I think we can all agree the best use of a leader’s time is spent helping their people—training, coaching, and maximizing their potential. A leader enhances the collective outputs of their team. They also spend a lot of time interacting with and supporting employees for various reasons. Because of this, it’s easy to get caught up in the daily motion of work and forget to think about the future. I’m sure we’ve all experienced the feeling of not having enough time for our own work. Right now, I’m dealing with this challenge first-hand. I’m coaching leaders on this very topic, and I wanted to share some things I’ve learned because it’s important to protect your time; not every minute can be spent on your people. How often do you prioritize your own work or even make time for it?

Cal Newport discusses the concept of deep work in his book, Deep Work. Deep work happens when you work on cognitively demanding tasks for an extended period of time without distractions. Some people may think of Mihaly Csikszentmihaly and the flow state when they hear deep work. When you’re doing deep work you enjoy, you often enter the flow state. You should have dedicated time for deep work each day—planning, learning, thinking—doing things that help you prepare for the unknown future. It’s important to build the muscles you use for deep work, like concentrating intensely for long periods on one task.

The productivity formula is also discussed in the book, where intensity of focus x time spent = output. The more focused you can be, the more concentrated your efforts will be, leading to a better output. There’s always something you can be working on for the future, something you could be learning, or some problem you need to think deeply about. Don’t be afraid to spend time working alone in a room—you don’t need to spend every minute of the day with your people.

Failing to prioritize growth and continual learning is another mistake I’ve seen leaders make recently. The world is moving quicker than ever before. AI has shown that entire industries can be disrupted in months and years. The speed of life is just moving faster these days. That doesn’t mean you can’t slow it down for yourself. Warren Buffett said the key to his success is reading, and he even said he would try to read 500 pages a day. He believed reading was like compound interest, continually increasing your returns as you gained more knowledge.

I’ve seen far too many leaders miss out on this type of compound knowledge and fall from a top performer to the middle of the pack within a few years. The ability to learn quickly and adapt is only going to become more important with the increasing use of AI throughout the workplace. You should always be learning new things, and spending your time growing as a leader will only help you maximize your team’s outputs down the line. The only way you can do that is by spending time doing your own work. Most of your time should be spent on your employees—but not all of it—remember to keep some time for yourself.

Until next time,

Rick