How to Use the 3Rs to Recharge over the Summer: Updated

By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

June 10, 2018

I originally posted this article several years ago. I have updated it for this summer because it is timely. Perhaps this reminder will be of benefit to you as you recharge your batteries this summer!

Summer is a great time for a school leader. While we may not have the “summer off,” the slower pace of the summer months allows time for the three Rs that are essential practices of a leader: Resting, Reflecting, and Refocusing.

Rest is essential for maintaining our capacity to lead. We need to recharge from long days engaged in presentations, conferences, parent and staff meetings, board meetings, interviews, attending chapels, concerts, plays, sporting events, honors programs, commencements, and so on. Then there are the hundreds of phone calls and several thousand emails. Working fourteen to sixteen hours most days can be spiritually, mentally, and physically exhausting.

Finding time to rest can be difficult. Research indicates that the average number of daily work hours among American leaders has risen significantly since 2000, resulting in an average working week of fifty-six to sixty hours — leaving precious little time for needed rest. Increasingly, success in leadership is characterized by grueling expectations, excessively long hours, and instant accessibility both on and away from the job.

Rest is not mere idleness, although idleness has its place and merits. The rest I have in mind is a rest comprised of a slower, more controlled focus on essential matters — free from the distractions of the urgent, constant interruptions, and the relentless pull of our mobile devices. It is a deliberate, calm, distraction-free period of quiet reflection upon one’s life, family, and school.

Reflection is critical to leadership effectiveness. Leaders must reflect on their leadership style, strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, and the current and desired future state of their schools. Reflective thinking is both an internal and external process that promotes self-understanding and improved critical thinking skills. It is essentially a form of inner work that produces the energy for engaging in outer work. It is also a meaningful and necessary activity for knowing what is important to oneself and to one’s practice or organization.

Refocusing is possible only with rest and reflection. The mind must be settled and calm in order to regain focus. Focus enables the leader to distinguish between the genuinely important and the merely urgent. Refocusing is the ability to filter out lesser concerns so that full attention can be directed toward the essential and most important aspects of our personal and professional lives. It is the art of recognizing that less is more — that concentrating on the few things of greatest impact serves our leadership and our schools far better than scattering energy across many.

Rest, reflection, and refocusing require distraction-free time, space, and quiet. The summer months provide all three, if one takes advantage of them.

Time

For most of us, we are freshest and sharpest early in the morning after a good night’s sleep. Start your summer days early. Reserve the early morning hours for prayer, Bible reading, and quiet reflection. It is also a good time to write. Writing is by its nature a reflective exercise. Whether writing in a journal, drafting an article, composing a reflective memo to your staff, or beginning a long-deferred book, writing forces the mind to focus and consider.

Spend time in candid self-reflection. This need not be self-flagellation for real or imagined shortcomings. Rather, use this time to attend to the state of your soul and to consider how you can leverage your strengths and minimize your weaknesses to enhance your relationships, your leadership, and your school.

Space

Find your quiet place to rest, reflect, and refocus. For me, my screened-in back porch is ideal. It is removed from the hustle and bustle of home life, serene, overlooking a backyard surrounded by trees, and comfortable enough to use most months of the year. When the weather becomes too hot or cold, I retreat to my study.

Quiet

When was the last time you sat for an hour with nothing more than your thoughts? Quiet is essential for rest, reflection, and refocusing. It is also essential for deep thinking and creativity. A distracted mind cannot give undivided attention to reflection or to purposeful focus on the essential things in one’s personal and professional life.

The greatest sources of noise are our electronic devices. To benefit most from the three Rs, you must disconnect from the constant distraction of emails, text messages, and social media. Turn off all electronic distractions, including television and music. It is liberating and peaceful.

How will you spend your summer — vacations, yard work, preparing for a new year, travel, your long-overdue list of home projects? All are worthy uses of your summer months. I encourage you to include periodic time for the three Rs. You will be more rested, more grounded, and better prepared to lead during the hectic days of a new school year.

If you spend a few hours every week over the summer on the three Rs, you will gain the fourth R as well: Recharged.