“How do you balance energy with what needs to be done?”, asked a CTO I’m coaching.

Self or Outcome?

A question many leaders contemplate. The leadership burden, especially in executive positions, is about doing what needs to be done. Personal interests must be subjugated to achieve the required outcomes.

So a leader, being only a human with limited supply of willpower, must manage self.

Managing Self

Any plan based on wishes over reality is doomed to fail.

A key part of the leadership role is being realistic in managing oneself, including motivation.

So what do you do when your battery is getting drained? When work is important but dull? I consciously prioritize an interesting topic. Something that isn’t immediately the highest priority, while still valuable for the organization.

If you burn out and quit, you remove your total future contribution to the company. This cause uncertainty, creates a vacuum, and overall has negative impact on the organization.

Managing self is a personal and a professional responsibility. To prioritize your self-motivation is in line with both your and company needs.

So take care of your well-being. At the same time, don’t use this as justification to avoid doing what needs to be done.

Besides choosing what you work on, don’t forget to prioritize rest.

Prioritizing Rest

  • Understand that recharging is vital. Instead of thinking of resting as being lazy, realize that it’s often the most effective thing you can do to increase your impact.
  • Find ways to recharge effectively. Take inspiration from others, but keep what works for you. I relax with music and a bathtub in winter, and read guilty pleasure books on the balcony in summer.
  • Rest or Impact, avoid the in-between. I used to combine relaxing and intellectual YouTube channels. But that was neither very valuable nor the most restful. So I dropped those gray spaces.
  • Understand where you are each day. Some people are always aware of their energy levels. Not me. So I have morning signals to check where I am today: How enthusiastic am I while stretching? How attentive am I to music? Does a smile come easily to my face?
  • Use your most effective time carefully. For me, protecting mornings is crucial. Sometimes there is a frog to eat, sometimes the day is only a sequence of frogs. So I’ll use mornings for the highest priority or for recharging.

Thank you for reading this first entry in the new Leadership Tidbits series, where I share insights from my meandering experience.

For deeper exploration of being human in leadership, check out The Human Side of Tech Leadership podcast.

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