Episode 534 - The Leadership Secret: Don’t Cram Your Schedule

This episode reveals why crammed schedules kill leadership and how leaving room for margin, joy, and real breaks makes you a more effective leader. A master template for managers everywhere.

Host: Paul Falavolito
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
performance through strong human relations, team building, and goalajiving. This
is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul
fella Aledo. Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute

(00:24):
Leadership Podcast. It's episode five thirty four today. I want
to give you a piece of advice that might sound simple,
but if you actually live by it, it can transform
your leadership and your entire organization. The lesson is this,
don't cram your schedule. I know the pressure you feel

(00:45):
as a leader, meetings stacked on top of meetings, back
to back calls, deadlines breathing down your neck. Somewhere in
that madness, you're expected to think, strategically, lead with clarity
in motive team. But let's be honest. If your calendar
looks like an air traffic controller's radar screen, where's the

(01:07):
room for joy, creativity, or even a decent lunch break.
And here's the truth. Leadership isn't just about how much
you can pack into a day. It's about what you
choose to leave out when you cram your schedule. Three
things happen. First, you stop being approachable. Your people see

(01:27):
you as too busy, too buried, and they'll hesitate to
come to you with questions, ideas, or concerns. And second,
you stop thinking clearly. You're moving so fast from one
thing to the next that all you're doing is reacting
instead of leading. In third, you burn yourself out. You
run on caffeine, adrenaline and quick snacks grabbed between tasks,

(01:52):
and that's no way to sustain great leadership. Now here's
the shift. I want you to make. Leave for spontaneous
joy and a decent lunch break. That's not weakness, that's leadership.
Think about it. If you give yourself a margin in
the day, you're available when an employee stops by with

(02:13):
good news they want to share. You're present enough to
notice the team's energy drop at two pm, and you
can walk them outside for five minutes to reset. You
have the freedom to turn a regular lunch into a
meaningful conversation that builds trust. So let me paint you
a picture two managers side by side. Manager A has

(02:37):
every minute booked. They wolf down lunch at their desk
while responding to emails, and buy three pm. Their patience
is gone. Their team knows not to bother them unless
it's an emergency, and manager B has protected white space
in their day. They take a real lunch, maybe with
a team member, maybe just for themselves. When a small

(03:01):
win happens in the office, they're free to step in, celebrate,
and keep morale high. Which manager do you think people
want to follow? Which one is actually leading? As a leader,
you need to build your schedule with intention. Block your meetings, yes,
hit your deadlines absolutely, but also schedule breathing room. I

(03:25):
call this leadership margin. That margin is where spontaneous joy lives.
That margin is where creativity gets sparked. That margin is
where you're not just a manager of tasks, but a
leader of people. So here's your master template for scheduling

(03:47):
as a leader. Number one, never book one hundred percent
of your day. Leave at least one open block every
morning and every afternoon. Number two, take a real lunch,
not a working lunch, not something you eat hunched over
at your computer, a real break to reset your body

(04:09):
and your mind. Number three protect your margin time like
it's an important meeting, because it is. Margin time is
where leadership magic happens. Number four, use open space for people,
walk around, check in, be present. That's where trust is

(04:30):
built and finally, teach your team this idea too. A
culture of NonStop cramming is contagious, and so is a
culture of margin. So I'll end with this. Nobody looks
back on their career and says, man, I'm glad I

(04:51):
skipped every lunch and work fourteen hour days without a break.
But they do look back and say, I remember when
my leader took the time to notice me, to encourage me,
and to share a real moment in the middle of
a busy day. Leadership is not just about results, It's

(05:11):
about the moments in between. Don't cram your schedule, leave
room for spontaneous joy, and never underestimate the power of
a decent lunch break. This has been the seven Minute
Leadership Podcast, and I thank you for listening. For more,
Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.