Leading Well Through the Holiday Season – a six-part series aimed to help you lead and live well throughout the Holiday Season (Week 5)
By Bianca Schaefer
Week 5: Leading Well with Capacity & Margin
One December, I hit a wall—not because I lacked passion, but because I had zero margin. I was still showing up, still saying yes, still carrying more than was healthy. But inside, I was running on fumes. It wasn’t burnout all at once; it was burnout by a thousand small compromises. That moment taught me that capacity isn’t about how much you can carry, but how intentionally you manage what you should carry.
Leaders often assume capacity is measured by productivity—how much you can juggle or absorb. But Kingdom capacity is different. It’s spiritual, emotional, mental, and relational. The holidays especially tempt leaders to stretch beyond their limits, often out of good intentions: wanting to bless people, create memories, support ministry needs, or show up for family. But capacity without margin becomes chaos, and margin without intention becomes wasted space.
Margin isn’t laziness. Margin is stewardship. It’s the wisdom to leave room for God to speak, redirect, strengthen, or surprise you. Without margin, everything feels urgent. With margin, everything becomes clearer.
1. Know Your Limits
Limits are not failures—they are boundaries of wisdom God built into your humanity. When you ignore your limits, frustration grows, joy shrinks, and discernment becomes clouded. Pay attention to the signs: irritability, mental fog, emotional heaviness, or decision fatigue. These aren’t weaknesses; they’re invitations to slow down. Limit awareness is leadership maturity. It says, I want to lead well, not just lead more.
2. Build Margin Before You Need It
Healthy leaders create space before the crisis, not after it. Margin is choosing to step back before you’re forced to. It might look like leaving ten minutes between meetings, planning fewer commitments, or delegating something you usually take on yourself. Margin also gives you the emotional space to respond instead of react. You lead better when your soul isn’t operating at maximum capacity every hour of the day.
3. Lead with Intentional Simplicity
There are seasons when God calls you to do less so He can do more through you. Simplicity is the discipline of choosing what matters and releasing what distracts. Simple leadership isn’t shallow—it’s strategic. When you strip away unnecessary pressure, productivity becomes purposeful, relationships deepen, and your leadership becomes more Spirit-led than self-driven. Sometimes the holiest thing you can say is “not right now.”
As Christmas draws closer, the pressure often intensifies—more gatherings, more coordinating, more expectations. It may feel counterintuitive to remove something from your schedule this late in the season, but that’s exactly why it matters. Margin created now becomes peace regained later. Giving yourself space isn’t avoiding responsibility; it’s making room for what truly reflects the heart of Christ at Christmas.
Leadership Challenge
Remove one thing from your schedule this week—and protect the margin you reclaim. Notice how it impacts your clarity, energy, and peace.
Scripture Meditation
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” — Psalm 90:12, NIV
Prayer
Lord, help me steward my capacity with wisdom. Show me where to pull back, where to step forward, and where to create margin for Your presence. Strengthen me not to do more, but to lead with clarity and peace. Amen.
Blessing
May God expand your capacity where needed and strengthen your margin where it has grown thin. May you lead from overflow, not exhaustion.