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Ascendant leaders make good decisions about the focus of their work, especially when overseeing a portfolio of projects.  There’s no formula for this, but here are questions and concepts which I’ve found helpful in project oversight.  Which resonate the most with you?  Any you would add? 

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What problem, if fixed permanently, would make a whole bunch of other problems disappear?

It’s never Problem vs. No-problem.  What problems do you prefer to have?

What’s good enough, so we can divert resources to creating breakthrough and high ROI deliverables?

For what am I willing to be yelled at?

Use imagination in planning: What story do I want to be able to share, with whom, when?  What position do we want to be in, relative to competitors, in 3 years?

Am I solving something just for my area, or something greater? (Greater attracts funding from top-down)

Beware of over-complicating: NASA built a zero-gravity space pen; the Soviets used a pencil.

Who to go with?  Which people (sponsors, leaders, stakeholders, execution team, etc.) give you the best opportunities for brag-worthy results?

Old wisdom: You can’t solve a problem at the same level the problem exists; either go up a level or down a level.

It’s possible to time-slice yourself into zero deliverables.

I’ve spent years working on improving personal and group productivity. When someone asks why I’m so productive I respond by saying “I must be.” I can be easily irritated about wasted time, and inefficient processes.  

But it’s not really about time.  It’s about energy.

Let’s work from first principles in physics.  Energy is conserved.  Time is tied to the fabric of space and is not conserved.  Time is experienced and is not a constant. Momentum is mass times energy.  Friction is about degrading energy of a system.  I’m sure you can extrapolate from physics to human relationships and organizations. 

We’re biological entities.  Just as chemistry cannot be fully explained by physics, biology cannot be fully explained by chemistry.  Somehow, mysteriously, energy and biology have different dynamics which are not fully explained by equations.  Like time, energy is experienced in flexible ways in biological systems.

Think of your personal experiences – there are some activities, some moments, which energize you, seemingly giving you more energy than you expended.  These are always associated with focus and intensity.  There is sharpness, not fuzziness.  They feel crystalline and solid, even if we cannot fully explain them.  They’re memorable. 

The desire for this feeling of focused energized whatever-this-is can be addictive. It’s significant that people who overdose on opioids, when brought “back to life with Narcan,” are not grateful, but angry and furious – you destroyed their high.  Joy in the wrong things leads to anger and dissolution, not integrity of being and purpose.

By contrast, consider your experience with boredom.  No energy for what’s around you, but an odd kind of energy driving you to find something worth focusing your energy.  (Doesn’t have to be good for you, you’re still seeking it!) 

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The Self-leadership paradigm must be energy management (including focused attention), not time management.  You can manage your energy and decide where to put your attention.  You cannot manage slippery, subjective time. 

No one is paid for their time.  Oh, we use the language of hourly wages, and fee for hours.  But we pay for value delivered.  It’s simpler to pre-decide a rate for hour.  If we were truly paid for our time, then we could sit at home doing something else and we’d still be paid.   I’m paid an annual salary, partitioned into pay periods.  I can calculate my effective hourly rate.  There are some hours when I provide amazing value to the Company, and many others I don’t – this is the 80/20 nature of the knowledge work and leadership which I’m responsible to deliver.  “The worker is worthy of his wages” (Leviticus 19:13) but the issue is not time, it’s energy and value delivery.

Sometimes as parents we talk about “quality” time and “quantity” time with kids.  All the quality comes from energetic focus, not passive co-habitation of the same building.  Pastor Kent Wagner used to tell our congregation, “There are only two kinds of marriages; those being worked on, and those which aren’t.”  I think this is true for most relationships.  It’s about energy: input, flow, experienced output.

I frequently recommend The Power of Full Engagement to leaders.  The authors recognized that top athletes develop specific rhythms for recovery after expending energy. There are effective recovery rituals between points in tennis, between sprints, pre- and post- marathons, over seasons of sports.  Recovery rituals maintain one’s ability to perform at high levels over years.  The Jewish people were instructed that sundown the beginning of the day – family togetherness and rest coming before the workday. The Sabbath was God’s recovery design for the work week. These are crucial concepts for lifelong productivity.

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Time does have a certain kind of power.  Creation is affected by time.  Our ability to work is affected by time. Time constrains us as we strain against it.  “Time heals all things” – cute, partially correct in experience, but energy is required for healing.  “Time erodes all things” is true in entropy-reality universe, but there is no erosion or decay without energy transfer. 

The idea of eternity challenges our imagination.  He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV)  I suspect that life in perfect fellowship with God and with one another, unstained by sin, would not feel long, because the energy and focus is in proper balance.  As Seth Godin noted, long is not the problem, boring is.  

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We must pay attention to energy flows for anything and everything we care about.

Our sun releases the energy equivalent of 4 million tons of matter each second, about 4 x10 to the 26th power in watts, of which only a tiny fraction hits planet earth.  Ultimately all our energy, aside from nuclear power we engineer (which imitates the sun) and geothermal sources, comes from this fractional energy of our sun.  Fossil fuels represent a store of ancient solar energy.  Wind and wave power is derived from uneven heating of the planet.  All our food comes from photosynthesis – three cheers for Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase!  Even at our most primitive state we swim in a world of massive energy transfer and interactions. Prior to engines, we relied on the energy of the wind, the rivers, and the bodies of men and animals. Most people are quite surprised to learn their basal metabolic rate, the number of calories our bodies burn at rest.  

Energy consumption is at the back of everything we hold dear.  In geopolitics, agriculture, trade, manufacturing, and transportation, you can always begin with energy.  It’s the single most common factor across every aspect of civilization. 

In all the enthusiasm for ai, cryptocurrencies, robots, and EVs, I rarely see a discussion about the massive electricity requirements.  It’s difficult to find good numbers on the amount of energy required to manufacture and transport the components that are used to build giant windmills and solar farms, and batteries of all kinds.  We should be sober and include these in net energy calculations.

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Have you ever considered the return on the watts of power flowing through your body?  Measured your contributions as return on watts used?  It’s depressing.  Small numerator, large denominator.

Which brings me to the inexhaustible, unending love and grace of God, the most perfect energy source we experience.  Our contributions are teeny, we’re highly inefficient, yet dearly loved.  It’s not about you, me, or us.  We can’t earn it, and certainly don’t deserve it. The beauty comes because God chose people to be the vehicles and conduits of His truth and grace to the people around us.  This is the most important energy transfer of all.

I place a high value on the ability to think clearly, especially in this age of distraction and general anxiety.  It’s useful to consider the enemies of clear thinking:

• Pride, emotional unsteadiness, anger
• Unhealthy eating, and overeating
• Overly sedentary, for hours and days
• Undisciplined or purposeless use of unscheduled time
• Isolation and self-obsession (different than solitude)
• Only using comfortable sources of information
• Trying to be informed about all current events
• Prioritizing urgent and inconsistent instead of long-term and consistent
• Being rigidly unimaginative
• Placing myself outside of accountability and authority structures
• Staying inside all the time

Recognizing these enemies helps us choose alternative and better behaviors.

One step out our back gate is National Park property, the Live Oaks Naval Nature Preserve, established by President John Quincy Adams. Trees from this forest were used in building the USS Constitution, known as “Old Ironsides” We enjoy the easy access to miles of trails; it’s unusual to see more than a handful of other people in two hours of hiking around.

The National Park Service did a controlled burn in the section nearest to us this week. It’s been 12+ years since it was last done, long overdue. This area is a relatively dry place, despite our seasonal rains, because we’re fundamentally on a sand spit sticking into Pensacola Bay.  Most of the native plants have waxy leaves and can stand long rainless stretches of hot weather. The tangle of underbrush, vines, and dry leaves is a fire hazard waiting to happen, given our area has more lightning strikes than almost anywhere else in the continental US. 

NPS rangers closely monitored the fire; our property was never in danger.  Still, the abundant smoke and ash was alarming.  I repeatedly peeked out the back gate to watch the flames. We had a good rain the following day which delayed the opportunity for more burning.  I don’t know if they will do more soon, or if this will be ‘enough.’

Fire is a natural part of the forest ecosystem life cycle, but it’s hard to see so much burned up, and scorch marks high on tree trunks.  Many small animals (squirrels, armadillos, coyotes, lizards, turtles, snakes, possums, raccoons, and many birds) will find new homes for a season.  Our black bears cover large distances regularly. They can easily avoid the burned area. It is the season for the new cubs but I’m not aware of any dens in this forest. I was relieved to see an osprey perched on the nest, high atop a scorched tree, apparently pleased to be able to see me from a hundred yards away. 

I know too from an uncontrolled burn in a different part of this forest last year:  all the plants with extensive root systems will recover, with green shoots in a few days.  This is true for both ‘nice’ plants like palmettos and ‘not nice’ plants like the six varieties of vines that can grow 1-2” per day. The contrast of the green leaves emerging against the blackened ground is remarkable.

All this has made me wonder, “Is there value in a controlled burn in my habits, practices, and ‘stuff’?  Where would the value be in a fresh start?  What are the equivalent of extensive root systems that I should honor?  Can I initiate a burn myself, or does this process require an outside force?”  Worth pondering more.

I notice that when I pray for peace, I will be given more opportunities to be a peace-maker.  When I pray for blessing of healing for my mother’s physical ailments, I have more opportunities to be a comforter to her.  When I pray for courage to speak wisely into a difficult conversation, I’m handed additional opportunities to be courageous.  (I see remarkably things I cannot explain apart from a divine act, but they always come with opportunities.)

A significant part of growing as a leader is the willingness to step into opportunities for leadership, rather than turning aside.  Don’t go to the brink of experience and shuffle away.

Rereading Paradise Lost recently has encouraged me to think more about pride.  Here’s an important observation: Pride is never used in a positive sense in the entire Bible. Not once.

We say things like “I’m proud of you!”  and “I feel a sense of pride over what I’ve created.”  We should be careful about this. 

Pride distorts our internal heroic, causation, and victim stories.  In league with Pride we resist changing our minds even with abundant evidence that we’re mistaken.  Pride is a terrible burden we refuse to lay down. Pride has a loud voice but knows precisely when a whisper will accomplish its purpose.  See a man who refuses to do the right thing?  Scratch the surface to see the handiwork of Pride.

Pride, insecurity, and immaturity are root causes of our struggles to get along well with one another – as well as our capacity for self-sabotage.  (I talked about this in my no-longer-available book, Ministering Effectively to Tough-to-Love People.)  Understanding this is key to seeing below the surface behaviors to what’s really going on – both in yourself and in others.

For a long season of years I flew so frequently that I could almost always fly business or first class with my accumulated miles.  I paid close attention to what other business travelers were reading.  There was the occasional person reading a trendy business book, but most of them were reading history, biography, and spiritual content.  I’m convinced that these business leaders had come to realize that others in their organization would figure out the tactical and technical details.  Their job required assessing the big picture, multiple contexts and possible scenarios, and dealing with people.  That’s why they were studying history, biography, and spiritual books.

I especially recommend biographies.  It’s one of the easiest ways to learn history, too.  You get to see how someone else handled difficult situations and difficult people.  You can see how someone else grew through adversity, and what remained a stumbling block for them.  You are reminded that you’re not the first or only person in your situation.  Some people become virtual mentors for you.

Biographies are a complementary tool to Google searches and ChatGPT for leadership questions.  

Machiavelli famously addressed the question whether it is better for a ruler to be loved or feared in The Prince.  It’s better to be loved, but difficult.  So, at a minimum, be feared. 

That’s remains the sound counsel for rulers.  What about you, leading and managing in a less violent, less existential environment? My own view is that excellent leadership and management are acts of love, seeking the highest good for the organizations and individuals.  But love is an awkward word to use to describe our professional relationships.  Fear compels corrosive behaviors in the long run.  

Let’s ask “Is it better to be liked or respected?” 

I’ve met only a few people who didn’t want to be liked.  I didn’t think they had a healthy mindset about relationships.  I will posit that being liked is a good thing.  It feels good.

But leaders and managers must make decisions, and inevitably, some individuals and groups will not like your decision.  They’ll grow to dislike you, too, because the realm of “like” is fuzzy, messy, and does not carefully distinguish between decision, action, and fundamental person. 

Aiming to be universally, perpetually liked is an impossible goal. Even sustaining this for a few years will require self-deception on your part, and flat-out deceit on the part of others. That goal will force you into making poor decisions because you’re prioritizing the wrong things, and frequently.  Your downfall will be swift, with a painful crash.

Abandon the idea that you’ll always be liked.  Work hard to be respected. Respect is earnable.  It has staying power.  We know from experience that people can dislike a decision, even dislike you, but retain respect for you.  A certain amount of respect will be granted you by position.  You must consistently earn the rest.

True:  The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Also true:  Humans, processes, and procedures are not points.  Product development, logistics, and sales are not linear.  Relationships cannot be built or mended by geometric proofs.

The “hero’s journey” story archetype involves interim defeats and struggles before the final victory — and the hero is transformed during the journey. 

Leadership has very little to do with straight lines.   This calls for patience with curves, roller-coasters, and dancing.

We have powerful stories in our heads.  They create a landscape of inner narratives.

We invent causation stories to make meaning of events.  “This happened because of that.”

We tell ourselves heroic stories about our situation.  “I’m fighting against X.”  “I’m taking a stand for this.”  “I won’t do that because I’m principled.” 

We have victim stories, too.  “It’s not my fault because…”  “I would be better off if only this hadn’t happened.”  Some we invent, others we inherit from influencers.

These stories don’t need to be true, only believed and treasured.  When I realize I have a un-truthful story in my head, I need to seek forgiveness, or at least clear out the head trash to make room for a truthful story.  This is difficult work.

Some of our strongest stories were seeded when we were children.  Jesus had such a harsh word for adults who mislead children, or exploited their naïve trust: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6, NIV)

We can make strong connections with someone when we can tap into the stories in their head.  This can be done for good and for evil. 

It’s an interesting exercise to read the Gospel accounts and see how Jesus is interacting with the stories people have been telling themselves about history, their circumstances, and their beliefs.  There are insights here about pastoral care.  Study any persuasive politician or business leader and you’ll see this engage-with-their-head-stories, too. 

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One of the interesting, variable stories in our heads:  How much energy and reserve do we have?

Physiologists learned long ago that when your muscles are screaming to your brain “We’re done, stop!” you still have 40% or more in reserve.  (This is different than runners hitting the wall when the glycogen in your muscles and liver is exhausted, and your body switches over to less efficient gluconeogenesis.)  Your body is trying to protect itself from potential injury.  Your will can overcome this, and indeed, it’s good to train to overcome this.  Special Forces training reinforces that you can do far more than you think you can. 

I think many of us get to points where we say to ourselves, “I got nothin’ in the tank.  I’m done.”  Maybe that’s just a few hours or a day, sometimes it’s our story for a season.  Seasons can last a long, long time. 

Many people I know who ponder job changes are in just such a season.  And divorces.  And other addictions.  Many of us get confused about experiences of boredom, duty, and emptiness.  We put the wrong things in our tanks.  We develop unhelpful metrics about the passage of time.

One of the best reasons to take a weekly Sabbath rest is to forestall burnout.  I’ve written about this before and still think it’s remarkable:  Days, months, and years all have an astronomical basis, but not weeks. The idea of a week with a day of rest is a spiritual revelation.  The Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) because we’re commanded to do things which are good for us but aren’t natural.  At times we need more rest than we would usually give ourselves; at other times we need to work harder six days a week than we want to.

I find it helpful to say to myself as I lie down at night, “I’m tired, but this rest will be good for me and I will awake refreshed.”  I do the same thing when I take short naps.  This helps me keep the correct, truthful story in my head.

There are moments in life where our tank is truly empty.  This is where community and family are crucial.  Smart people get help. 

What about more typical moments when we’re running on fumes? People say “Dig deep.  Pull up strength from within.”  That works to an extent.  It’s not necessarily bad advice, especially when the truth is that we’re tougher than the story of weakness in our head.

An alternative to digging deep is reaching high.  The grace of God is inexhaustible.  He knows our frame.  He is ever before us, even (especially) when we feel desperately alone and weary.  The whole story of the Bible is God’s generosity at work with people He created to be co-laborers, co-operating the planet, sending rain and sun on the evil and the good.

Another story category:  Trust stories.  Who can you trust?  Who do you trust?  Our experiences shape these stories.  A friend who is in a “dark night of the soul” passage wisely tells me that he trusts in God’s unchanging character even if he can’t see how God is directing him.

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Which brings us to another story in our heads:  Our identity.

If our identity becomes too closely bound up with our job, or things we do and don’t do, we’re going to accumulate and strengthen head trash on our roller-coaster ride through life.  I chatted recently with a 31-year-old digital marketer who is watching GPT bots do in minutes what he does in weeks.  He told me he’s curled in a fetal position wracked with anxiety about who he is if he has no living wage potential as an online marketer.  I know people in similar angst in their 20’s, 40’s, and 50’s. 

“Know thyself” was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo in the ancient Greek precinct of Delphi.  Oscar Wilde suggested that “Be Thyself” would be carved on modern temples.  Frankly, I wonder if we should be a wee bit less obsessed with ourselves!   But knowing ourselves – not arrogantly, not independently, not to enhance our selfishness – is necessary to a healthy identity.  Parts of our identity remain constant, and parts will evolve and adapt over time.  This is natural and expected.   Exploring the stories in our heads is key to understanding ourselves.

What stories are in your head?  What stories are occupying the people in your sphere of influence, and your enemies?  This landscape matters.