Plan exercise, rest, and time off with the same care as the work.
The busiest periods of a leader’s year tend to leave the least room to recover. A major launch, quarter-end, annual planning, and a large client pursuit each bring more decisions, more conversations, and new tasks every day. In those weeks, energy matters as much to performing well as preparation or skill. Leaders who sustain strong performance year after year plan their recovery the same way they plan the work, so it is in place before the busy stretch begins.
Clear thinking is the first thing fatigue wears down, often well before the amount or polish of someone’s work starts to slip. That matters more as AI changes the shape of a leader’s day. AI is taking on more of the drafting, research, and preparation that once filled the calendar, which leaves more of the day for the decisions that need a leader’s full attention: which priorities to fund, what to tell a client, when to change course. Work can also reach people at any hour, so recovery rarely happens unless someone plans for it.
Stress and fatigue come with any role that asks a lot of you, and a few practical habits keep them in check. Watch for the early signs in your decisions, build exercise and recovery into your busiest weeks, recharge in the quieter seasons, set up your team so you can step away completely, and set a pace your team can sustain.
Watch for Fatigue in the Quality of Your Decisions
Fatigue is easy to miss in yourself. Most leaders keep producing at their normal rate long after their decisions start to suffer, so the earliest signs show up in the quality of their calls. A decision that would normally take five minutes gets pushed to tomorrow. Requests get a yes because weighing them takes more effort than you have left that day. Work comes back for a second and third round because the first request left something out, and a simple email needs reading three times before it makes sense.
Check for these signs at the end of each week, the way you would review a project. Look at the decisions you put off, the commitments you agreed to without weighing them, and the work that needed redoing. One or two in a demanding week is normal. A pattern across several weeks is a sign to change something before it shows up in results: hand off a decision, move a deadline that can move, or protect time to recover. The work gives you an earlier reading than how you feel, because by the time you feel exhausted, your team has usually noticed first.
“Leaders who sustain strong performance year after year plan their recovery the same way they plan the work.”
Build Exercise and Recovery Into Your Busiest Weeks
Annual planning is one of the most demanding stretches of my year. The timeline is fixed, short, and fast, the days move quickly, new tasks arrive daily, and the conversations seem endless, so energy is at a premium. During planning, I make a point of eating well on a schedule and starting each day with exercise. I end each day by telling myself three things I did well, then plan the next day that evening. It is a simple routine that has proven reliable for me. It balances the stress of the work with time to relieve it, gives my body the fuel it needs to perform at a high level, and ends each day on a reflection that keeps me focused, progressing, and positive.
That routine works for me, and it is simple enough that it could work for you, though it is one of many ways to recover. Whatever form yours takes, the busiest weeks are when it does the most good. Exercise is one of the most reliable ways to relieve stress, and it returns far more in energy and focus than the time it takes. It works best scheduled like any important meeting, early in the day, before other demands compete or conflict with it. Eating well and at regular times matters for the same reason. A leader running on skipped meals makes the afternoon’s decisions with less than they started the day with.
Ending the day well helps as much as starting it well. Naming a few things that went well before you plan the next day keeps a busy stretch from turning into a running list of what is still open. Planning the evening before means the morning begins with clear priorities.
Recharge in the Quieter Seasons Before the Peaks
Professional services has a rhythm leaders can plan around. Activity slows at predictable times across geographies: summer in the U.S., the long summer break in much of Europe, and local holidays that differ from country to country. These quieter periods are the best time to recharge, because the need for any one person to be present is lower and the peaks that follow ask for everything a team has.
Look at the year ahead, mark the peak periods your team already knows are coming, and agree when each person will take a real break before them. A team that works straight through every quieter season arrives at the next peak already tired, and the busiest weeks start to feel overwhelming before they begin.
I encourage my teams to pay special attention to recharging during these periods, so they are ready for the peaks and don’t feel overwhelmed by them after months without a significant break. I also believe professionals should make family a priority, and these seasons make that easier. Schools are often out, and local traditions bring families and extended families together. That makes the time more memorable and makes it easier to disconnect, because people are spending it on the people and pastimes they enjoy.
Set Up Your Team So You Can Step Away Completely
Time off restores you when you can step away from work entirely, without checking messages or joining the occasional call. That depends on work done long before you leave: a way of working the team can run without you day to day, standards everyone works from, and people connected closely enough to cover for one another when someone is out.
Preparation takes care of the rest. Before you leave, look at the deadlines and deliverables that fall while you are away, settle the decisions you can in advance, and make clear who owns each one in your absence. Tell your stakeholders who to go to. Then choose your timing with care. Time off planned around peak periods and major events lets you disconnect without wondering what you are missing.
A well-run system, a clear way of working, and a team closely connected across its work, able to adapt and cover any gaps when someone is away, have let me and the team disconnect fully. Combined with some preparation for time-specific deadlines and deliverables, they set the team and our stakeholders up for success while any of us is out. I plan my own time off around peak periods and major events, when the need for me to be present is generally lower. Balance is everything to me. Having time to disconnect is what makes me want to be connected when I’m leading.
Set a Pace Your Team Can Sustain
Your team sets its pace by watching yours. A leader who never takes a full vacation, or who sends messages late at night and on weekends, signals that the team should do the same, whatever the policy says. Take your own time off visibly and disconnect while you are away. When you work outside normal hours, schedule messages to arrive during the working day, or say plainly that no reply is needed until then.
Pay attention to workload as closely as you pay attention to results. In regular one-on-ones, ask how much each person is carrying and what is coming in the weeks ahead, and move work when someone is stretched across too many priorities at once. As AI takes on more of the routine work, use some of the time it frees to give people room to recover after a demanding stretch. Teams that recover well bring more energy and clearer thinking to the next one, and they take on harder problems with confidence.
The next long weekend or holiday on your calendar is a good place to start. Settle what you can before you leave, tell your team and stakeholders who owns what, and then step away completely. Before your next demanding stretch, put exercise, regular meals, and a few minutes of evening planning on your calendar, the same way you would schedule the work itself.
About John Fildes
I grow the top line by connecting marketing to business strategy. By leveraging powerful positioning, content marketing, and client insights, I help organizations drive qualitative and quantitative results at scale.
I've built an amazing network of incredibly talented people over the years. What I've appreciated most is those who have invested in me, mentored me, and helped me become the talented professional I am today. I pay it forward by doing the same for other high performing professionals and entrepreneurs.
Learn More: Growth Leader | Business Builder | Leadership Multiplier
All views are my own and not those of my current or prior employers.
