Margin, in our financial world, is that gap between our cost and the price. It’s the extra we need to pay our overhead and make a profit. More margin is better. Too little margin, and we’re out of business.
What about your personal margin, though?
If I had to guess, I’d say you’re someone who rises early and hits the ground running with an endless to-do list, an overflowing calendar, a stream of activities that goes on far, far into the future. All these activities are the costs of your success, what you’re willing to pay for maintaining a healthy career and happy family.
I don’t have to tell you that all that busyness takes its toll on your physical and mental health. There’s a difference between being busy and grinding away. When our days become too full of activities, we lose personal margin.
What is Personal Margin?
Leaders need time to think, to dream, to read, to listen and to plan. As a leader, your perspective on your organization is unique. You can see your organization in an informed way that no one else can. You owe it to your organization to think, dream and plan (and to your family and yourself). If you don’t, who will?
Thinking and dreaming require margin, time not influenced by immediate, urgent demands and a gap between all the “doing” and the results.
This is not about vacations, which you should certainly take. This is about adding in daily, weekly and quarterly time where you set aside the doing and the demands and free yourself to explore what’s in your head and on your mind.
Creating these pockets of time may be difficult at first and will likely require that something gets pushed. You’ll need to prioritize your thinking and planning time just as rigorously as any other critical task. It may feel counterintuitive, especially in a world that celebrates constant action and productivity, but setting aside time to reflect on the long-term vision will ensure that the doing is aligned with the results you truly want to achieve.
How to Take Back Personal Margin
How do you take back your personal margin without negatively impacting your business? There are a few ways you can find a balance between work hours and your personal time:
1. Delegate: Don’t look for one or two things that you could delegate to someone else. Look to delegate as much as possible. Delegation doesn’t mean dumping large amounts of work on others who are unprepared. Delegation takes time, and it’s important to start now.
2. Put blinders on: There are thousands of things to attend to in your business. You’re not going to get to them all. You may need to internally “not see” some of the issues that are calling for attention but are less impactful on the organization. The perfectionist is groaning. You can’t tolerate mediocrity forever, but in the big game, what the water boy is up to is just not as important as what the players are doing. Learn to ignore the trivial and prioritize between work and personal time.
3. Run to the sound of gunfire: In battle, soldiers respond to the action.
When problems erupt, set everything else aside and react. Most problems get worse, not better. The longer they go on, the worse they get.
Act fast and follow through. Letting problems fester will erode your margin.
Proactive problem-solving not only prevents escalation but also builds trust within your team. They’ll see that issues are addressed head-on. By acting quickly, you maintain control and preserve the energy needed for strategic thinking and long-term planning.
Balance Your Life
Gaining some personal margin is not a luxury of leadership, it’s a responsibility. Peter Anderton’s two rules of leadership tell us that:
1. The efforts of the people who work with you propel the organization forward. Leaders need personal margin to think about, listen to, appreciate and understand their people.
2. Your personal growth, insights, maturity and capability either propel the organization or constrain it. You need a personal margin if you’re going to be a benefit to the team, your family and yourself. A good work life balance is necessity for sustainable leadership. It allows you to show up as your best self, offering clarity, creativity, and resilience when your team and loved ones need it most. Ultimately, by protecting your margin, you’re investing in the long-term success of your organization, your relationships, and your own personal fulfillment.
