The Strategy Question

"As usual, I haven’t prioritised any time for myself."

This guilty line arrived in an email from a leader over the break.

I completely empathise.

In theory, we know that looking after ourselves is critical. (You often encourage others to take time for themselves, am I right?)

You know it helps us do our jobs better. Enjoy our work more. And, ultimately, do work that matters.

But in practice?

You get busy. You see the list of tasks on your desk and you think "Oh... just one more..."

Demands pile up, and it's December again before you know it. 😅

14 Half Days

Rob Nixon has a powerful way of reframing the work week.

He points out how you have 14 half-days in a standard work-week. He suggests leaders invest at least one of those half-days in development and improvement.

It's a great idea.

But it raises some tough questions...

How do I protect that time?

How do I figure out what to focus on?

And how do I justify that time when nobody else is doing that?

"What do you need to say NO to so you can say YES to what truly matters?"

I reckon the most valuable leadership trait is the ability to say 'no'. It's something I've been working on a lot in recent months.

(Even better is the ability to ignore...!)

In my next book, Leading Questions, one of the chapters is called The Strategy Question.

It's about saying NO to lots of good ideas so you can say YES to the one idea that truly matters.

The challenge with that is twofold:

(a) Knowing what matters. (What's your one thing?)

(b) Having the courage to say NO to everything else.

Easier said than done, right?

If you'd like some guidance on how to tackle this, just reply to this email with the words THE STRATEGY QUESTION and I'll share something that'll make it much easier to do work that matters.