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 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 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 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 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, 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
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 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 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 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 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 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
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 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
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.