Busy is the new smoking. It’s cool to talk about how busy you are. To plow through your inbox as you run from meeting to meeting. To wake up at the crack of the dawn so you can get ahead while the world sleeps.
To revel in our busyness signals how successful we are. It also means we’re not accomplishing as much as we could be. Because when you’re constantly hustling in your business, there’s no time left for big picture thinking about your business.
That’s why successful leaders aren’t busy 24/7. They make time for solitude instead. They un-tether themselves from their smartphones, duck away from the office and spend time with no one else but their own thoughts.
When solitude breeds success
This is a key insight from Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude, a new book from Raymond M. Kethledge and Michael S. Erwin. Without dedicated time every single day in which a leader can spend in deep uninterrupted reflection, they will never be able to truly step away from the minutiae of the day-to-day and focus on what matters. Time to think strategically is a leader’s secret to success.
New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Leonhardt calls time carved out for reflection each week the Shultz Hour. He tells the story of Secretary of State George Shultz, who would sit down for one hour each week with a pen and paper. His secretary was only allowed to interrupt him if the president or his wife called. “The only way to do great work, in any field, is to find time to consider the larger questions,” Leonhardt reminds us.
It’s not just about sneaking moments away from the hectic world swirling around them. The authors claim leaders have an obligation and responsibility to make themselves inaccessible — that means no meetings, emails or interruptions — even if it inconveniences those around them. Important emails may go unanswered. Meetings might get pushed back. “So be it,” Kethledge and Erwin, the Lead Yourself First book authors, wrote in Wall Street Journal. “Scheduling a leader’s time is a zero-sum game, and fundamentally a manager must decide whether reflection and hard analytical work are important enough.”
How to schedule solitude
If you’re a hot-shot executive or CEO, it’s more acceptable to be inaccessible. People get that you don’t have time for everyone. But what if you’re not quite there (yet)? A few ways all of us can carve out time for solitude:
- Reduce the number of times you check email each day.
- Block out time on your calendar so meetings can’t be scheduled.
- Designate certain days of the week as no meeting days.
- Turn off phone notifications. Or better yet, leave it in another room.
Of course, if people are used to you replying to every email within 30 seconds, suddenly going dark for days might raise some flags. Managing expectations is key here. Here’s a perfect example. I recently exchanged emails with someone I met at a networking event. Her email signature was brilliant.
In order to best serve my clients, I will only be checking my email inbox twice a day. If something is urgent, please call XXX-XXX-XXXX.
I loved this. I knew that going forward, this was not someone I should expect instant replies from. And I loved thoughtfulness and strategy this projected about how she approached her business. It gave me something to think about how I approached my own email inbox — and my own solitude. If I wanted to work smarter, not harder, why did I have three different Gmail tabs open at all times?
Being busy or instantly accessible should not badge of honor. It means you’re not making time to think strategically about your business. Remember this next time you are about to reply to an second it hits your inbox.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.