A new survey answers that question and points out the need to break away from leadership responsibilities. One association volunteer leader says downtime provides perspective and encourages fresh thinking.

Before you even clicked on that headline, I could hear you laughing.

“Free time? He must be kidding.”

Although elusive, free time does seem to fit into the schedules of the corporate board leaders who responded to a recent Harvard Business Review survey asking what they did with those precious, unoccupied moments.

Sports and fitness activities were far and away the most popular choices among the 1,000 male and female board leaders surveyed. Golf was the second most popular activity among North American male board leaders, while their female counterparts said they prefer to travel.

“During your tenure as you’re moving up the ranks, and as chair, some of the personal free-time stuff takes a backseat to the other items, and I don’t think that that is too uncommon,” said Andrew Kaufman, board chair of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of New York State. “But I do agree with the notion that getting some time away is, in fact, important. That said, I did just take a golf trip down to Florida for a four-day weekend.”

Taking personal time helps a volunteer leader recharge his or her batteries, but that’s not all, Kaufman said.

“It lends you perspective and gives you time to think,” he said. “Sometimes when we’re immersed in the day-to-day stuff, there’s not a lot of time to sit and contemplate and think. It’s important that you find the time to do that, because it has a positive effect on you personally as well as what you’re doing business-wise and on behalf of your association.”

Finding that time can be difficult for volunteer leaders not only because of the amount of work they’re committed to doing, but also because their personalities tend to lean Type A, Kaufman said: “Volunteer leaders are doers, and they’re probably people who, to some extent, like to have a little more control over process and care about getting a lot of things done the right way. It’s tough to forget about all of those responsibilities when you’re away.”

One tip? Take more than a three- or four-day weekend.

“When you’re away for a little bit longer, you realize that things go on without you, things get done, and there’s not as many tragedies as you think there might be,” Kaufman said. “Just keep reminding yourself of the old expression, ‘A bad day on the golf course is still better than a good day in the office.’”

How do you work downtime into your schedule, and what do you do with it? Share your story in the comments.

(iStock/Thinkstock)