The 3 Questions Leaders Must Ask And Answer

The following is a guest piece by Scott Eblin.

During the past six of the fourteen years I’ve been an executive coach and leadership educator, my observation is that my clients are generally more stressed each year than they were the year before. The feeling of being overworked and overwhelmed has gone up year over year. One of the ways I know this is by asking a few questions at the beginning of most of my presentations.

Let’s say we have a roomful of 100 corporate executives and managers. The first question I ask is “How many of you have been promoted in the past year?” Usually around 20 or 30 percent of the audience members raise a hand. The next question is “How many of you are in the same job you were in a year ago but the scope is much bigger today?” That question brings a lot more raised hands – usually at least 80 percent of the audience.

Then I ask, “How many of you are in the same job you were in a year ago, but the performance bar has risen significantly in the past 12 months?” That’s usually about 100 percent of the hands. Finally, I ask, “How many of you are operating in a constantly changing competitive environment?” That is most definitely 100 percent of the hands.

If you’re doing the math at home, you recognize that most people are raising their hands at least twice, maybe three times or even four. So, it’s sort of obvious why they feel overworked and overwhelmed.

Beginning with the Financial Crisis of 2008, most organizations have adopted a do more with less approach to their operations. That’s one big factor that’s causing the hands to be raised. The other big factor that leaves so many feeling overworked and overwhelmed is the ubiquity of that computer masquerading as a phone that most professionals carry in their pocket or purse.

The hyper-connected pace that the smart phone enables both raises the expectations of how quickly work should be done and, at the same time, blows away any sense of boundaries most professionals have had about how they spend their time and attention.

The result is that many leaders live their lives in a chronic state of fight or flight. It’s not an immediate physical threat that puts them there. Rather, it’s the never ending stream of meetings, conversations, emails and texts that create an endless to-do list that creates a chronic condition of stress. That weakens decision making capacity, reduces the ability to focus, damages relationships and has devastating effects on the body’s overall health and well-being.

In a revealing 2013 study, researchers at the Center for Creative Leadership found that the average smart phone enabled executive, manager or professional is connected to their work for 72 hours a week. Consider that there are only 168 hours in a week to begin with. If you’re focused on work for 72 of those hours and doing essentials like sleeping, eating and bathing for 56 hours (8 hours a day), that leaves only 40 hours a week to do everything else you either need or want to do.

That leads us to an important question. Who is the only person who’s going to take care of you? You know the answer. It’s the person you see in the mirror – you.

Your life as a leader isn’t going to get any better or more effective by working harder or squeezing more work into the week. There’s simply too much to do. If you remember your introductory economics from college, you’ll recognize that the marginal utility of spending another 10 or 15 hours a week on work is very small. It’s the law of diminishing returns.

So, as you consider how to take care of yourself in a different way, I want to offer three important questions for you to consider. Collectively, these questions comprise a personal planning model I call the Life GPS® It’s the model at the heart of my new book, “Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative“.

Here are the three questions. As you consider them, I encourage you to grab a sheet of paper and jot down your answers.

1. How are you at your best?
This is a question about self-knowledge. To answer it, consider times in the past 6 to 12 months when you’ve really been in the zone, in flow or performing at your peak. They could be instances from work, your life at home or your life in the broader community. What are the words or short phrases that describe you when you’re really at your best?

2. What are the routines that enable you to show up at your best?
Aristotle wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Using his wisdom as a guide, consider the routines that you either have in your life or need to incorporate into your life to make it more likely that you show up at your best.

The routines that help you sustain your best case performance fall into one or more of four domains: physical, mental, relational and spiritual. Routines that touch on two or more of those domains have the most leverage. Build momentum by following through on the ones that are relatively easy to do and likely to make a difference. Save the harder ones for later.

3. What outcomes are you expecting at home, work and in the community?
Gandhi wrote, “In regard to every action one must know the result that is expected to follow.” With that in mind, what outcomes would you hope or expect to see in the three big arenas of life – your home, your work and your community – if you were regularly showing up at your best? You’re much more likely to reach those outcomes if you articulate them up front.

Once you have your Life GPS® use it as you would the GPS app on your smart phone. Refer to it as a guide and make adjustments when you veer off course. Don’t beat yourself up when you veer off course. All of us human beings do that.

The goal is to be more aware of when you do and more intentional about making one or two adjustments that will get you back on path. When you do, congratulate yourself. You’re recognizing that the only person who’s going to take care of you is you. When you do, your leadership effectiveness and your life both get a whole lot better.

Scott Eblin is an executive coach, speaker and author of two books, including his latest “Overworked and Overworked: The Mindfulness Alternative”. To learn more about Scott and his work, visit his website eblingroup.com. You can also connect with Scott on Twitter: @ScottEblin.