Ep. 104 | Overwhelmed by Decision Fatigue: How to Choose Sabbath Over Slop

In an age of unrelenting pressure and rapid technological advancement, many leaders find themselves facing an exhausting 34,000 decisions every single day. Are you feeling overworked, overburdened, and increasingly burned out? You might find yourself turning to tools like AI not just for efficiency, but as a desperate attempt to cover deep-seated emotional and spiritual exhaustion.

This episode explores why our modern struggle with overwhelm is not a strategy problem, but a soul problem. We dive into the "ancient wisdom" of living at a sacred pace—mirroring the rhythms of Jesus through intentional Sabbath and prayer. By shifting from a focus on what we produce to how we abide, leaders can discover a transformational way to steward their time and energy for the Kingdom.

Key Takeaways; 

• Identify Decision Fatigue: Understand how "exhausted leadership" leads to poor decision-making and a lack of passion in your work.
• The Sabbath Command and Gift: Recognize that Sabbath is both a requirement and a restorative gift that integrates worship with true rest.
• Intentional Soul Formation: Move beyond seeking more information and instead prioritize regular spiritual disciplines that rejuvenate the heart.
• Stewardship of Presence: Learn why the leader who never withdraws is setting themselves up for failure, and how to prioritize your most important relationships during your "best" hours.

Transcript

AI Opportunity And Inner Brokenness

SPEAKER_00 0:06

In this moment, AI is creating an incredible opportunity for Christian leaders around the world to engage in something transformational, but it's also revealing some of the brokenness we have in our own hearts and some of the pain points that we and our teams are feeling every day. I know you've seen this in your own life when you kind of reflect on those moments where maybe you're reading something, you're experiencing something, and you realize that what you're reading, what you're experiencing, it's lacking some level of passion or soul. It's it's missing some of the uh uh product of sincere belief. That's a consequence of, I think, men and women who are increasingly overwhelmed in the pace and urgency of our modern age. And so they are overworked, overburdened, and burned out in the process. I think the consequence of this exhausted age is the AI slop that we're seeing all around us every day. On this episode of the History Makers Leadership Podcast, I want to invite you into, I think, a understanding as Christian leaders how we can address this brokenness and some of the incredible opportunities that God has for us and some of the ancient wisdom that He offers us as faithful Christian leaders. Let's dive into it. So I want to look at the reality that around the world, uh every individual faces, on average, about 34,000 decisions every day. Do you realize that? 34,000 decisions that you make today, that I've made today. And in that process, we are experiencing unprecedented levels of exhaustion in the process. There was a study a number of years ago that found uh that judges in courtrooms actually gave better sentencing to people earlier in the day rather than later in the day. Decision fatigue is impacting you and it's impacting the people on your team. And the reality is that AI is giving us the opportunity to accomplish more things faster than it ever has before. But what's happening is our teams are so exhausted, they're beginning to believe that uh uh the AI will just help them be more efficient, but it's never going to really address the sense of overwhelm or overwork in the process. This is particularly true generationally. If you look at the millennial generation, you'll see that they are constantly doing comparison. They're looking at which pathway is better, which solution is more uh effective. And in the process, they're facing an unreal number of decisions and steps in the process. Listen, Christian leader, uh uh, we need to understand that this level of exhaustion, this level of decision fatigue, it's not a strategy problem. It's a soul problem. We feel the urgency. We feel the unrelenting pressure of our day. But the reality is that our savior lived at a sacred pace, a regular habit of Sabbath and rest, a regular rhythm that allowed for rejuvenation of the soul. I know for some of you, even just that thought seems to wash over with a bit of relief or a bit of joy. But listen, more information isn't going to allow you or your teams to produce better results. Instead, it's going to have to be an intentional formation of the soul. Those regular rhythms and practices that we have historically called spiritual disciplines are an essential element to the faithful Christian life. I believe the most effective Christian leaders today are practicing faithful stewardship. And that's not just a financial element, that is a real and sincere practice of stewarding the time that God has entrusted to you and to me. And the leader who never withdraws is actually the leader who's setting themselves up for failure. We have to begin to believe that God cares more about us than the things that we produce, more about our soul and the abiding that we have in him than the things that we accomplish in his name or secretly, we really believe we accomplish in our own name. I think so often we could be drawn into these practices that build our own kingdoms rather than acknowledging there's a kingdom of God that is here. Remember, the enemy is not afraid of your gifting. Instead, they're waiting for you to be depleted. They're waiting for the people on your team to feel empty and exhausted. And in the process, he will attack, he will destroy, and he will uh uh dismantle the efforts. You know, this is even in my own life. I I've mentioned before, but uh my wife and I noted that the best time we were spending together uh was actually the the time that we had the least amount of time together, right? The end of the day, we had all of the time, right? The children were in bed, our life was was kind of uh the day was complete, but we were emotionally drained. We were mentally exhausted, we were spiritually depleted. It was the end of the day, right? I don't know about you, but but for us, it was just that moment to kind of collapse into the bed and just be worn down. Those weren't the best quality times for us to think together, pray together, uh, you know, confess struggles to one another or even try and resolve conflict. Uh, when we're tired, we don't make the best decisions. And uh man, we were seeing that in our own lives. So we made uh a change. We knew that, hey, this wasn't going to work. I can't give the most important relationship in my life the least quality time in my life. And so we began to wake up early in the mornings, sit and have coffee together. Now, listen, uh, we still have fights, we still have struggles, uh, we're not, you know, perfect people, but God has used that transformationally on our own lives. And I think the thing we have to realize is that uh we've got to evaluate our own hearts in the midst of these times, right? We've got to ask ourselves the question am I using AI as a tool or am I really using it to cover my own exhaustion? Right? Am I turning to this, asking for its help, understanding a biblical theme or passage? Am I asking for its help to accomplish some project at work? Am I giving uh uh responses in my email or inbox through it because I'm overwhelmed, or because it's an effective tool that I can use to accomplish a set of tasks? I think if we're honest with ourselves, oftentimes we come to these tools uh out of that exhaustion and fatigue. But I don't think that that's the better way that God has for us. When we practice a biblical Sabbath, when we understand that Sabbath is rest that is full of worship and worship that is fully restful, we begin to frame our lives a bit differently. We remember that it's both a command and a gift from God. And that causes transition in our own life. Uh uh, you're not being more faithful when you ignore Sabbath. You're just setting yourself up uh uh to believe the lie that the most important thing you can provide is what you produce for your business or for your church or for some other element. I want you to understand as Christian leaders, we have to rest in worship. Remember, Jesus would intentionally take time to go away to pray. I heard a quote recently, it was just this uh I don't know many churches that have paid their pastors to pray. But the reality is, you and I, as Christian leaders, we should see a deep and abiding priority of prayer and Sabbath in our lives and in our leadership so that we can be more effective. Remember, we only bear fruit when we abide in him. And so it's out of that place that we have to live and lead. God gives rest to his beloved. Remember, it's it's not that he gives greater productivity or greater outcomes, it's he gives rest. And I believe that the psalmist was right when they said our our soul finds rest in God alone, our rock and our salvation, our fortress strong against our foes, that we might not be shaken. Brothers, sister, I I know that all around you, you're seeing uh uh the impact of uh new technology and new programs and new ideas, and and it can feel overwhelming to try and keep pace with all that is moving and changing in the world. But I want to encourage you, the unchanging truth of God's word remains steadfast, valuable, and true. You could never keep up with all of the updates in technology and all of the advances of the world around us. But if you keep a healthy, sacred pace with the Lord, it will produce eternal fruit for his glory, uh uh for your sense of fulfillment. Listen, I I know there are some of you that are listening, man, you're stuck in a workplace where the best thing you can do is to provide better efficiency for a shareholder or or a somebody up the value chain to create the kind of lasting impact that that that company is interested in. Listen, I want to argue for your sake and for the sake of the people you lead, don't miss this point. There is value in rest. There is value in practicing the presence of God. And when we look at the AI slap, when we look at some of these things around us that seem to be soulless, they seem to be purpose empty, they seem to be uh missing sincere, visionary leadership. My argument to you is that these are symptoms of an exhaustion problem. These are the outcomes of a decision fatigue-driven generation. Don't let that be true of your own heart, and don't let that be true of the hearts of the men and women you lead. Listen, you don't want your teams leaving on Fridays just excited that the week is over. You don't want them getting to the finish line and feeling like they can finally relax. You want people that are excited and emboldened for the things that God has put your hands to. So be encouraged. There are faithful practices of men and women that have been practiced throughout the ages, across every generation and across every significant mile marker in human history. And those practices include Sabbath rest. Don't miss that opportunity. Listen, as a faithful Christian leader, you want to practice faithful stewardship. Identify those elements that are the highest priority. Identify those elements that are of the uh urgency that drives toward uh a vision. Don't be overwhelmed by the unimportant and unurgent things in your life. Practice the presence and practice Sabbath rest, and you will experience, I think, the kind of kingdom transformation in yourself, in the people you lead, and then a community around you that brings about his kingdom come and his will be done. Listen, we love Christian leaders here at the International Leadership Institute. Our heart is to serve, equip, and mobilize you to accomplish the vision and mission that God's given you. If you find this resource helpful, I want to ask, man, will you like, subscribe, share with somebody that you think needs to remember the importance of Sabbath rest this week? Um, and if it's helpful, uh, or or if you're willing, give us a comment, give us some kind of feedback on how these resources are helping you because we want to serve and equip and resource you to the glory of God and to the maximum uh that we're able. If you want to discover more, you can go to iliteam.org, look at those eight core values of the most faithful Christian leaders, and discover what God is doing not only in our country, uh, but in countries around the world to advance the gospel and to uh uh press the kingdom forward into every place on earth.