One of the toughest things a leader will ever do, and I’m talking from experience, both for myself and in roles where I have managed other people’s companies for them, is to decide what things are priority in the business and entirely and singularly focus on only those things.
Yes, technically that’s TWO things, but you get my point.
The thing is…
If everything is a priority, nothing is.
You gotta stay focused.
You gotta put blinders on.
You gotta actually let the other non-priority things go.
No looking at them, no thinking about them, no checking on them, nothing… like they don’t even exist. Nada.
And don’t cheat.
Pick 3 things that are a priority today. The 3 things that move the needle in your business more than anything else.
Maybe it could be 3 priority things critical to the company you KNOW need to be done, and one or two things you want to test.
Or leave room for 1-2 adhoc things, since we know “things come up” – schedule room for it, just do it AFTER your priorities.
The point is to write your 3 priorities down and focus ONLY on those things.
If you get interrupted (most businesses are really just interrupt-driven, fly by the seat of their pants, while fighting fires all day collections of people who all wear multiple hats and often don’t know who does what or who they report to…) let it go or delegate it to someone else.
If you don’t have someone who knows how to do it, make it a priority for the NEXT day to create a training video that THEY can turn into an SOP so you never have to do it again.
It works.
If you’re one of the rare few who can actually do this, the difference it makes when you do will astound you.
- Your days become less stressful.
- You feel more accomplished.
- You can actually know what you got done each day.
- You get to focus on the important things for you, while each member of your team focuses on the important things for them.
- Your team is more efficient and effective.
- Everyone gets along better.
- You stop fighting daily fires.
- Your company is more scalable and survivable.
- Your company will make more money.
Try it.