by Shawn Lovejoy: We are not wired to function without rest.

Take a moment and personalize that.

YOU are not wired to function without rest.

This is true on a base human level, but it is a good lesson for leaders as well. “Burning the midnight oil” is a great metaphor, but does not make a leader effective over the long haul.

Leaders need rest.

You need rest.

Here are 4 reasons why.

You need rest because…

Tired eyes rarely see a bright future.

Leaders are dealers of hope. Inspiring others to better days is our core task. Exhaustion causes us to see the future dimly. It is impossible to inspire when we feel stuck in the mire. Rest removes us from the pressure of the urgent to see the possibilities of the future. Those you lead are struggling to see past the immediacy of their own moment. They need you engaged in the potential of what lies ahead.

When fatigue walks in faith walks out.

Leadership is hard. At the core of a great cause is the belief that what you are doing will work. A lack of rest robs us of the strength to hold on to that belief. It is ok to get tired, but it is not ok to stay tired. You have to lead yourself enough to recognize when you need to hit pause. One indicator is when you begin to see things through the dark veil of fear. Rest renews faith.

Exhaustion makes mountains seem taller and valleys seem lower.

When a leader is tired what once looked like a challenge morphs into an impossibility. Leaders tackle big mountains and persevere through dark valleys. Perspective helps keep leaders balanced during turbulent times. Rest is the key that unlocks perspective.

Decisions when you’re worn out result in potential fall out.

I heard someone say, “Don’t make a big decision when you’re tired.” Instead of pressing through and forcing decisions it is often best to wait. If I face a major decision while I feel pressured or tired, I make the decision to wait!  When you are exhausted being decisive can become divisive. Wait, rest, then decide.

Your next leadership breakthrough may come on the other side of a nap!

talk to a coach

order now

Source: 4 Reasons Leaders Need Rest

The post 4 Reasons Leaders Need Rest appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: You’re probably feeling a little tired.

And if that’s the case, you’re not alone. Exhaustion, anxiety and stress seems to be a growing problem in leadership.

Recently, a planned sabbatical made headlines when mega-church pastor Howard-John Wesley stood before 4500 worshippers in early December and told them he was tired and taking a Sabbatical.

“I am tired in my soul,” Wesley said, among many other things he shared.

There was no scandal, no moral failure…just fatigue—a soul-weariness that most of us who have led for more than a few minutes know all too well. (The full message is a great listen for any leader struggling with fatigue…and the message is better than the articles that summarize it. Howard-John is nuanced, thoughtful and very real. Listen here.)

What encouraged me so much about Wesley was his decision to take a break before something bad happened—or at least something worse than the fatigue and frustration he confessed to. As he said in the message, he’s not burned out. He’s coming back. But he’s tired.

When you peel behind the headlines of mega-church pastor failures, business leaders who get fired, the resignations of politicians and even implosion of athletes, one common theme is that many of them were tired…dead tired. (I offer some thoughts on why mega-church pastors keep failing in this post.)

Run on empty for long, and it’s almost inevitable that you end up doing something you (and many others) will regret for a long time.

So—now the big question— why is leadership so exhausting?

Here are 5 reasons I’ve seen in my own leadership and life.

1. Your Ratio of Output to Input Is Skewed

One of the chief roles of leadership is to produce. Think about it.

As a leader, you’re responsible for:

results

content

the team

wins

changed lives

progress

widgets

financials

And that’s just a partial list.

All of which means your job as a leader is to create outputs.

But like a bank account, outputs have to be at least matched, if not exceeded, by inputs. Otherwise, you go bankrupt.

If you were to look at your life right now, what’s your ratio of output to input? My guests for most leaders it’s running 5:1. Or maybe 10:1.

That’s a problem.

Inputs for leaders include rest, learning, growth, life-giving relationships, spiritual development, healthy eating, exercise, training, outside ideas, hobbies and…(remember this?)…fun.

If your output consistently exceeds your input as a leader, you’re on the road to bankruptcy.

If your output consistently exceeds your input as a leader, you’re on the road to bankruptcy. Click To Tweet

2. You’re Never Really Off

Technology has changed so much in the last decade.

Because of the pressures of leadership, leaders have always had a hard time being ‘off’. There’s always more to be done.

But smartphones and the proliferation of inboxes on every single social platform, and ‘advances’ like Slack, email, text messaging and plain old voicemail means a leader is never really off.

You used to go to work, now, thanks to technology, work goes to you…and never leaves you.

It might be easy to think you’re just taking 5 minutes out of your family’s Disney+ movie night, but every interaction takes its toll.

I have friends in medicine who are on call all the time. They tell me they never sleep the same knowing they could be called. Even if they happen to make it through the night without a call, they still don’t wake up as rested.

These days, that’s pretty much all of us.

You used to go to work, now, thanks to technology, work goes to you…and never leaves you.Click To Tweet

3. And You’re Never Really On

In the same way work follows you everywhere you go via your pocket or purse, your life now follows you to work.

Not only are you tired from not enough sleep, and stressed from working a bit the night before, but now your whole life is accessible at work. You can book dinner reservations, text your family, check your personal social media accounts and so much more.

As a result, it’s harder to focus at work and stay productive.

You’re never really on, and you’re never really off. You just live in a perpetual grey zone.

Because of technology, you’re never really on, and you’re never really off. You just live in a perpetual grey zone. Click To Tweet

4. There’s No Finish Line

Even if you’re never really on and never really off, there’s an even bigger question: when are you done leading?

Correct. Never.

The blessing and curse of leadership is that there’s always more: more people to serve, people to reach or clients to acquire.

And then there’s better.

One of the things that drives most leaders is the desire to improve. Which is awesome, and often very needed.

But eventually, excellent brings diminishing returns. If your work amounts to, say, an 8.5 out of 10, for example, making it a 9.5 might take you hours, or days, or even thousands (or hundreds of thousands of dollars). And for what?

When something that might requires double the effort or dollars only produces 10% more, you have to question the return on investment. Especially when, in all likelihood, 10% more effort in another area might produce 30% greater results.

Unaware of the diminishing returns, most leaders keep pushing for no real reason.

And here’s the sobering reality: if you don’t declare a finish line, your body will.

If you don’t declare a finish line, your body will. Click To Tweet

5. Rest looks like weakness 

For a lot of us in leadership, rest either looks like weakness or unfaithfulness.

It’s actually just the opposite.

Elite athletes know that recovery is key to performance. Without sleep, nutrition and rest, your body just can’t perform at top levels.

Neither can you.

I still find it hard to be still, because rest looks like unproductive time to me. And deep down, I fear underneath that is laziness.

Most driven, tired leaders I know are anything but lazy. Laziness is resting when you’re not tired. Resting when you’re tired and building in recovery days and even seasons can be the difference between you leading for years or leading well for decades.

Rest isn’t weakness. A rested you is a better you and a sharper you.

Rest isn’t weakness. A rested you is a better you and a sharper you. Click To Tweet

Two Ways To Beat the Fatigue

Beyond the obvious “get some rest”, what can you do to defeat your fatigue? I’m literally writing a book on this right now, but here are two ideas that can help right now.

First, monitor your ratio of output to input. If you’re consistently putting out more than you’re taking in (as covered in Point 1), then adjust the ratio.

Reduce output voluntarily before exhaustion and burnout reduces your output involuntarily.

Second, be radically proactive about self-care. 

A decade ago, John Piper (a pastor of a large church with a global ministry) took a pro-active leave , and was exceptionally candid about some of the problems that were surfacing him that he wanted to address and work on.

In Piper’s case, there was no presenting ‘crisis’, but he felt one brewing.

In Piper’s own words:

I asked the elders to consider this leave because of a growing sense that my soul, my marriage, my family, and my ministry-pattern need a reality check from the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, I love my Lord, my wife, my five children and their families first and foremost; and I love my work of preaching and writing and leading Bethlehem. I hope the Lord gives me at least five more years as the pastor for preaching and vision at Bethlehem.

But on the other hand, I see several species of pride in my soul that, while they may not rise to the level of disqualifying me for ministry, grieve me, and have taken a toll on my relationship with Noël and others who are dear to me. How do I apologize to you, not for a specific deed, but for ongoing character flaws, and their effects on everybody? I’ll say it now, and no doubt will say it again, I’m sorry. Since I don’t have just one deed to point to, I simply ask for a spirit of forgiveness; and I give you as much assurance as I can that I am not making peace, but war, with my own sins.

Wise. Wise, wise, wise. Very wise.

If you start getting healthy before there’s a crisis, you’ll have fewer crises.

If you start getting healthy before there’s a crisis, you’ll have fewer crises. Click To Tweet

READY TO GET HEALTHIER?

Exhausted thinking about how much work is ahead of you?

Good news. A small investment will pay huge dividends in getting you healthier and freeing up time to make your organization healthier.

I’d love to help you do that.

I’ve helped over 3000 leaders free up hundreds of hours each year and often 3 hours a day to do what they feel they never have time for and get healthier in the process.

My High Impact Leader course, is my online, on-demand course designed to help you get time, energy and priorities working in your favour.

It’s perfect for leaders who feel like they never have enough time in the day to get the really important things done.

Many leaders who have taken it are recovering 3 productive hours a day.  That’s about 1000 hours of found time each year. That’s a lot of time for what matters most.

Here are what some alumni are saying about The High Impact Leader Course”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for providing the course again. It has absolutely made an impact in my life and family already that I can’t even describe.” – Joel Rowland, Clayton County, North Carolina

“Just wow.  Thank you, thank you.” Dave Campbell,  Sioux Falls South Dakota

“A game-changer.” Pam Perkins,  Colorado Springs, Colorado

Curious? Want to beat overwhelm and have the time to reflect, rest and reinvent yourself?

Click here to learn more or get instant access.

What Are You Sensing?

So, what do you think contributes to the exhaustion so many leaders feel?

And how are you learning to prevent it?

Scroll down and leave a comment!

The post Why Leadership Is So Exhausting—And What to Do About It appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: Why Leadership Is So Exhausting—And What to Do About It

The post Why Leadership Is So Exhausting—And What to Do About It appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: The Positive Side of Leading Under Pressure

The post The Positive Side of Leading Under Pressure appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Rich Birch: Welcome to the unSeminary podcast. We’re honored to have Darryl Dash with us today from Liberty Grace Church in Toronto.

Liberty Grace Church is unusual in that it’s a fairly small church with a storefront that meets at four o’clock in the afternoon in the middle of a wealthy section of Toronto. Technically they are Baptist, but Liberty Grace doesn’t make a big deal of the denomination and instead focuses on being authentic and honest about faith in Christ.

Darryl is with us today to talk about engaging the culture in Toronto and how to help people wrestle through what it means to grow in their relationship with Christ.

What do you think it means to be fully alive? // Liberty Village, the place where Liberty Grace is located, is a well-off community where everyone has good jobs and nice houses, and yet there is a restlessness inside people in which many of them still aren’t happy. Darryl uses this as a conversation opener as he reaches out to people and discusses what it means to be a Christ follower. He finds wisdom from the book of Ecclesiastes helpful. It tells us if we have a good job enjoy it. If you like good food and wine, enjoy them. Enjoy nice clothes. But in the end, they won’t satisfy you. The road to happiness is not found by pursuing happiness, but by pursuing God. And by pursuing God, not only do you get to enjoy His gifts, but you get to enjoy Him. That doesn’t make you into a “serious” person as Christians are often perceived, but rather fully alive.
Take the pressure off. // We live in a tired society that’s sick of proving themselves so at Liberty Grace they try to ease people into encountering Jesus and his claims. The last thing people need is more pressure so the church works to create a space where people can come in messy, honest, full of questions, struggles and doubts. We need to make a place that they feel safe and connected to Jesus. There are habits that lead to growth, but it begins with Gospel + safety + time.
A culture of shame vs a culture of guilt. // We’ve moved away from a sense of guilt in our culture to a culture of shame. No one would say there’s a set of objective standards or moral laws that we’re violating, but that’s been replaced with a sense that there’s something deeply flawed within me. It’s often this feeling that opens people up to the Gospel message.
Help people develop habits to make them grow. // Because people exploring the Christian faith can feel overwhelmed by taking next steps, Darryl has tried to break down developing spiritual disciplines into practical, bit-sized habits. LifeWay did a study about what behaviors Christ followers want to cultivate and what leads to those results. Liberty Grace took these learnings and asks people to commit to three things in a very manageable way. First: encounter the Word of God. The truth is that even within churches, most people don’t read the bible. Most people sitting in a church haven’t heard scripture since the last time they were in church. Help them break it down into something they can ease into—a three day plan of reading some verses, then moving into a five day plan, a seven day plan.
Speak with God. // The second habit is prayer. Don’t come to God thinking you need to be pious or put together, just come with your mess. Share everything with Him. Make it much more relational and conversational. View it as a way to manage your life with God’s help rather than another thing to add to your life.
Open up to each other. // And third, get involved with community and worship within a church. Begin to open your life to people. We tend to hide what is really going on in our lives instead of letting others in and finding that support we need. Be real with each other.

You can contact Darryl or find more information about his book How to Grow: Applying the Gospel to All of Your Life at www.dashhouse.com. You can find out more about Liberty Grace Church at www.libertygrace.ca.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! 

Lightning Round

Helpful Tech Tools // Appsumo

Ministries Following // Capitol Hill Baptist Church

Influential Book // High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way by Brendon Burchard

Leader to meet // Warren Buffet

What you do for fun // Explore Toronto

Contact // dashhouse.com or libertygrace.ca

Source: Communicating Spiritual Growth in a Multicultural Global City Context with Darryl Dash – unSeminary

The post Communicating Spiritual Growth in a Multicultural Global City Context with Darryl Dash appeared first on Passion for Planting.