You’re Leading the Company from Home. Glued to Your Screen and Chair. No Break in Sight. Here’s What to Do.
Are you always glued to your screen and desk chair leading the company through COVID from home?
Most top executives have quickly realized that the home office provides no stroll down the hallway, casual chat with a colleague, quick jaunt to the cafeteria, or daily commute - the easy and effortless routines long relied upon for short built-in breaks and time to think.
This is a HUGE problem! Senior executives need breaks to fuel energy, creativity, productivity, and endurance, especially now! So here’s what to do.
The hard truth. You need to BUILD IN and schedule breaks because otherwise they will never happen!
What I’m hearing right now from executives during coaching sessions is that it’s never been harder to hit the “pause” button. They start at 5am and lead back-to-back Zoom calls for 8 to 10 hours a day and barely have enough time to eat lunch or go to the bathroom.
The uncertainty of COVID requires them to make serious tough calls week after week affecting the future of industries and tens of thousands of jobs - that’s some serious weight to shoulder. Not to mention, young adult children are home without jobs or waiting to hear if they can return to college, and aging parents are a concern - making family life unstructured and unpredictable.
So here’s where the scheduling MUST come into play! Yes, you may be thinking this sounds so basic, obvious, and simple to implement (and it can be). Or you may be thinking, are you crazy? I can’t take a break when I’m leading my company through a global pandemic!
But did you just hear yourself? You are leading your company through a global pandemic! And that’s exactly why you need to build in breaks. There’s never been a more critical time for leaders to hit the “pause” button!
So how do you practically do it? My clients follow what I call the “TOP 3 and Add 15 Daily Model” to make it happen.
Control the TOP 3. Fiercely guard them like your children, cash flow, and best employees. They are non negotiable pieces in your schedule. What are the TOP 3? 1.) Your Morning Routine 2.) Your Lunch 3.) Your Evening Routine. Lunch can be the biggest challenge because in today’s unpredictable climate unexpected meetings pop up. It’s best to have a Plan A and Plan B for lunch so that it still happens.
Your Morning Routine: Get up at the same time every day. Build in time for breakfast (including water and supplements), some quiet meditation, movement, and a daily schedule review. Set your top three intentions for the day and visualize them happening.
Your Lunch: Set a time for lunch - Plan A and Plan B. Have what you need for lunch easily accessible. You don’t want to waste precious time and energy ‘figuring out’ lunch on the fly. Stop all work. Move away from your mobile device. Eat outside or next to a window whenever possible. This can be a great time to take stock of how much water you’ve had for the day and if you’re on track with your supplements. Eat as slowly as possible and refill your water bottle for the second half of the day!
Your Evening Routine: Set a HARD stop (an exact time) for the day. Yes, I said HARD stop. (if this just made you very nervous.. read on .. there’s an option for you!) This means you don’t check your email or texts throughout dinner, while watching the news, or lying on your pillow before turning out the lights. Instead, have a hard stop before dinner. At least 30 minutes before you start eating. Eat away from your mobile device, chew slowly, sit outside or near nature, focus on your dining companions, or consider playing some relaxing music. If need be, you can have one last look at your phone, the final hard stop a minimum of 1-hour before bed. Go to bed at the same time every night.
Add 15 Minutes: Add an extra 15 minutes to your TOP 3 to reset (or anytime you can). What does reset mean? Do anything that lets your mind and body relax and recharge. Here are some common things that I hear executives doing during these 15 minutes: sitting outside with a cup of coffee, listening to favorite music, jotting down thoughts, walking the dog, stretching and breathing, praying and meditating, catching-up with a loved one, or reading something for fun.
BONUS: Include Your Team: If you are not always the one scheduling your time, communicate to your team that you have the TOP 3 time blocks on your schedule in cement. They are not to be moved and you are not to be disturbed unless there’s an act of God. When you include your team (at work and at home) it does two important things: 1.) Adds an extra layer of protection for your time 2.) Models to your team that you are taking care of yourself to maintain your strong leadership for them. It’s a great opportunity to keep yourself, your employees, and your family thinking the long game and maintaining top performance.
If you’re reading this and thinking, “I want to close the gap between where I am and where I want to be to feel my best …but I don’t know how.” You’re not alone.
Top executives have tremendous demands on their mental and physical energy (especially now!) and even implementing the TOP 3 and Add 15 Daily Model can be a challenge. If you need help reverse engineering how to make changes, let’s set a time to see if coaching is right for you.