Margin is a powerful concept. It creates opportunities. For businesses, margin is one of your top priorities. Margin in business creates profits.
Margin in family creates memories.
Margin in our personal finances creates generosity.
Margin in our friendships creates significance and impact.
Margin in our lives overall creates options. Options to pursue dreams, think, pray, relax, meditate, process, grow and ultimately live life more fully.
As leaders, it is important that we create moments of margin for ourselves. Time to dream, time to laugh, time to retreat- on a regular basis, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Even if it is 5 minutes during the day to think, walk, pray, or simply relax. Margin gives us energy and renewed momentum and enthusiasm. And it is equally important to allow for margin in the culture of your team, and margin for your individual team members. Even something as simple as a funny story shared with the team, or a stop by someone else's office to catch up and say hi, or a quick review of pictures or great memories from something earlier in the year.
Margin is one of the hardest things for most leaders I know to actually create and implement. I am no exception. I struggle with creating margin. One of those leadership attributes that you wake up wanting to pursue and always realize at the end of the day you missed it.
Lack of margin makes us tense, creates stress and pushes for quick decisions. Lack of margin leads to stale and unhealthy relationships, and drives us towards the most available options at the time, but many times not the best. Lack of margin makes for rushed projects, for forced creativity, and for strategy that only thinks of the short term gains, not the long term opportunities.
Margin is the fuel for responding to the unexpected, and the option we all need for being more focused, intentional, life-giving and less stressed.
Make Time for Margin.