By Trent Lee — The CEO’s Sage
Part 1 of the Are You Building the Business at the Expense of Yourself? Series

When was the last time you spent an hour at work doing absolutely nothing?

No email. No phone. No meeting. No podcast playing in the background. Just sitting somewhere with a notebook and thinking.

If that sounds unproductive, that’s probably part of the problem.

Throughout much of our careers, we’re rewarded for doing. Work faster. Solve more problems. Take on more responsibility. Answer more emails. Get more done.

Those are visible signs of productivity.

But as you move higher in leadership, your job changes. Your greatest contribution increasingly comes from the quality of your thinking, the decisions you make, and your ability to see what others don’t yet see.

At some point, you have to stop measuring productivity by how busy you look.

Give Yourself Permission to Think

EOS uses the term Clarity Break, and I’ve become a big believer in the practice.

The concept is simple. Intentionally schedule time away from the normal distractions of the business to think.

I believe leaders should create this space at least monthly and ideally weekly. Get away from your desk. Turn off your phone. Take a notebook. Go somewhere you won’t be interrupted.

Don’t necessarily start with an agenda.

Think about the business. Your people. What’s working. What’s frustrating you. The decisions you’ve been avoiding. Opportunities you’re not pursuing. Where you’re spending your time. Where the organization is going.

Sometimes the most valuable thought you have all week may come during the hour when it looks like you’re doing the least.

Sometimes an Hour Isn’t Enough

I’m also a believer in taking longer periods away from the business.

For me, that often means taking a week or two in September and traveling to Europe. I love to travel, so there is certainly a vacation component to it.

But something else happens when I create real distance from my normal routine.

My thinking changes.

I’m no longer consumed by what needs to happen tomorrow morning. I find myself thinking about next year. New products or services. Goals and priorities. Things I should stop doing. How I’ve performed as an owner and leader, and even how I can become a better person.

An hour can give you perspective on your week. A day can give you perspective on yourself. A week away can give you perspective on the business and where it’s going.

Your Employees Are Watching

There’s another reason leaders need to take time away.

We need to model it.

My daughter is a nurse and recently mentioned that she is no longer accruing PTO because her PTO bucket is full. She hasn’t taken enough time off, in part because her husband’s schedule hasn’t allowed them to do much together.

My immediate thought was, take the day anyway.

Read a book. Go for a walk. Get a massage. Do absolutely nothing.

She earned the time.

I see versions of this across businesses all the time. Employees have vacation available but don’t use it. Sometimes that’s their choice. But sometimes we’ve unintentionally created a culture where people don’t believe they can truly disconnect.

If the CEO is emailing from the beach, checking in every day while on vacation, and never taking meaningful time away, what message does that send?

Culture is influenced far more by what leaders model than what the employee handbook says.

The Two Week Test

There’s also a business reason I encourage owners to disconnect.

I use a simple test when evaluating whether an owner and their company are truly ready for an eventual transition:

Can you leave the business for two weeks without checking email, answering calls, or checking in, and will the business continue operating effectively without you?

If the answer is no, you’re probably not ready to leave the business.

More importantly, the business isn’t ready for you to leave either.

Taking extended time away becomes more than vacation. It’s a stress test.

Where do decisions get stuck? Who doesn’t know what to do? What requires your approval? What customer relationship depends entirely on you?

If the organization struggles when you’re gone, don’t cancel your next vacation.

Fix the dependencies.

Final Thought

As leaders, we’re responsible for creating clarity about where the organization is going. We can’t do that if every minute of every day is consumed reacting to where it is today.

Your calendar should reflect the level at which you’re expected to lead.

If your job requires you to think strategically, but your calendar only gives you time to react tactically, eventually the urgent will consume the important.

Schedule an hour. Take the day. Use the vacation. Occasionally disappear for a week or two.

Taking time away isn’t abandoning the business. Sometimes it’s one of the most productive things you can do for it.

Next in the series: Body, The Business Asset You’re Probably Not Maintaining.

About the Author

Trent Lee is a Vistage Chair, leading CEO peer groups, and helps business owners escape founder dependency and scale sustainable companies using the Value Builder System and strategic execution coaching.

Want to learn more about building a business that can execute, scale, and create long term value?

Visit www.compassleadershipadvisors.com

or connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trentrlee/