What If the Most Strategic Thing You Did Today Was Nothing?

Why margin is the most underrated leadership investment we’re ignoring.

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There’s a quiet crisis among leaders today: we’re losing the ability to pause.

Our calendars are full, our notifications endless, and our to-do lists relentless. But none of those are the real problem. The deeper issue is this: we’ve forgotten how to leave margin in our lives, on purpose.

Margin is the space between your limits and your load. It’s the emotional, mental, and spiritual breathing room that allows you to think clearly, lead wisely, and stay grounded. Without it, even the most gifted leaders lose clarity, presence, and joy.

And here’s the paradox: while modern technology is often blamed for speeding up our lives, it may also be part of the solution, if we use it wisely.

So, back to our full schedule…

What if the most strategic thing you did today… was doing nothing at all?

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The New Currency: Time You Actually Control

“Having more control of your time and options is becoming one of the most valuable currencies in the world.” - Morgan Housel in The Psychology of Money

It’s true. And yet, most of us are spending that currency like it’s endless.

We say yes when we’re depleted. We schedule back-to-back-to-back meetings and call it productive. We stay in reaction mode instead of reflection mode.

But leadership without margin is just stress management dressed up in strategy.

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Urgency Is Real, but It Can’t Be the Default

In church and nonprofit work, urgency is part of the territory. There will be seasons where margin disappears, a crisis hits, a campaign launches, a new opportunity demands quick action.

The problem isn’t urgency. It’s when urgency becomes the status quo.

When all you do is respond, putting out fires, jumping from project to project, you’re trying to run a marathon at a 100-meter sprint pace. And we both know what that leads to: burnout, blurry thinking, high turnover, and no time to plan ahead.

Worse? When the next fire inevitably shows up, you’ll be out of reserves. No margin = no room to respond with excellence.

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AI Can Be Part of the Solution

Yes, I believe in using AI. I use it daily. When deployed with thoughtfulness, it can be a powerful part of how we create margin. To be clear, it is not the whole answer, but it can be a piece of the puzzle. Here are a few examples I use along with the prompts I deploy on ChatGPT and Gemini…

• Automating Mindless Tasks: AI can quickly handle low-value activities like inbox triage, document summaries, or calendar planning.
  Prompt: “Summarize this meeting transcript thread and highlight any action items, as well as mentions of … (type your name or department).”

• Reducing Decision Fatigue: Instead of spending energy making repetitive choices, use AI to narrow your options.
  Prompt: “Here are 7 items we need to go over, put them in order into an agenda for a 30-minute team huddle.”

• Reclaiming Focus Time: Delegate critiquing drafts and get versioning suggestions.
  Prompt: “Take a look at this draft of an article, are any pieces not clear or could be misinterpreted by my audience? For the examples you find where this is the case, draft 3 different alternate versions I can review.”

When I asked

Daria Cupareanu

, startup founder and author of the AI Blew My Mind newsletter, how she uses AI to build margin into her life, her response stuch with me:

“When you use AI to handle the repetitive 80% of a task (things like research, sorting information, or drafting), you’re not just saving time, you’re creating margin. A task that once took 90 minutes might now take just 15, leaving you with 75 extra minutes. That margin is a kind of convertible currency you can reinvest wherever it pays the biggest dividends: sharpening your strategy, experimenting with new ideas, or simply taking a break so you return sharper. The real value isn’t just in the time saved, but in the 75 minutes of optionality you’ve gained, and what you choose to do with it.”

What an excellent breakdown. What could you do with 75 extra minutes each day?

Now, it’s important to remember that margin won’t show up by default. You still have to choose it, protect it, and use it wisely.

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There’s No Magic Margin Number

You don’t need to hit a perfect benchmark of stillness or silence to lead well.

There’s no magic amount of margin. No formula for how much stillness makes a “healthy” leader.

What matters is this: Do you have any? And are you fiercely protecting what you’ve got?

Even 10% more breathing room in your week changes how you think, decide, and lead. Don’t wait until you have a full day off. Start with one reclaimed hour. It’s not about having the perfect margin. It’s about having some.

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Sacrificing Today for Tomorrow’s Clarity

Here’s the hard truth: Margin rarely feels strategic in the moment. It may mean slowing a launch, skipping a meeting, or postponing something that looks productive.

But what if the most strategic thing you did today wasn’t another task, but nothing?

Doing nothing for a day might be the key to doing the right thing tomorrow.

Because you’re not just protecting your energy. You’re preserving your creativity, clarity, and capacity to lead.

Margin makes growth, strategy, and sustainability possible.

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Practical Ways to Protect Margin

Let’s get practical. Here are two rhythms I’ve found that build margin into my life, not just my calendar:

1. Protect your time like you protect your money.
If I get invited to a meeting without a clear reason I need to be there, I ask. If the answer is “just in case” or “FYI,” I usually decline or catch the recording at 2x speed later.
Do this enough and it builds a boundary. And more importantly, a culture.

2. Try a quiet Wednesday (or Friday).
Pick one day a week when your team avoids meetings as much as possible. Use it for deep work, writing, creative problem-solving, or even just breathing.

Quickly, you’ll see what happens: quality rises, engagement deepens, and morale improves.

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So Let Me Ask You This…

As you look at your day, right now, is there any margin?
Any room to think, breathe, or recover?

Maybe the most strategic thing you could do today isn’t one more task.
Maybe it’s doing nothing.

Maybe what your month or your year needs most… is one day off. A full reset.
Not as a reward. But as a rhythm.

Start small. One hour. One boundary. One no.

Margin won’t create itself. But it will multiply everything that matters when you create it.

Share your tips with others. How do you add margin to your day?