My friend likes to tell the story of when he working for a boss, who was a fantastic lawyer, who literally worked herself senseless. She put in 17-hour days consistently. She started out very productive, quickly became the rock star of the firm. But it was short-lived. She burned out in a big way. It wasn’t pretty. Lack of sleep and proper nutrition tend to have a bad effect on people.
Fun Fact #1: Research published in 2000 in the British journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows that sleep deprivation can have some of the same hazardous effects as being drunk. Getting less than 6 hours a night can affect coordination, reaction time and judgment, they said, posing “a very serious risk.”
Fun Fact #2:
A report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (published in 2009) highlights key benefits of improving morale and lowering stress. Some of the key findings are as follows:
• The prevalence of work-related stress is increasing • The proportion of sickness absence due to stress is estimated to be 40% • 19% of employees leaving an organization cite stress of the job or role as the key reason for leaving the organization.
One way that perhaps you hadn’t thought of that a good manager leads is that they take care of themselves. They avoid drains on their energy, so that it may be best spent on managing.
• Make sure you are getting proper nutrition.
• Make sure you are getting enough sleep.
• Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Managing requires an enormous amount of energy, so leaders must learn how to not waste it; retain it, even.
One way leaders can manage themselves by taking steps to not allowing themselves to get overloaded.
Instead of looking at stress as a problem to fix, we need to embrace it as part of our path—and channel that energy positively instead of negatively…
Ask yourself these questions: Are you engaged, energized, and healthy physically, mentally and emotionally? What practices help you to strike more balance, and “put fuel in your tank” so to speak?
For more information on self-management and protecting yourself from burnout buy the book! Lemonade: The Leaders Guide to Resilience at Work