Carrying the Weight of Leadership
Being a CEO means you’ve got the weight of your company (and employees and investors and customers) on your shoulders. And while you’re leading from the front, it can feel like you can’t afford a break.
But here’s the kicker: not taking time off might actually be holding you and your company back.
Rest: The Overlooked CEO Strategy
Vacation isn’t just about escaping the grind. It’s an essential part of maintaining your peak performance. Let’s face it, leading a company is mentally and emotionally demanding. Burnout is far too common with entrepreneurs, especially when they don’t make time for real rest. Chronic stress erodes creativity, slows decision-making, and crushes productivity. It’s like driving an electric scooter on empty. You won’t get far without recharging.
Think about your personal energy bank account. Every meeting and task is a withdrawal. If you don’t make regular deposits via sleep, meditation, breathwork, eating healthy, exercising, and spending quality time with loved ones, then your energy bank account will go into the negatives.
That’s why CEOs, just like athletes, need time to recharge physically, mentally, and emotionally.
The Energy Matrix
In the fast-paced world of entrepreneurial leadership, energy management is key to sustainable success. The Energy Matrix is a powerful tool that categorizes our emotional and physical states into four distinct zones: Survival, Burnout, Recovery, and Productivity. Each zone reflects the energy levels and emotional states impacting our work and leadership. For CEOs who often find themselves in the Survival Zone (angry, defensive, or anxious) or the Burnout Zone (exhausted, depleted, or discouraged), the instinct may be to push through in hopes of returning to productivity.
Wrong move! This approach leads to diminishing returns and worsening emotional states. Social media and the news are also the wrong moves and may contribute to your negative energy…
You must first transition to the Recovery Zone (calm, grateful, or refreshed) to regain your strength and replenish your energy. Rest and renewal are the focus here, with feelings of peace, gratitude, and Stoicism replenishing your reserves.
Pro Tip: Recovery Zone activities include sleep, meditation, breathwork, yoga, exercise, healthy eating, spending time in nature, and quality time with loved ones. What’s your #1 recovery zone activity, aka self-care habit? It’s the thing that helps you increase the likelihood of having a great day. For me, it’s 7+ minutes of meditation (with a 327 day streak). Once you figure that out, spend a few more minutes identifying the #1 recovery zone activity for your co-founder, spouse, and/or kids, so you can better support them.
After you’ve recharged in the Recovery Zone, you can successfully re-enter the Productivity Zone (enthusiastic, engaged, or flow)! This is where you feel alive, engaged, and focused on doing your best work. Skipping recovery in favor of the express lane to productivity is a treacherous trap because real growth and sustained performance require rest. The Energy Matrix reminds us that taking time for restoration is not a luxury but a strategic necessity for effective leadership.
Read more from The Energy Project about what to do when feeling stuck in the Survival Zone.
LeBron’s Sleep Playbook
Did you know LeBron James averages 12 hours of sleep a day? Typically, that’s 9 hours of sleep at night and 3 hours of napping in the afternoon. LeBron always naps on game days! LeBron understands that rest is just as crucial as practice. Now, we might not all have time for 12 hours of sleep (trust me, I’d love it too), but his routine teaches us a big lesson: rest is key to long-term success! If elite athletes like LeBron prioritize rest, shouldn’t we, as CEOs, take note?
Jesse’s Running Playbook
Then there’s Jesse Itzler, a successful entrepreneur married to Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx. He’s 56 years old and can still run marathons and 100-mile races. I’m in Jesse’s group coaching program and recently learned that in the past 20 years of training and running long-distance races, he never runs for more than 7 minutes straight!
What? How? It’s simple. He understands the winning formula = stress + rest + recovery. Run 7 mins + walk 3 mins. Run 6 mins + walk 4 mins. Repeat. The resting/walking phase allows your body to recover from the intense stress it’s been under and sustain significantly longer distances than if you kept running the whole time. The same is true for running your business…
The 2-Week Vacation Test™
This is a great book that taught me how to build a wildly successful business that can run and thrive without me. A series of seven key milestones will help you progress toward the ultimate goal of a 2-week, no-strings-attached vacation. Here are the milestones:
- One Evening 100% Off
- One Weekend 100% Off
- Done by 10:30AM™
- Full “Crush It” Day
- Mini-Vacation ← I am here 😎
- One Week 100% Off
- 2-Week Vacation Test™
To get there, use this ramp-up approach:
- You start to detach yourself from your business starting immediately
- You quickly reduce your overwhelm and the amount of tasks you manage
- You build your trust and confidence in your team over time with small steps
- You start to ask the question, “Who, not how?”
- They build confidence in themselves and have more autonomy
- You improve your operations and execution substantially
- You reduce the risks of being completely off (giving you peace of mind for when you are OOO)
- You shift your mindset with each step, letting go more and more
- You identify and fix the gaps and core issues along the way
- You accelerate the progress of your business success through small, manageable actions
- You ask your mentors and trusted advisors like us for help along the way
I’m a work-in-progress, too.
Several months ago, I blocked off 9/20-30 as a fully unplugged “One Week 100% Off” vacation to celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary (9/21) and 38th birthday (9/29). I did have a wonderful anniversary with my wife this weekend. Still, I also had to work Monday (semi-annual performance reviews that got postponed one week because of my travel schedule), Tuesday (sales meetings to finish Q3 strong), and Wednesday (review, edit, and ship Malloy’s Monthly Deal Flow).
I’m not as far along in the journey as I’d like. I’m still super pumped for my “Mini-Vacation,” featuring a 3-day music festival in Ocean City, MD, with several of my all-time favorite bands, including O.A.R., Barenaked Ladies, and Blink-182!
One-Day and One-Week Well in Advance
You don’t need to dive straight into a 2-week vacation. Open up your Google Calendar and jump ahead a few months to block off a times months in advance for the rest of this year and next year. Start small and build from there:
- One day a month. Pick a day, any day, each month and add an all-day busy event called “Recharge Day.” Block it off in your calendar and protect it fiercely. Use that day to recharge, whether it’s hiking, reading, or just being present with loved ones.
- One week a quarter. Q4 is an easy one to pick the week between Christmas and New Years. Do a favor for future you, and pick one week in all four quarters for next year and block if off now with a multi-day, all-day busy event called “Vacation.” Knowing you’ve got that time coming up gives you focus and balance.
Why CEOs Need Rest to Lead Better
Taking regular time off leads to benefits that go beyond avoiding burnout:
- Enhanced Creativity: Have your best ideas popped up while relaxing? That’s no accident. When you’re not actively focused on the grind, your brain has time and space to work through ideas.
- Better Decisions: Studies show well-rested leaders make sharper decisions. When you’re always “on,” it’s easy to miss the big picture.
- Stronger Leadership: Your team follows your lead. They’re encouraged to do the same when they see you prioritizing your mental health. And a well-rested team? That’s where the magic happens.
Need Help Taking That Much-Deserved Break?
I get it. Stepping away can feel impossible. That’s why we’re here. At Malloy Industries, we provide fractional executive services that allow you to step back without losing momentum. Whether bringing in experienced leaders to handle operations or overseeing specific functions like HR, sales, or marketing, we ensure your business keeps growing while you recharge.
Ready to plan your next vacation?
Book a free 30-minute Scalability Audit
Let’s chat about how we can help you take the time off you deserve to recharge and refocus while your business thrives.
P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here’s how we can help:
- 1:1 CEO Coaching: Email me if you’re a CEO who wants to test drive a complimentary coaching session and gain full access to my expertise, resources, and network. I just finished coaching one of my three CEOs and only have one coaching spot open.
- See if a Fractional Executive is right for you to 10X your growth with trustworthy talent on your terms. There is no pressure to hire. Just the chance to talk about your unique situation and try The Malloy Match™ to interview two of our 750+ talented experts (plus a third on request) who could help you save time and scale your company.
- Free Entrepreneur Roundtables: For entrepreneurs seeking advice at any stage to come in with problems and leave with a new lens to examine their business, helpful DIY resources, and potential solutions. Join me on Wednesdays in October at 4-4:30pm ET on Zoom.