There are many people who claim to wake up at 2 a.m. so they can strategize. Others wake up at 3 a.m. to plan the day ahead.

For me, I wake up somewhere between 2 and 3 in the morning to go pee. And my only strategic objective is getting from my bed to the bathroom and back without waking myself up enough that I cannot fall asleep again.

Live life. Not everything is about business.

I say that partly as a joke. But there is something underneath it that I think we have lost.

When Did Life Become a Productivity Competition?

Somewhere along the way, we started turning ordinary life into evidence of ambition.

Someone wakes up at 4 a.m. Someone else has already worked out, meditated, journaled, read 40 pages and reviewed their business strategy by 5:30. Then somebody posts about doing it on LinkedIn before most of us have found our glasses.

There is nothing wrong with any of those things. Discipline is good. Planning matters. Ambition matters.

But there is a difference between being disciplined and feeling that every minute of your life has to produce something.

You do not have to optimize every hour to prove that you are ambitious.

A walk can just be a walk. Dinner with your family does not need to become a networking opportunity. A vacation does not need to generate a leadership insight. And waking up at 2:37 in the morning does not have to be the beginning of your next strategic breakthrough.

Sometimes you just drank too much water before bed.

Leadership Needs Perspective Too

I have spent much of my career around demanding environments, deadlines, clients, service levels and people who carry significant responsibility. I believe strongly in accountability and performance.

But I also believe good leaders understand that people have lives outside the organization.

When leaders glorify constant availability, exhaustion and visible busyness, employees quickly learn what the organization really rewards. They start answering messages at ridiculous hours. They feel guilty for disconnecting. Eventually, being permanently busy becomes confused with being committed.

That is not sustainable performance. It is theatre.

The goal of leadership should not be to consume people's lives. It should be to create an environment where people can do meaningful work and still have one.

Key Takeaways

Be ambitious. Be disciplined. Plan your day. Work hard when the work requires it.

But also eat dinner without checking your phone. Take the walk. Laugh with your family. Sleep when you can. And if you wake up at 2 a.m. to use the bathroom, do not feel obligated to develop a five-year strategic plan while you are there.

Get back into bed.

Live life.

Not everything is about business.