Imagine a sailboat on the ocean on a sunny day. Proudly a sail pulls the boat along and is seen by all. This is the light side of management that includes leadership, presenting to the team and execs, and white-boarding ideas with designers and engineers. This is the part of your job that you probably love. Importantly, this is work that is not often explicitly requested but that people will remember most.
Under the water, where it is darker and less visible, the sail boat has a keel to keep it steady. Without it, the boat would capsize in strong wind. On this darker side are administrative tasks like list making, backlog management, and budgeting. No one sees it unless it's broken. It's not particularly fun for most but it's steady and may increase your confidence.
I like the sailboat analogy because of the double meaning here:
The ability to "stay above water" is critical to my success as a product manager. I try to use most high visibility time in the office--maybe it's during stand-ups and in the morning--to be seen and deliver light-side value. Light-side activities are also critical to my happiness as the reason I became a product manager was to work with amazing people to build and sell cool stuff.
Sometimes the dark side of things takes over. At that point I find it important to recognize when it's happening. If administration goes on too long or too heavy, I can feel burnt out, tired, like it's "a slog." To counter this, I spend time reorganizing and prioritizing leadership activities, which energize me.
I ask myself an important question: What is not being asked of me that is needed right now?
Sometimes the answer is a presentation to gain alignment on an idea that's flailing with endless revisions. Other times it's a prototype to share a vision that an exec doesn't get. And sometimes it's an offsite brainstorm or research trip to reenergize the team with purpose.
Thinking about my work in terms of dark side and light side has helped me achieve more balance at work. I don't get bogged down responding to email. I block time for strategy and I make presentations to aid discussions. All of this is guided by how I largely define a leadership mentality: Intuiting what needs to be done and doing it first.