for me.

I stayed 100% true to the plan until I attended a wedding. I made good choices throughout the night: red wine and not white, shrimp and not eggrolls, sweet potatoes and not mashed. Then the desert came. Not eating the desert was less choice and more deprivation (see cupcake above).

I ate the cupcake.

And nothing bad happened.

I jumped back on the bandwagon and finished the challenge - strong. So, while I wait for my finisher's t-shirt, I'll continue to push my self and my strength, pay attention to the foods I eat and settle into the right balance of Paleo/clean/fun foods and exercise for me.

It's taken me a while to get to where I am, now. Will I be in the same place, doing the same next year at this time? I don't know. The one thing I do know is that whatever my perfect plan is, it will always include a cupcake.

As leaders, we are never without an opinion to share, are we? What is the one word of wisdom we impart on new leaders, without fail? Delegate. It is our mantra. Delegate, delegate, delegate. This is so easy for us to say yet it can be very difficult for new leaders to do.

New leaders feel tremendous pressure to deliver. They own the responsibility entrusted to them and don't take this lightly. If delegating was simply about assigning tasks to others, we would not be having this conversation, but it's not.

What is delegating really about? Think about that for a moment and then click over to my post, Leadership Means Letting Go, on the HCI blog (login required). Go now and come back when you are done.

Daniel Fogel, Talent Strategy and Acquisition over at HCI summed up my message perfectly when he shared his experience in developing leaders, "I found new leaders with the mentality that they could do "the task" better than their team. That letting the team complete the task would be a drop in quality. It took some coaching to get the new leaders to understand the one of the main points about being a leader is developing their team and protégés."

Delegating is about letting go and that is where the challenge for leaders exists.

Daniel agrees, "At the beginning you definitely have to crawl before you can walk. But by focusing on the development of the skills, you can create a team who does the task perfect every time not just the times that the leader does it themselves. If they focused on the development, they could have a department full of leaders who "own" their work."

Want to know a secret? This challenge is not limited to new leaders. I've had this leadership gig for a long time and am facing the same challenges right now. I added a level of leadership into my department and my hesitancy to let go of some things took me by surprise. I haven't let go completely but I do know what I need to do.

What advice do you have leaders having a hard time letting go? What worked well for you?

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Cupcakes and Health: A Day in the Life Sunday

Leadership Means Letting Go

Lisa Rosendahl