This morning I attended the Lancaster Bible College Leadership Business Conference. Many good speakers offered some good content on Servant Leadership. One of the break-out sessions was taught by Dr. Richard Swenson on the topic of The Overload Syndrome. I thought he had excellent material and so I wanted to share.
He started by stating we have a new epidemic in America. We are working more and sleeping less (in fact we sleep 3 hours less than 100 years ago). This is all in the name of progress (more and more; faster and faster).
He talked about how stress is our physiological adaptation to change. In life we can have no stress, low stress, or hyper-stress. We actually get more done in life with some stress. However, too much stress and we get diminishing returns. We also get overload. What does overload look like:
- Apathy, withdrawal, depression.
- Irritable, anger.
- Frustration.
- Mistakes.
- Fatigue, burnout.
- Moral failure, relational problems.
He then shared how we need to create some margin in our lives (emotional, time and financial).
Margin in emotional energy is all about relationships. “Good friends are good health.” He shared how laughter, music, and nature give us energy. We also need to set boundaries in life.
Margin in time is about being intentional. We need to tame technology and periodically disconnect (this means I need to turn off the Blackberry!!!). We need to learn to say no.
Margin in finances is about controlling debt and spending. It is also about cultivating a spirit of contentment. He also had a great quote, “Everything we own owns us.”
This is good stuff and I hope to apply many of these concepts to my life.
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