Are You Thriving or Just Surviving? 5 Ways to Boost Your Leadership Healthspan as an Executive

Here's a question that's been keeping me up at night: Are you thriving in your leadership role, or are you just surviving another quarter?

If you're like most executives I work with here in Omaha, you've probably caught yourself running on fumes more often than you'd care to admit. You're hitting your numbers, your team respects you, and from the outside, everything looks successful. But internally? You're wondering how much longer you can maintain this pace before something gives.

Let me introduce you to a concept that's revolutionizing how I think about executive development: leadership healthspan.

Just like medical healthspan: the years you live in good health versus simply being alive: leadership healthspan is about maintaining peak performance and well-being throughout your entire career, not just surviving until retirement. The goal isn't to last longer in your role; it's to lead at your highest level for as long as possible.

Here's what I've observed: There's roughly a 10-year gap where many executives live their final decade in leadership roles struggling with burnout, declining performance, or health issues that prevent them from operating at their best. Sound familiar?

We can do better. Let's talk about five proven strategies to extend your leadership healthspan and ensure you're thriving, not just surviving.

1. Master Your Inner Game Through Present-Moment Leadership

Tim Gallwey's groundbreaking work in The Inner Game of Tennis isn't just about sports: it's about minimizing the mental interference that sabotages peak performance. As an executive, your biggest enemy isn't your competition; it's the voice in your head telling you you're not good enough, smart enough, or experienced enough.

I see this constantly with Omaha leaders. You're in a board meeting, and instead of being fully present to contribute your expertise, you're mentally rehearsing what you should have said in the last meeting or worrying about the presentation next week. This mental chatter doesn't just hurt your performance: it accelerates leadership burnout.

Here's what I want you to try: Before your next important meeting, take 60 seconds to focus solely on your breathing. Feel your feet on the ground. Notice what you notice without judgment. This isn't meditation fluff: it's practical neuroscience that builds the self-trust and present-moment focus essential for sustained leadership effectiveness.

The ruthless elimination of hurry, as John Mark Comer puts it, starts with slowing down your mind so you can speed up your results.

2. Build Physical and Mental Resilience Through Intentional Recovery

Here's a hard truth: Being tired at work fundamentally compromises your decision-making abilities. Yet most executives I meet treat sleep and recovery as optional luxuries rather than strategic necessities.

Your brain is your primary leadership tool. When you're chronically under-rested, you're essentially showing up to work with a dull blade, trying to perform surgery. The compound effect isn't just today's poor decisions: it's the accelerated cognitive decline that shortens your leadership healthspan.

The Recovery Protocol That Works:

• Treat sleep as seriously as any board meeting: 7-8 hours non-negotiable

• Create transition rituals between work and personal time (even 10 minutes helps)

• Schedule "white space" in your calendar for thinking and processing

• Build micro-recovery moments throughout your day: even 2-minute breathing breaks compound

John Eldredge reminds us that we're not machines designed for constant output. We're human beings who need rhythms of engagement and restoration. The most successful executives I coach have learned to work in sprints, not marathons.

3. Eliminate Self-Interference Through Mindset Mastery

John C. Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership teaches us that leadership is influence, but here's what most people miss: your greatest influence challenge isn't with your team: it's with yourself.

The voice that says "You don't know what you're doing" or "They're going to figure out you're a fraud" doesn't just hurt your confidence. It creates the kind of internal static that prevents you from accessing your best thinking when you need it most.

I've seen brilliant executives derail their careers not because they lacked competence, but because they couldn't get out of their own way. The self-doubt, the perfectionism, the need to have all the answers: these create mental interference that shortens your leadership effectiveness.

The Mindset Reset Process:

1. Notice your internal dialogue during high-pressure moments

2. Question the story you're telling yourself about your capabilities

3. Replace interference with truth: focus on what you know, not what you don't

4. Trust your preparation and let your experience guide you

This isn't positive thinking: it's removing the mental barriers that prevent you from operating at your natural level of competence.

4. Transform Pressure into Performance Through Emotional Mastery

Pressure is inevitable in leadership. Stress, however, is optional. The difference between executives who thrive long-term and those who burn out comes down to emotional regulation: your ability to feel the pressure without letting it compromise your decision-making or relationships.

I work with many healthcare leaders who deal with life-and-death decisions daily. The ones with the longest leadership healthspan have learned to channel pressure into focus rather than anxiety. They understand that feeling the weight of responsibility is normal; what matters is how you process it.

The Emotional Regulation Framework:

• Acknowledge what you're feeling without judgment

• Accept that pressure comes with the territory of leadership

• Analyze whether this pressure requires immediate action or long-term strategy

• Act from a place of clarity rather than reactivity

John Mark Comer's emphasis on slowing down becomes crucial here. When we're hurried, we make emotional decisions that we later regret. When we're centered, we make wise choices that compound over time.

5. Create Sustainable Success Through Strategic Boundaries

Maxwell's principle of "failing forward" applies perfectly to leadership healthspan. Every executive faces setbacks, disappointments, and failures. The question isn't whether you'll encounter obstacles: it's whether you'll learn from them without letting them define you.

The most sustainable leaders I know have learned to separate their identity from their performance. They understand that a bad quarter doesn't make them a bad leader, just like a great quarter doesn't make them invincible.

Boundaries That Extend Leadership Healthspan:

• Time boundaries: Protect your peak energy hours for your most important decisions

• Energy boundaries: Say no to requests that drain without adding significant value

• Emotional boundaries: Don't absorb every team member's stress as your own

• Learning boundaries: Focus on growth that directly impacts your leadership effectiveness

This isn't about becoming callous or disconnected. It's about sustainable leadership that allows you to serve others from a place of strength rather than depletion.

The Path Forward: From Surviving to Thriving

Here's what I want you to understand: Leadership healthspan isn't about perfection: it's about intentionality. You don't need to overhaul your entire life overnight. You need to make small, consistent choices that compound over time.

Start with one area that resonates most. Maybe it's creating better recovery rhythms. Perhaps it's working on the mental interference that's been holding you back. Or it could be establishing the boundaries that will protect your long-term effectiveness.

The executives who thrive for decades aren't necessarily the smartest or the most talented. They're the ones who understand that sustainable performance requires intentional investment in their leadership healthspan.

Your Next Step:

Pick one strategy from this list and commit to implementing it this week. Not next month, not after the big project ends: this week. Your future self will thank you, and more importantly, the people you lead deserve the best version of you, not just the version that survives.

Drop your thoughts below: I'd love to hear which of these resonates most with your current leadership challenges. Are you ready to move from surviving to thriving?

Remember: You didn't become an executive by accident. You have the skills, experience, and wisdom to lead effectively. Sometimes you just need to get out of your own way and create the conditions for that excellence to emerge consistently.

The question isn't whether you can thrive in leadership( it's whether you will.)