My colleague and friend, Michael Bungay Stanier, posed these brilliant leadership questions in his recent newsletter:
Time to ask some big questions
At this time of the year, you just might be in “what the heck is happening in 2013″ mode. What if you started by admitting that doing more faster wasn’t going to be the unspoken assumption? What if you asked yourself?
If there was one Great Work Project to do this year, what would it be?
And what would it mean to fully commit to it?
What are the obvious things to cut out and stop doing?
What do I love to do – and will say No to anyway?
What’s the thing you’re doing out of habit,
ancient momentum, unthinking commitment?
With whom do I need to have the tough conversation,
to let them know I won’t be doing what they hoped I’d be doing?
(Other than yourself, of course.)
What will I reluctantly hand over to someone else to do?
What will be different in how I invest in looking after myself:
more exercise. more sleep, more people-I-love time?