Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goal achieving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellavledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode five sixty six. Let's talk about something leaders
Speaker 2: quietly wrestle with more than they will ever admit. The
Speaker 2: urge to step away, the fantasy of quitting, the thought
Speaker 2: that says, if I can only get out of this role,
Speaker 2: everything would feel better. Here's the truth from the front lines.
Speaker 2: Most leaders are not burned out because they're weak. They're
Speaker 2: worn down because they never reset while still in motion.
Speaker 2: They think that the only way to breathe again is
Speaker 2: to leave the building, leave the job, or lead the role,
Speaker 2: and that is rarely true. What most leaders need is
Speaker 2: not an exit. They need a practical reset that works
Speaker 2: while they stay in the fight. A reset is not
Speaker 2: a vacation. It's not quitting, it's not burning the whole
Speaker 2: thing down. A reset is a controlled adjustment that gives
Speaker 2: you back clarity, energy and command without stepping away. So
Speaker 2: let me give you some real ones that actually work.
Speaker 2: The first reset is your calendar. Most leaders are suffocating
Speaker 2: under a calendar. They no longer control meetings stacked on
Speaker 2: top of meetings, no white space, no thinking time, no
Speaker 2: recovery time. Everything is reactive. Here's the reset. Cancel one
Speaker 2: recurring meeting this week, just one. Replace it with a
Speaker 2: block called leader time. That block is non negotiable. You
Speaker 2: use it to think, plan and side, not answer emails,
Speaker 2: not catch up on busy work, to think like a leader.
Speaker 2: In aviation, pilots do not fly NonStop without checks. They
Speaker 2: pause review instruments in reset before something goes wrong. Your
Speaker 2: calendar needs the same discipline. The second reset is your
Speaker 2: decision backlog. Unmade decisions drain leaders faster than long hours.
Speaker 2: Every delayed call sits in your head like an unpaid bill.
Speaker 2: Over time, that mental debt exhausts. You make a short
Speaker 2: list today, write down every decision that you've been avoiding.
Speaker 2: Then make one decision from that list within twenty four hours,
Speaker 2: not all of them, just one. Momentum is a form
Speaker 2: of energy. When leaders start deciding again, fatigue drops fast.
Speaker 2: The third reset is your access. Too many people have
Speaker 2: full access to you at all times, texts, emails, drop ins, complaints,
Speaker 2: noise that constant access feels like leadership, but it's actually erosion.
Speaker 2: Reset your access roles, set office hours, set response windows.
Speaker 2: Teach your team when and how to bring you problems.
Speaker 2: You're not withdrawing, you're leading with structure. In ems, you
Speaker 2: don't leave the radio open to every channel all at once.
Speaker 2: You prioritize the signal that matters. Leaders need to do
Speaker 2: the same. The fourth reset is expectations. Many leaders are
Speaker 2: exhausted because they are carrying expectations that no one agreed to,
Speaker 2: unspoken standards, assumed behaviors. Hope based leadership. Call a reset
Speaker 2: conversation with your team, with your peer, and also with
Speaker 2: your boss. Clarify what winning looks like to find what
Speaker 2: matters now, not six months from now, not someday now.
Speaker 2: Clarity removes friction, because friction drains energy. The fifth reset
Speaker 2: is your physical environment. This one sounds small, but I
Speaker 2: promise you it's not clean your office. Reorganize your workspace.
Speaker 2: Fix the broken chair, update the whiteboard, replace the burned
Speaker 2: out light. Leaders underestimate how much chaos around them feeds
Speaker 2: chaos inside them. In ambulance stations, cockpits, and command posts.
Speaker 2: Order is not about perfection, It's about control Your environment
Speaker 2: should signal leadership, not survival mode. The sixth reset is
Speaker 2: how you end your day. Most leaders end their day
Speaker 2: by collapsing, scrolling, numbing out, carrying unfinished stress into tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Reset your shutdown routine. At the end of each day,
Speaker 2: write down three things, what went right, what must be
Speaker 2: handled tomorrow? In what can wait? That simple act closes
Speaker 2: mental loops, sleep improves, mornings get lighter, leadership gets steadier.
Speaker 2: The seventh reset is your internal story, and this is
Speaker 2: the hardest one. Leaders tell themselves dangerous stories when they're tired.
Speaker 2: I'm stuck. This shouldn't be this hard. I'm the only
Speaker 2: one who cares. Those stories feel real. They are also optional.
Speaker 2: Reset the narrative, replace it with facts. This is a
Speaker 2: hard season I have handled harder. I can make changes
Speaker 2: without quitting. In my world, I teach red key leadership.
Speaker 2: Black key leaders react emotionally. Red key leaders pause, assess,
Speaker 2: and act with intention. This reset is about choosing the
Speaker 2: red key again. None of these resets require quitting. None
Speaker 2: requires stepping away. They require leadership. Here's the final truth.
Speaker 2: If you quit without resetting first, you will carry the
Speaker 2: same patterns into the next role, the next different building
Speaker 2: That you work at with the same exhaustion. Real leaders
Speaker 2: learn how to reset while staying in command. So if
Speaker 2: this episode hit close to home, take seven intentional minutes
Speaker 2: today and apply one of those resets that I talked about,
Speaker 2: not all of them, just find one that makes the
Speaker 2: most sense for you. That is how leaders stay in
Speaker 2: the fight and stay effective. Leadership is not about endurance alone.
Speaker 2: It's about adjustment. You do not abandon the mission. When
Speaker 2: conditions change, you recalibrate, you reset, you lead forward. This
Speaker 2: has been the seven minute Leadership podcast, and I thank
Speaker 2: you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit Paul Fell
Speaker 1: of liito dot com.