The Energy Equation: Why Self-Care is a Leadership Skill, Not a Luxury
I’ve spent the past few years exploring how leaders sustain themselves in sport, in business, and in healthcare, and I keep coming back to one uncomfortable truth: we are very good at helping others perform, but often poor at managing our own energy.
In sports coaching, we teach athletes to respect rest. In medicine, we tell patients that recovery is part of healing. Yet, in leadership, we tend to glorify endurance, the 14-hour day, the “I’ll rest when this project is done” mindset. The research, however, tells a different story: those who lead sustainably treat self-care not as self-indulgence, but as strategy.
What the Research Is Teaching Me
Self-care has been defined in countless ways from nutrition and sleep to mindfulness and emotional regulation, but across fields, one theme stands out: the regulation of energy.
In sports psychology, recovery isn’t just about rest; it’s an active process. Studies on performance periodisation show that athletes who plan for recovery phases perform better and experience less burnout than those who train continuously. Their coaches, interestingly, rarely do the same for themselves.
In the medical field, research on physician burnout (Shanafelt et al., 2015) has shown that chronic depletion erodes empathy, decision-making, and even patient outcomes. The best healthcare teams I’ve observed talk openly about fatigue and emotional strain, not as weakness, but as data to guide sustainable practice.
Leadership research mirrors this. Dutton and Heaphy’s (2003) work on high-quality connections in organisations shows that energising interactions with colleagues can replenish psychological resources. Conversely, toxic interactions or even relentless “busyness” drain the same reserves that leaders need to think clearly, act decisively, and inspire others.
So whether you’re leading a team through a tournament, a merger, or a family crisis, your energy is your leadership currency. Spend it wisely, replenish it deliberately.
Self-Care as Leadership Competence
In coaching and leadership circles, self-care still struggles with its image problem. It can sound like bubble baths and spa days hardly the language of performance. But the deeper I go into the research, the clearer it becomes: self-care is a cognitive and relational competence.
It supports decision quality by managing fatigue’s effects on executive function.
It enhances empathy and emotional intelligence, allowing leaders to remain present under pressure.
It models psychological safety when leaders demonstrate boundaries, their teams feel permission to do the same.
The most effective leaders I’ve interviewed from elite sports coaches to senior hospital consultants share one common trait: they are deliberate about their recovery. They design small rituals of restoration into their routines, a reflective journal, a morning walk, a short breathing exercise between meetings.
They also talk about self-awareness as the foundation of care. In one conversation, a Premier League coach said, “If I don’t know when I’m running low, I can’t lead well. The players read it on me before I do.” That line has stayed with me because awareness precedes action.
The Paradox of Care
Here’s the paradox I’m still wrestling with in my research: the very people most skilled at caring for others are often the least practiced at caring for themselves.
Coaches, leaders, and clinicians are wired for service. We draw meaning from others’ growth. But when service becomes identity, depletion hides behind purpose. We convince ourselves that “I’m fine” because the work still feels meaningful until the body or the relationships around us say otherwise.
This pattern isn’t about weakness; it’s cultural. Leadership norms still reward visibility, output, and control. Self-care asks for vulnerability, reflection, and sometimes saying no. That can feel risky especially in environments that equate busyness with commitment.
Yet, as the literature on compassion fatigue in healthcare and burnout in sports coaching shows, neglecting self-regulation leads to detachment, irritability, and impaired judgment precisely the opposite of what effective leadership demands.
Reframing the Equation
What if we stopped asking, “How much can I get done today?” and started asking, “How much energy can I sustain across the season?”
That shift from time management to energy stewardship changes everything. It invites leaders to think like performance scientists:
Build recovery windows into the week, not just holidays into the year.
Reflect daily, even briefly, to metabolize emotional load.
Foster relationships that give energy rather than drain it.
In practice, this might look like a coach scheduling “white space” after training to journal or decompress, a hospital consultant practicing mindful breathing before patient rounds, or a CEO blocking an hour for exercise and reflection. These aren’t luxuries; they are leadership behaviours that preserve clarity and compassion.
Where I’m Headed Next
As I continue to research self-care in leadership, I’m becoming less interested in defining it and more interested in how it’s lived. I want to understand what makes it stick, what helps leaders sustain the practices when pressure peaks and time shrinks.
For now, what I know is this: self-care is not the opposite of service; it’s what allows service to last.
Leadership, whether in sport, business, or life, isn’t a sprint. It’s a series of recoveries disguised as performances.
Next in the series: “Understanding Burnout - The Hidden Cost of Caring.” We’ll explore what really drives exhaustion in high-performance environments, and how leaders can recognise and respond before it’s too late.