The leader must work like any other worker and conserve his energy. Gandhi is a very good example of this type of leader. He looked very weak physically. But is there a leader who has faced greater challenges? I think I understood the source of his strength when I visited him at the Ashram near Ahmedabad. It turned out that the only day I could arrange to see him in my busy schedule (I realized this when I got there) was his day of silence. He kindly invited me to sit with him until the end of the period of silence, which ended just after sunset. He was sitting in his armchair just across from the cottage and we had great conversations under the stars. Among my other questions, towards the end of our conversation, I asked why he had chosen a day of silence. He said he was too tired to talk and listen to others. He said that due to the terrible pressure on him, he was tired not only physically but also mentally and spiritually, besides, he was in danger of becoming a person whose official, mechanical and vital functions had slowed down. He said he needed free time to think and pray. For these reasons, he said he kept quiet one day each week.
Sir Richard Livingstone
Source: John Adair (2003) Effective Time Management (Trans. Ömer Çolakoğlu) Babıali Kültür Publishing, Istanbul, pp.176-177
