I think back to all my leadership roles throughout my career and have made many interesting conclusions. One of the conclusions I have made that drives my current boss bonkers is that there is an interesting parallel to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as it relates to your career. Some things require deep thinky thoughts at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Career Needs that are hard to contemplate when you are mired in the bottom of the Hierarchy. For example, it is hard to contemplate corporate strategy for your company when you are mired in shipping software on time and under budget.
As a result, I have learned that it is important to make time for very important things, and one of the biggest things you need to make time for as a leader is time to think.
That might sound silly, and I assure you that it is not. I adhere to a few very strict rules about time management, and one of them is to make sure that I have a few time blocks marked “Do Not Book” in my Outlook calendar. I know this is hard. I have written about making time previously.
Two other non-work related rules are to try to unplug as much as possible on Saturdays and refrain from using electronics. The other is to go out on a decent-sized hike (we are talking six to eight miles here) on Sunday without having those omnipresent screens or streams playing. There is a small safety issue for the latter point. The trails around here are crowded enough with bikers and occasionally horses that there is probably a health hazard involved in listening to a podcast or heavy metal playlist.
There are some benefits to making time to think. The first benefit happens when you get underwater and suddenly find yourself slammed. When tunneling on tactical things, you become very self-aware and can communicate that to people around you.
Another benefit is having “aha” moments and making non-intuitive mental leaps to solve problems or find a new perspective to improve your work output.
Making time to think probably has tertiary benefits, including health benefits. Having moments to yourself to be mindful of things likely helps reduce stress and allows you to process frustration or anger with things you cannot change.
At many points in my career, I jumped from task to task or meeting to meeting. It was an excellent step improvement for me to put that first hour on the calendar marked “Do Not Book.” If you are in a leadership position, take a step back from all the plate-spinning, status reports and meetings and spend some time asking yourself Marcus-Aurelius-type questions.
It will take many months for this to pay dividends. Feel free to reach out and thank me when they show up. I love to hear when things I say are helpful to other people!
See you next week!
