The Importance of Managing Your Mental Energy as a Leader
Leaders have many responsibilities, but none as important as having the clarity to make good decisions. Effective leadership begins with managing one’s mental energy and intentionally using their time and attention to enable good judgment and decision-making. In an ever-connected modern world and the relentless flow of information, however, has made this much more difficult. This article aims to share some research behind the topic as well as offer some considerations for managing your own mental energy.
Our relationship with technology, especially internet-enabled tools like e-mail and smartphones, is complicated by the fact that it mixes benefits with harm. Technology empowers leaders in many ways but also threatens a foundational aspect of leadership— the ability for a leader to control her/his mental energy and time.
Technology-Driven Changes
The former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, in 2010 said, “From the dawn of civilization to 2003, five exabytes of data were created. The same amount was created in the last two days.” Schmidt’s statement highlights both the magnitude and speed of change brought about by the internet and computing power over the last two decades. These changes, along with the proliferation of wireless internet, smart phones, and e-mail, have fundamentally changed the way we communicate and interact with one another. The change, according to developmental psychologist Robert Kegan, was identified as one we are not mentally ready for in his book, In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life.
Since a leader’s job relies heavily on interpersonal engagement, it’s worth taking some time to think more deeply about how these drastic changes in human behavior have impacted leadership. Below are four impacts for leaders to be aware of:
Information Overload. Leaders today can access information at the click of a button. SharePoint pages, Drop Box folders, and shared drives contain endless amounts of information. Similarly, research is at our fingertips with a click on the internet. While information can aid in decision-making and outside perspectives can be positive, the amount of information can sometimes be overwhelming and lead to over-analysis. This can influence a leader to ruminate over a decision or doubt themselves for not selecting the most optimal course of action; it can result in “analysis paralysis” and regret.
Over Accessibility. Simply put, being accessible all the time can lead to burnout. Smartphones that allow instant access to information are carried in the pockets of nearly 260 million Americans, including 96% of people ages 18-29. At work, many leaders are given “work phones” or instructed to download work e-mail apps to they can always be reached. These expectations and the blurring of work and personal boundaries can be exhausting, which has driven burnout to all-time highs. That is why MG Beagle, when Commander of the 10th Mountain Division, famously issued an order limiting communication of non-mission critical information after duty hours.
Distraction. Relationships can suffer due to distraction. Whether it’s a text message, new e-mail notification, Teams chat, or social media app push notification about a post, our networked tools are full of notifications that persistently pull us away from tasks. While we’ve now become distracted almost unknowingly, these constant tugs at our attention come with a hefty price. Researchers from the University of California- Irvine studying workplace distractions found that it can take employees over 20 minutes to refocus and complete a task after being interrupted. Added throughout the day, these distractions can hurt productivity and drain one’s mental energy. When distractions take place during meetings with our colleagues and subordinates, it could erode the quality of our time with them and impact how they view us.
Multi-tasking. Performance can suffer due to the illusion of multitasking. The addictive nature of distractions and our inability to manage them has given way to and normalized multi-tasking. Commonly known as the performance of multiple tasks at the same time, the author of Atomic Habits, James Clear, describes multi-tasking more deeply. He explains, “multi-tasking forces your brain to switch your focus back and forth very quickly from one task to another. This wouldn’t be a big deal if the human brain could transition seamlessly from one job to the next, but it can’t.” Researcher David Rock found that performance can decrease by up to 50% when focusing on two mental tasks at once.
On a deeper level, these tools have conditioned our brains to always be racing. In a series of studies focused on subjects being alone in a room for six to 15 minutes, researchers at the University of Virginia found that people would rather shock themselves than be alone with their thoughts for that period of time. Living in this state of responding to e-mails, messages, and to others’ requests can be draining and deprive a leader of the time needed to spend time reflecting to find the clarity, creativity, and emotional balance he or she needs to make hard decisions.
“A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” -Herbert Simon, 1977. Nobel Prize-winning economist
The good news is, often, we are in charge of how we employ these tools and manage our time and mental energy. Below are a few things leaders could do to better manage their mental energy:
-Track your day with an activity log. Self-awareness is critical to leadership and behavior change. One way to build your self-awareness on how you spend your time and energy is to audit your time. The best way to do this is a time study or an activity log where you track how you spend your time in 15-minute increments. There are numerous other formal and informal ways to do to capture how you spend your time. Regardless how you do it, it’s important to build self-awareness and you can reflect on how to better spend your time and energy.
-Deliberately schedule your time. Remember what we said earlier about distractions? Entering into a state that allows for intensive mental work to occur can take up to 20 minutes (even with ideal conditions). As junior leaders, you don’t always have control of your schedule. But there are periods in the day where you are in control of your time and energy. These periods of time could be during periods outside work, such as the ride into the office or at the gym later in the day. Plan out when and where you will execute intensive mental work (mornings are generally the most effective time) and protect that time.
-Be fully present when interacting with others. Leaders must earn the trust of their subordinates and peers. One proven way to earn trust is through a genuine demonstration that you care about your soldiers, which can be done by giving them your full attention when interacting with them. Former Secretary or the Department of Veterans Affairs, Robert A. McDonald, was well known for having his phone away during staff meetings as well as individual meetings with subordinates. This type of intentionality shows others you value them and builds the trust they have in you. So, while it may be hard to do, leave your phone behind or put it in airplane mode when you are in a meeting or talking with your soldiers.
-Create boundaries. Leaders often communicate left and right limits when on a range or conducting missions. However, we fail to set the proper boundaries with our use of technology, especially our smart phones and e-mail. There was a time—about 15 years ago—where leaders didn’t have smart phones and weren’t accessible all the time. So don’t be afraid to create boundaries around when you check e-mail in the evening, or when you’d like your subordinates to call versus text or talk in person instead of e-mail. Establishing these personal boundaries as well as expectations with your colleagues will create more opportunities for you to manage your time and energy (it could also help your team develop communication skills that increase your effectiveness in tactical situations as well).
-Find Solitude. Leaders need to create time and space to think deeply about issues. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, famously used “think weeks” to retreat to an isolated cabin in the woods to reflect on important decisions for his company. We don’t all have the ability to retreat for long periods of time to think about key issues, but we do have the ability to seek solitude throughout our daily lives. Solitude, as defined by the authors of Lead Yourself First, is “a state of mind, a space in which to focus one’s own thoughts without distraction… and free from the input from other minds.” Solitude helps leaders find clarity, creativity, moral courage and emotional balance—all important factor in leading ourselves and others. Understanding that solitude is a subjective state, it can be found on a solitary hike or in the corner of a coffee shop—anytime where we have time to think that’s free from the input of others. One thing to remember– solitude is only accessible to us if we seek it.
Technology has fundamentally changed how we interact with and lead others. Equally important, it has impacted how we spend our time and energy. As leaders, we must understand this fundamental shift and reflect on how we can use technology in the most useful way possible. We don’t have to return to the “good old days” or try to replicate the practices of leaders from 15+ years ago, but we do need to be cognizant of some of the pitfalls that can unintentionally harm our ability to be lead ourselves and others.
Mark Erwin is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve. He is a Military Intelligence Officer who has served as a leadership instructor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership at West Point as well as in operational positions with the State Department Bureau of Counterterrorism and the Joint Staff J2. He currently serves in the Center for Junior Officers.
