Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajiving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellovledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode four fifty five. I want to start today
Speaker 2: with a personal admission. I have a hard time relaxing
Speaker 2: and doing nothing. I'm a creative, which means I have
Speaker 2: two speeds sleep or working on something, and there is
Speaker 2: no in between. And if you're listening to this, chances
Speaker 2: are you might be wired the same way. Now here's
Speaker 2: the challenge. As leaders. We're rewarded for that constant forward motion.
Speaker 2: People look at us and think they never stop. They're
Speaker 2: always creating, building, pushing and driving the mission forward. And
Speaker 2: that's true. But there's a fine line between being productive
Speaker 2: and being consumed. So let me explain. Creativity is both
Speaker 2: a gift and a trap. The gift is obvious. It
Speaker 2: allows you to see opportunities that others miss. You can
Speaker 2: take a spark of an idea and turn it into
Speaker 2: a business, a project, or a new way of leading.
Speaker 2: That's why your team trusts you. You're the one pulling
Speaker 2: the organization into the future. But the trap. The trap
Speaker 2: is subtle. If you're always working, always turning over the
Speaker 2: next idea, you can trick yourself into believing that rest
Speaker 2: is laziness, that downtime is wasted time. And here's the
Speaker 2: truth that took me years to learn. Rest is not
Speaker 2: wasted time, it's required time. Without it, you don't sharpen
Speaker 2: the blade, you dull it. And think about athletes, even
Speaker 2: the best in the world don't play every day. They rest, recover,
Speaker 2: and train. If they only played, they'd burn out or
Speaker 2: get injured. Yet, leaders, especially creative ones, believe they can
Speaker 2: stay in constant output mode forever. And that's not sustainable.
Speaker 2: So here's the key leadership takeaway. If you operate with
Speaker 2: only two speeds, you need to be intentional about when
Speaker 2: you hit each one. Sleep is where you reset. But
Speaker 2: true recovery also means creating intentional margins in your life,
Speaker 2: margins where you're not producing, not creating, not pushing, but
Speaker 2: simply allowing your mind and body to recharge. For me,
Speaker 2: I had to reframe how I thought about relaxation. I
Speaker 2: don't think of it as doing nothing anymore. I think
Speaker 2: of it as doing something critical for my leadership, taking
Speaker 2: a walk, sitting outside with a cup of coffee, having
Speaker 2: a conversation that isn't about work. Those are investments, and
Speaker 2: investments pay dividends later. When you don't create those margins
Speaker 2: that I mentioned before, here's what happens. Your creativity begins
Speaker 2: to recycle the same old ideas. You start chasing busyness
Speaker 2: instead of progress, and worst of all, you stop being
Speaker 2: fully present with the people who need you most, both
Speaker 2: at home and at work. So, if you're like me
Speaker 2: and you only know two speeds, here's the challenge I'll
Speaker 2: leave you with today. Schedule intentional recovery. Don't just wait
Speaker 2: until you're exhausted. Treat recovery with the same importance that
Speaker 2: you would treat a meeting, a deadline, or a project with.
Speaker 2: Put it on your calendar, protect it, and honor it.
Speaker 2: So here's the payoff with all of this. When you
Speaker 2: step back, even briefly, you don't lose momentum, You gain clarity.
Speaker 2: You come back sharper, fresher, and more creative than before.
Speaker 2: That's the difference between a leader who survives and a
Speaker 2: leader who thrives. So yes, I still have a hard
Speaker 2: time doing nothing, but I'm learning that doing nothing sometimes
Speaker 2: means doing everything that truly matters for my longevity as
Speaker 2: a leader. This has been the seven minute Leadership Podcast,
Speaker 2: and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.