Leading Across Time Zones Without Losing Yourself

It's 10 PM. You are on a call with stakeholders in another timezone.

This is the 4th day in a row, that you are on call so late in the evening.

You have normalised the toll it has on your body, your family and your mental health.

You are not burning out like a mathstick. You are eroding like rocks when water hits them frequently.

You know every late night call is a trade-off.

None of these trade-offs are completly wrong. They become wrong when you do them on auto-pilot without a sense of agency or intention.

If you do not like to be an eroded rock, three shifts are essential to lead across time zones :

Consciously choose what calls you are necessary (Decline, Delegate, Let it go)
Have tight boundaries around recovery windows. (Every late night needs a better window next day)
Have the courage to propose alternate time.

The typical excuses that come in the way

My stakeholders are all in a different timezone, so its easy for them if I stay working at night.

I fear that I will miss out on details.

All hell will break lose in the morning if I don't attend every call.

I am important :-) The world will not run without me.

You may have any version of these excuses - but know these are just excuses.

If you have a strong intention to work effectively and be well while doing it, you can choose to have 2 workdays without late night calls.

Reflect