Stop the madness, please!
I can’t even go to Flipboard or LinkedIn anymore. The preponderance of articles and blog posts are becoming lists, regurgitating lists.
Are you tired of:
- The top 10 habits of successful people
- The 20 things the best leaders do every day
- The top 12 free apps for productivity
- The first thing the most successful CEOs do every day
- The top 5 $1B ideas Richard Branson thinks of before he windsurfs around his island
We live in a very distracting, information overload era. The Internet brings a bounty of free advice and knowledge. “Give it a Google” and you can get lost for hours consuming information that truly does nothing for your effectiveness, execution and productivity.
Do a search on “Time Management” and you get 486,000,000 results (in 0.39 seconds).
You can continue reading all those blogs and try to put a dent in the 486M websites out there promising to make you a better time manager and thus, a more effective manager or leader — Or, you can be pragmatic like me.
Every night before I go to bed, I write down a list of the 3 most important things I need to accomplish the next day.
3 THINGS:
- The MOST important strategic item I have to complete tomorrow
- The SECOND MOST important strategic thing I have to complete tomorrow
- The THIRD MOST important action I have to complete tomorrow
Not only do I sleep better because I have written the big (3) things down that would have kept my mind spinning all night, leading to a non-restful, productivity impacting sleep. I am also prepared for the managed chaos that the next day will inevitably bring to my ideal calendar. (If this does not resemble your reality, please let me know what line of business you are in)
You see, I start my day with a short list of 3 things that, if done, positively impact the strategic trajectory of my business. My day is not done until those 3 things are.
However, not long after my day starts, the speed of business kicks in and as a senior leader, a big part of my day is consumed in helping my teams successfully do their jobs, navigate the unexpected and drive our business. Coaching, mentoring, developing and even healthily debating their strategies and priorities in support of their teams and objectives.
The key word here is Team. We are OneTeam! We win-lose, succeed-fail as OneTeam.
Some leaders look at turning the organization chart upside down, implying that the leader reports to or rather serves their direct reports, as management not leadership. I disagree. I think a leader WORKS ON the business by coaching and motivating their teams to the end of becoming more effective and productive. The aim is empowered, scalable teams that are growing in their abilities daily. That lifts a business. That grows a business.
3 Things. Try it and let me know what you think.
Do you have any pragmatic solutions that work for you in balancing the strategic and leadership tasks you need to get done every day?