Col. Nicole Malachowski USAF (retired) spoke to the Vistage Women in Leadership national conference on Friday. A fighter pilot and the first women to fly in the Air Force Thunderbirds, Col Malachowski later commanded the 333rd Fighter Squadron with over 1600 personnel. And more. Talk about an impressive career!
While there were many, many take-aways from her talk, particularly pertinent to our Covid time was this: we can not give more than 100%. That is all we have. And, we cannot have our throttles set to 100% all the time or we will burn out. She asked her team to set their rheostats for 85….so when they surged, which they had to do more when needed, they would have enough in reserve to fight full out for short bursts of time.
Is this what we ask of our team? Is this what we do ourselves?
I don’t think so. I don’t do it well, and the folks I coach don’t do it well. That can-do attitude and extreme positivity many of us share leads to regular bouts of total burn out. Add the pandemic, the unpredictability and fear of economic survival and running on fumes is a constant refrain.
Let’s get a grip. What reserves do you have right now?
Let’s do a little recalibration here. What would that look like?
- Only do what you should be doing, not the work of people who report to you. Track how many hours that is, and address the root cause.
- Set boundaries on your time. Get private work time on your calendar and hold it sacred.
- Watch your energy level. When you are “hangry”, tired, or grouchy, you are not being inspiring or even very efficient.
- Plan rejuvenation time into your calendar. It could be exercise, time with a friend who makes you laugh or video games. Pick something that recharges you. My new puppy makes me laugh – totally distracting me from everything else.
Remember we are in this for the long haul. Set your rheostat accordingly.