Eight Tips I've Learned As a Leader to Protect My Time and Energy
On guarding my margin—to avoid burnout and be more productive.
It’s easy for leaders to get overwhelmed. We have to develop ways to defend ourselves against all of the things that demand attention. Here are some that have helped me.
Become comfortable with unread messages.
As you grow in leadership, you need to become increasingly comfortable with ambiguity. There will always be something unread. "Inbox zero" is for amateurs.
When in conversation, handle small things immediately rather than add them to your list.
When you say, "I'll email you that document later," you've added something to your list of to-dos. Much better: "Hold on a sec, I'll send that to you right now." Any decisions or small tasks that can be done immediately, should be.
Rarely do anything only out of obligation.
People's expectations don't get much of a say over my schedule.
Set healthy expectations around communications.
I like to openly explain to people, "It may take me some time to reply to your text. That's not because I'm ignoring you. I probably just have a busy day.” Usually I also turn off read receipts for texts and messaging apps, because this tends to create an expectation that I will reply right away when I open it, which is not always feasible.
Be present with people.
My priority is the person in front of me. I don't want to be looking at my phone all the time, so if I'm with people, I typically ignore my phone and come back and check messages later. You’re not a slave to your phone, put it away and check it later.
Stick to your boundaries.
Outside of emergencies, I'm not going to be messaging people when I'm winding down on the couch watching TV at night with my wife. This is our down time, other things can wait.
Default to "no."
Listen well, and be open to suggestions, but don't be quick to agree to anything that adds something to your to-do list. The reason this is hard is because you have to say “no” to a lot of good ideas and projects. But it’s the only way to guard your bandwidth.
The big one: remember the Sabbath.
Whatever God wants for you to accomplish in life, it can be done in six days a week. Adjust your own expectations. God isn't asking you to work seven days a week to fulfill your calling. I'm not saying it's sinful if you need to put in some extra hours for a season, but as someone who has spent far too much time teetering on the edge of burnout myself, you should listen to my hard-earned lesson on this one. I have found that a 24-hour rest period does wonders for my productivity and life satisfaction. (Who would have thought?!) This is not always easy to implement, but it’s powerful when you do.
What have you learned to help protect your time? I'd love to learn from you.
Ethan
This is so good, thank you! The toughest overall is to stop being a people-pleaser and ignore them and say no more often. Not because I’m not excited, but because I literally can’t help everyone with everything. lol Thank you for the reminder. I needed this today
Does #1 also include Substack subscriptions? :)
Really great wisdom here, Ethan. Super practical. I can already see things I can do differently for the better. Thanks for writing!