A tired leader is an ineffective leader. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but over time when we fail to take time for rest our leadership suffers. We live in a culture that has long considered working to exhaustion, sucking it up when others won’t, and having a “git ‘er done” mentality badges of honor. I have too for much of my life. I’ve counted it as evidence that I’m a true leader when I’ve worked more hours than most of the people around me. When folks mentioned working a double shift at their factory jobs, I’ve thought, “I work 14-16 hours in a day at least once a week and have never been paid a penny of overtime, since my work as a pastor is a salaried position.”
Looking back over my life, I remember periods in my younger days when I worked more than 80 hours a week as a carpenter and as a pastor on a regular basis. I DID get a lot accomplished, AND during those times I also made some of the worst decisions of my life. Were the two connected? Definitely. Our judgment gets impaired when we lack rest. Study after study has shown that sleep deprivation, and “running on empty” contribute to on the job accidents for those who work in blue collar situations, and poor decisions regardless of what type of work we do. Nevertheless, there are those particularly in my generation (Baby Boomers) who still push and push at work considering rest a luxury that comes with retirement.
While generational studies show that Gen Xers’ and Millennials tend not to be as driven as groups as Baby Boomers, the tendency to undervalue rest and overvalue drivenness in the work place and in life is still strong. Several years ago, as I was considering “Life Management,” the overall practice of caring for the important matters of life that contribute to being healthy and growing people, I came up with seven components and the first was REST. I realized that in the very order of creation in Genesis 1, God established days as starting at night or evening. In the record of creation at the end of each day, the account reads, “There was EVENING and MORNING…” Why? Why do the days start in the evening and not in the morning? We consider days to start when we get up and get going. We talk about “FIRST thing in the morning…” As I reflected on it, this thought came to me: What if evening comes first, because God expects us to REST before we work? What if we get up in the middle of the day, to show that God has been working all night and we join Him in His work, rather than asking Him to join us in ours?
That kind of thinking has revolutionized my approach to rest. I realized what the Bible makes clear from cover to cover: I work first and foremost to fulfill God’s plan for my life, not to demonstrate that I am a leader, or that I’m significant, or that I’m more effective than others, or for any other reason. When I recognize my role as God’s co-worker, who works to carry out His plan for me, then I get my value more from who I am than what I do. I work just as hard as I ever have, but I’ve started to value rest. In fact, as I write these words I’m on vacation. I’ve come to realize that I need to sleep 7-8 hours each night, take an hour each day to invest time with God, a day each week away from work (what the Bible calls Sabbath) and then I need to take regular times away from work (what we call vacation, and what I’ve come to consider rest and renewal time). When I do that, my energy level for the hours I do work is higher. I focus better, and I accomplish as much in fewer hours as I did when I was always working to exhaustion. I also prioritize better. I don’t do so many things that don’t need to be done in the first place, nearly as much.
If you’re thinking, “That’s okay for an old guy, but I have to get as much done as I can while I can,” remember: God created a rhythm of rest and work in the fabric of creation for our benefit. He designed us and He knows what WORKS best for us. We work best with rest. If you want to lead effectively, and particularly if you are a leader at work, investing time to rest by sleeping enough, turning to God for a daily time with Him, stopping our work once a week and regularly throughout the year to rest, reflect, and be renewed will result in honoring God AND being more productive.
I challenge you to try it for a month if you’re one of those work ’til you drop people. It will take you a month to start to experience the benefits. If you’re on the fence after a month give it one more month. At worst, you’ll lose a few hours of work each week, and you can get back to your driven life when you want. At best, you’ll discover that you are a more effective person, worker, spouse, parent, and leader than you have been to this point. You’ll be in a position to emphasize what’s really important in your life, and in all likelihood you’ll be physically healthier too!
One final note about rest: rest is more than not working. Watching television for three hours is not resting. Playing video games all evening is not resting. Mowing your grass is not resting. Rest is sleeping, or reflecting on your life, or taking a walk with your spouse or child, and talking about what’s important to them and how they’re doing right now. It’s praying or journaling. It may even be writing a post in your blog that causes you to look back on your life and consider what’s really important. No one lying on their death bed says, “I wish I would’ve shown up at the office an extra five hours each week,” but plenty wish they had paused their work life more frequently to invest more time with loved ones, to develop their relationship with God and even in taking the time to consider what was truly important.
Here’s to leading better when it comes to leading ourselves in the area of rest–today!