There’s a moment at the end of every day — the laptop is shut, the phone is silenced, and the city slows down. That moment used to make me anxious. I’d think, “I could squeeze in one more call. One more email.” But over time, I realized: doing more wasn’t making me better. It was just making me tired.
Today, I protect my evenings the same way I protect my business priorities. Why? Because rest is a strategy. Leisure is leverage.
Here’s why I stopped working late — and why you might want to consider doing the same.
1. Evening Work Steals Tomorrow’s Clarity
When your mind stays in “task mode” into the night, your brain doesn’t properly reset. The result? You wake up foggy, reactive, already behind. I used to push hard into the evening and wake up feeling like I never fully stopped. Now, I give myself space to shut down — and I wake up ready, not just awake.
2. Boundaries Build Better Teams
If you’re always online at 10 p.m., your team thinks they should be too. Even if you don’t say it. Leadership isn’t just about goals — it’s about rhythm. When I began honoring my time off, I noticed something surprising: my team became more confident in making decisions without me. Because they had to. And that’s a good thing.
3. Leisure Fuels Insight
Some of my best ideas have come while walking the dog or cooking dinner — not during a Zoom call. Our brains are wired for insight during rest. When you constantly work, you shut off the very part of your mind that sees patterns, makes connections, and solves hard problems. In other words: doing nothing is sometimes doing the most.
4. The ROI of Rest
Ask yourself this: Are you working late to finish a task — or to avoid the discomfort of slowing down? Many leaders confuse urgency with importance. When I began honoring downtime, I didn’t lose productivity — I gained perspective. I made better decisions. I focused on what mattered instead of what screamed the loudest.
Final Thought
Smart leisure isn’t about laziness — it’s about longevity. It’s about showing up tomorrow with energy, clarity, and intention. And it’s about trusting that the world won’t fall apart if you don’t answer that email at 9:47 p.m.
Because real success isn’t built on burnout. It’s built on balance.
And that begins the moment you choose to close the laptop — and mean it.
