By Che’ Blackmon, Founder & CEO, Che’ Blackmon Consulting | DBA Candidate in Organizational Leadership
It’s 2:47 AM, and the emails are still scrolling through your mind.
The presentation needs refinement. The budget proposal requires another review. Your team member’s performance issue won’t resolve itself. And that strategic initiative you promised to lead? It’s adding weight to shoulders already carrying the expectation that you’ll be twice as good to get half as far.
So you lie there, mentally rehearsing tomorrow’s conversations, replaying today’s missteps, and wondering why rest feels like a luxury you can’t afford.
Here’s what nobody tells you about leadership: Your capacity to lead well is directly proportional to your ability to rest strategically. Not rest as an afterthought when everything else is doneâbecause in leadership, everything is never done. Strategic rest as a deliberate practice that fuels sustainable excellence.
Yet rest remains one of the most countercultural acts a leader can embrace, particularly for Black women who’ve been conditioned to believe that rest is earned only after proving our worth, justifying our presence, and working twice as hard for the same recognition.
The holiday season amplifies this tension. While the world sings about silent nights and peaceful moments, leadersâespecially those navigating the complex dynamics of corporate Americaâexperience anything but silence. The year-end performance reviews. The strategic planning for Q1. The family obligations layered on top of professional demands. The unspoken expectation that you’ll show up with energy, excellence, and enthusiasm regardless of what’s depleting you behind the scenes.
This article isn’t about adding “self-care” to your already overwhelming to-do list. It’s about reframing rest as a strategic leadership competency that determines whether you thrive or merely survive.
đ§ The Neuroscience of Leadership and Rest
Let’s start with what research tells us about the relationship between rest and high performance.
Dr. Matthew Walker’s groundbreaking sleep research at UC Berkeley reveals that leaders who consistently get less than seven hours of sleep experience a 60% decline in their ability to read emotional cuesâa core leadership skill. Their capacity for innovative thinking drops by 32%. Decision-making quality deteriorates measurably.
But here’s where it gets particularly relevant for those navigating bias and microaggressions: chronic sleep deprivation and stress compound the cognitive load required to navigate predominantly white corporate spaces. Studies published in the Journal of Applied Psychology show that professionals managing identity-based stressâcode-switching, combating stereotypes, proving competence repeatedlyâexperience accelerated cognitive fatigue that rest deprivation amplifies exponentially.
Translation? When you’re already working harder to navigate systemic barriers, operating on insufficient rest doesn’t just diminish your performanceâit compounds every challenge you face.
The Harvard Business Review reports that well-rested leaders make better strategic decisions, demonstrate higher emotional intelligence, and inspire greater team engagement. Organizations led by leaders who model healthy rest practices see 21% higher profitability and 17% higher productivity than those glorifying burnout culture.
Rest isn’t weakness. It’s competitive advantage.
đȘ The “Strong Black Woman” Schema and the Rest Deficit
In Rise & Thrive: A Black Woman’s Blueprint for Leadership Excellence, I address a critical barrier many Black women faceâthe internalized belief that rest equals weakness, that pausing signals inability to handle the pressure, that saying “I need a break” confirms every stereotype about our unsuitability for leadership.
This “Strong Black Woman” schema, as Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes articulates in her research, creates a psychological trap where rest feels like betrayalâof ancestors who couldn’t rest, of communities counting on our success, of our own commitment to excellence.
The result? Black women leaders experience some of the highest rates of burnout, chronic stress-related illness, and what organizational psychologist Dr. Ella F. Washington calls “covering fatigue”âthe exhaustion that comes from constantly managing others’ perceptions while suppressing authentic needs.
There was a company who conducted an internal study on leadership sustainability and discovered that their Black women executives reported working an average of 12-15 hours more per week than their white counterparts, yet were 40% less likely to take their full vacation allotment. When asked why, the consistent response centered on fearâfear that absence would be interpreted as lack of commitment, that rest would cost them credibility they’d worked years to build.
This is the rest deficit many leaders face, but particularly those for whom rest has never been positioned as a right, only a reward for exceptional productivity.
đŻ Strategic Rest vs. Reactive Recovery
Most leaders don’t practice restâthey collapse into recovery. There’s a critical difference.
Reactive Recovery looks like:
- Working until you’re sick, then taking forced time off
- Pushing through exhaustion until performance craters
- Waiting for vacations to address accumulated stress
- Using weekends to catch up on work rather than recharge
- Viewing rest as something you do when everything else is handled
Strategic Rest operates differently:
- Building recovery into your rhythm before depletion occurs
- Protecting non-negotiable boundaries that preserve capacity
- Treating rest as essential infrastructure, not optional luxury
- Creating micro-recovery practices throughout your day and week
- Recognizing that sustainable excellence requires intentional renewal
As I outline in High-Value Leadership: Transforming Organizations Through Purposeful Culture, high-value leaders understand that their energy is their most precious resource. Managing that energy strategicallyâincluding through deliberate rest practicesâis what enables them to show up consistently with the presence, clarity, and emotional capacity their teams need.
đ ïž The Strategic Rest Framework for Leaders
If rest is strategic, it requires a frameworkânot just good intentions or waiting until you “have time.” Here’s a practical approach to building rest into your leadership practice:
1. Audit Your Current State đ
Before you can rest strategically, you need honest assessment of where you are.
Track for one week:
- Actual sleep hours (not time in bed, but quality sleep)
- Moments when you felt genuinely recharged vs. merely pausing
- Times you pushed through fatigue rather than resting
- Physical and emotional symptoms (headaches, irritability, difficulty concentrating)
- The narratives running through your mind about rest (“I don’t have time,” “I can’t afford to slow down,” “Rest means I’m not committed enough”)
This audit reveals patterns you can’t change if you don’t first acknowledge.
2. Redefine Rest as Multi-Dimensional đ
Rest isn’t just sleep, though sleep is foundational. Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith’s research on the seven types of rest provides crucial insight:
Physical Rest: Sleep and restorative activities like stretching, massage, naps
Mental Rest: Breaks from decision-making and cognitive demands
Sensory Rest: Relief from screens, noise, and sensory overload
Creative Rest: Exposure to beauty, nature, art that inspires without demanding output
Emotional Rest: Space to be authentic without performing or managing others’ emotions
Social Rest: Time with people who energize rather than deplete you
Spiritual Rest: Connection to purpose, meaning, and something beyond immediate demands
Most leaders focus narrowly on physical rest while remaining depleted in other dimensions. Identifying which types of rest you’re lacking allows for more targeted renewal.
3. Build Micro-Recovery Into Your Day â°
Strategic rest doesn’t require dramatic lifestyle overhauls. It starts with small, consistent practices woven into existing rhythms.
Morning: Begin with five minutes of stillness before checking devices. Just five minutes where your first thoughts aren’t about what you need to do or fix or manage.
Midday: Take an actual lunch break away from your desk. Research shows that leaders who take breaks demonstrate 23% better focus in afternoon meetings.
Between Meetings: Build in 5-10 minute buffers. Stand. Stretch. Look out a window. Let your nervous system reset rather than careening from one intense conversation to another.
Evening: Create a shutdown ritualâa specific action that signals “work is complete for today.” This might be closing your laptop and verbalizing “done,” changing clothes, or a brief walk around your block.
Weekly: Protect at least one half-day for complete disconnection from work communication. No emails. No Slack. No “just checking in quickly.”
These aren’t indulgences. They’re the infrastructure that enables sustained high performance.
4. Address the Narrative Barriers đ§©
Your biggest obstacle to strategic rest likely isn’t your scheduleâit’s the stories you tell yourself about what rest means.
Common narratives that sabotage rest:
- “If I rest, I’ll fall behind”
- “My team needs me to be available constantly”
- “Successful leaders outwork everyone else”
- “I can’t afford to be seen as not committed”
- “Rest is selfish when there’s so much to do”
Challenge these by asking: What evidence supports this? What’s the cost of believing this? What would shift if I operated from a different assumption?
Replace limiting narratives with evidence-based truths:
- “Strategic rest enables me to perform at my best”
- “My team benefits from a well-rested, fully present leader”
- “Sustainable excellence requires intentional renewal”
- “Protecting my capacity is an act of leadership, not weakness”
5. Model Rest as a Leadership Practice đ„
Your team watches how you operate. When you glorify overwork, respond to emails at midnight, or brag about functioning on minimal sleep, you’re not demonstrating commitmentâyou’re normalizing unsustainable practices that damage your culture.
Leaders who model strategic rest give their teams permission to do the same. This means:
- Taking your vacation time (fully, without logging in)
- Protecting boundaries audibly (“I don’t check email after 7 PM so I can be present with my family”)
- Speaking about rest as valuable (“I’m better at strategic thinking when I’m well-rested, so I prioritize sleep”)
- Celebrating team members who set healthy boundaries
As I discuss in Mastering a High-Value Company Culture, cultures shift when leaders embody the values they espouse. If you want a sustainable, high-performing culture, you must model what sustainability actually looks like.
đ The Holiday Season: Practicing Rest Under Pressure
The weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s present a unique opportunity to practice strategic rest precisely when cultural pressure pushes in the opposite direction.
Reframe Holiday Time
Rather than viewing this season as “time you can’t afford to take,” reframe it as essential investment in your January capacity. Leaders who truly disconnect during holidays return with measurably sharper strategic thinking and renewed energy for Q1 execution.
Set Explicit Boundaries
Decide in advance:
- Which days you’ll be completely disconnected
- What constitutes a true emergency worth interrupting time off
- Who owns coverage for your responsibilities while you’re out
- How you’ll communicate these boundaries to your team and stakeholders
Vague intentions collapse under pressure. Specific commitments hold.
Create Transition Rituals
The week before time off: Complete outstanding commitments, delegate what can wait, and create a “return plan” so you’re not walking back into chaos.
The first day back: Don’t schedule meetings. Use the time to ease back in, review priorities, and reconnect with your strategic focus rather than immediately drowning in tactical demands.
Honor Multiple Dimensions of Rest
Your holiday time off should include:
- Physical rest (sleep without alarms, restorative movement)
- Mental rest (minimal decision-making about complex problems)
- Emotional rest (time with people who require no performance)
- Spiritual rest (reflection on meaning, gratitude, alignment with values)
If your “break” involves just as much stressânavigating difficult family dynamics, overscheduling social obligations, or constantly checking workâyou’re not actually resting.
đ Rest as Resistance and Reclamation
For Black women leaders specifically, rest takes on additional significance. In a culture that has historically extracted labor from Black bodies while denying rest, choosing to rest is both resistance and reclamation.
As Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry, articulates: “Rest is resistance. Rest disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy.”
When you rest as a Black woman leader, you’re:
- Rejecting the lie that your worth is determined by productivity
- Honoring ancestors who didn’t have the choice to rest
- Modeling for younger Black professionals that excellence doesn’t require self-destruction
- Reclaiming your full humanity in systems that often reduce you to output
This isn’t dramatic language. It’s the truth about what it means to choose wholeness in environments designed to extract maximum productivity while providing minimum support.
Your rest matters not just for your individual wellbeing but as a radical act of self-preservation and cultural healing.
đĄ When Rest Isn’t Enough: Addressing Systemic Barriers
Strategic rest is essential, but it’s not sufficient if organizational cultures punish people for practicing it.
If your workplace:
- Expects instant email responses regardless of hour
- Penalizes people who take vacation time
- Celebrates overwork and martyrdom to the job
- Provides inadequate resources forcing long hours to complete basic work
- Disproportionately burdens diverse employees with additional service work
…then the issue isn’t individual rest practicesâit’s toxic culture that requires organizational intervention.
As leaders, part of our responsibility is advocating for systemic change that makes rest accessible to everyone, not just those privileged enough to risk boundary-setting.
This means:
- Championing policies that protect work-life boundaries
- Questioning workload distribution that requires chronic overwork
- Addressing the cultural narratives that equate hours worked with value
- Ensuring diverse employees aren’t carrying disproportionate burdens
- Modeling and rewarding sustainable excellence over performative hustle
High-value cultures, as I outline across my work, don’t just talk about wellbeingâthey structurally support it through resource allocation, boundary protection, and leadership accountability.
đ The Gift You Give Yourself (And Your Team)
As this year winds down, the greatest gift you can give yourself isn’t another productivity hack or optimization strategy. It’s permission to restâfully, without guilt, as a strategic practice that fuels everything else you do.
Your team doesn’t need a burned-out leader powering through on empty. They need someone who shows up clear, present, and capable of the strategic thinking that navigates complexity. That version of you only emerges from adequate rest.
Your organization doesn’t benefit from your round-the-clock availability. It benefits from your best thinking, emotional intelligence, and capacity to inspire othersâall of which deteriorate under chronic fatigue.
Your community doesn’t need another cautionary tale of excellence achieved at the cost of health and wholeness. It needs models of sustainable leadership that prove you can thrive without sacrificing yourself.
And youâyou deserve to experience your own life, not just survive it while managing everyone else’s needs.
Strategic rest isn’t selfish. It’s the foundation of everything else you’re trying to build.
đ Discussion Questions for Your Leadership Team
- What messagesâexplicit or implicitâdoes our organizational culture send about rest, boundaries, and work-life balance?
- How do our practices around vacation time, after-hours communication, and workload distribution support or undermine sustainable leadership?
- In what ways might our expectations around availability and responsiveness disproportionately impact employees navigating additional barriers?
- When was the last time you took time off and truly disconnected? What made that possible or what prevented it?
- What would need to shift in our culture for rest to be viewed as a strategic competency rather than a luxury or weakness?
đ Next Steps: Building Your Strategic Rest Practice
This Week:
- Complete the one-week rest audit to understand your current patterns
- Identify which type(s) of rest you’re most depleted in
- Choose one micro-recovery practice to implement daily
- Schedule at least one half-day of complete disconnection before year-end
This Month:
- Define your non-negotiable boundaries and communicate them clearly
- Create shutdown rituals that mark transitions between work and personal time
- Examine the narratives you hold about rest and challenge one limiting belief
- Model rest as a leadership value in how you speak and operate
This Quarter:
- Advocate for at least one policy or cultural shift that supports sustainable work practices
- Build rest planning into your strategic planning process (literally calendar rest like you calendar meetings)
- Evaluate workload distribution to ensure no team members are chronically overextended
- Assess whether your leadership practices enable or undermine others’ ability to rest
Ready to Build a Culture That Values Strategic Rest?
At Che’ Blackmon Consulting, we partner with organizations to create high-value cultures where sustainable excellence is the norm, not the exception. Our culture transformation work addresses the systems, policies, and leadership practices that either support or sabotage your team’s capacity to perform at their bestâwhich requires strategic rest as foundational infrastructure.
Whether you need fractional HR leadership to redesign unsustainable work practices, culture consulting to shift narratives around productivity and worth, or leadership development that equips leaders with practices for sustainable high performance, we’re here to help you build something better.
Your team’s wellbeing isn’t separate from their performanceâit’s the foundation of it.
Let’s create cultures where people thrive, not just survive.
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Che’ Blackmon is the Founder & CEO of Che’ Blackmon Consulting, a DBA candidate in Organizational Leadership, and author of “High-Value Leadership: Transforming Organizations Through Purposeful Culture,” “Mastering a High-Value Company Culture,” and “Rise & Thrive: A Black Woman’s Blueprint for Leadership Excellence.” With 24+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, Che’ partners with organizations to build cultures where sustainable excellence is the standard and people are valued as whole humans, not just productivity units.
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