Episode 538 - Solve the Problem That Steals Your Sleep

This episode teaches leaders how to identify and address the unresolved problems that keep them awake at night. It gives a clear action plan to take control of difficult issues and remove the stress that follows leaders home.

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 golachieving. This
is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul
fella Aledo.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hello everyone, and welcome to this seven minute leadership podcast.
It's episode five thirty eight. Today we're talking about one
of the most important leadership truths that no one likes
to admit out loud. Every leader has at least one problem,
one issue, one decision that sits in the back of
their mind and steals sleep from them. If you lead

(00:44):
long enough, something will follow you home, sit at your
dinner table, and then climb into bed with you. The
question is simple, what are you going to do about it?
That problem that does not let you sleep at night
is not a random annoyance, It's a signal. It's your
mind telling you that you have unfinished business. Leaders lose

(01:06):
sleep for a reason. The mind is relentless when something
is unresolved. So the message today is direct, do something
about the problem that does not let you sleep at night.
I'm going to break this into a structure you can
use right now. Grab notes for this one, because this
is a real world take action today style episode. First

(01:31):
identify the exact fear. Leaders often tell themselves a story
about the problem, rather than defining the problem itself. You
might say you're stressed about your team, but you're actually
stressed about one employee who's poisoning the culture. Maybe you
tell yourself you're overwhelmed by finances, but you're actually overwhelmed

(01:54):
because you've avoided the same budget conversation for six months.
Until you labeled the problem correctly, you have no chance
of fixing it, So write this down. Specific problems can
be solved. Vague problems follow you home and ruin your night. Second,

(02:15):
break the problem into one small first move. Notice I
didn't say fix the whole thing tonight. I said take
a small first move. Send the email, schedule the meeting,
call the vendor, start the draft, Block the hour on
your calendar to finally sit with it. The reason leaders
stay awake all night is because they feel powerless. A

(02:37):
single action gives you your power back. It signals to
your brain that the problem is now in motion, and
that alone lets you sleep better. Third, shrink the timeline.
Most leaders give big problems big timelines, and that's a mistake.
The longer you stretch the timeline, the heavy, the weight becomes.

(03:01):
I teach this to leadership teams all the time. When
something is keeping you awake at night, the timeline should
be short. You don't need to finish the whole project
in a day, but you do need to start the
fix within twenty four hours. That's how serious leaders operate. Next,
talk to the right person. Many leaders lose sleep because

(03:24):
they carry a problem alone that should be shared with
someone on their team. You're not meant to solve every
issue yourself. Leadership is not about doing everything it's about
improving everything. If the problem belongs with a deputy, a supervisor,
a partner, or a subject matter expert, hand it off

(03:45):
to them too. The moment you share that load with
the right person, your brain starts to relax and then
track your progress. You've heard me talk about this before.
Leaders do better when they see progress in front one
of them. Make a simple checklist for this problem. Break
it into steps, cross things off. Progress lower's anxiety. Completion

(04:10):
brings clarity, and clarity brings sleep. And here's a tactic
from the aviation world. Pilots know that when something is
wrong on the aircraft, you never ignore it, You never
hope it resolves on its own, you diagnose it, address it,
or you hand the aircraft off to someone who can.

(04:32):
You treat every unresolved issue as a potential threat to
the flight. Leaders should do the same. That problem that
keeps you awake is not going away on its own.
It's circling your runway, waiting for your attention. Deal with
it while you're still in control, and not when you're
forced to. So. Let me give you an exercise you

(04:55):
can do today, and it only takes two minutes. Number one,
write down the problem that is keeping you awake at night.
Number two write the smallest first action you can take
to fix it. Number three, put that action on your
calendar today. Number four, tell one person you trust that

(05:18):
you're taking ownership of this issue, and finally, do the
next step tomorrow. This is the playbook. Leaders do not
get rewarded for worrying. They get rewarded for action. Doing
something about the problem that keeps you awake is not optional.

(05:42):
It is part of the job. It's necessary, it's mandatory.
The message today is simple and powerful. If it keeps
you awake, it needs your attention. And if it needs
your attention, you owe it to yourself, Your team and
your mission to act now, not some day, because some
day is the reason you're not sleeping in the first place.

(06:06):
This has been the seven minute Leadership podcast, and I
thank you for listening.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
For more Paul fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.