The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
With concrete steps on how to stay focused
If you are like me, you often find yourself juggling numerous priorities and responsibilities. Amidst this chaos, maintaining focus on the most crucial objectives sets exceptional leaders apart. Stephen Covey’s timeless wisdom, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing," serves as a reminder that success hinges on our capacity to prioritize and stay dedicated to our core goals.
But how do you keep the main thing the main thing?
The first, and likely obvious step, is to actually know what the main thing is.
I bet if you ask most leaders what their most important item for the day is, they wouldn’t even know. Fortunately, for you, that makes this advice a powerful way to get a leg up.
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To keep it simple, I would suggest having the following main priorities:
A yearly objective with a single KPI. This is usually a business outcome such as a revenue target or a customer growth number.
A quarterly theme with a single KPI. Sometimes this number is just a smaller number of your yearly goal, but often it will be an important leading indicator that causes your yearly KPI to grow. For example, if your overall target is revenue, maybe for one quarter you have a churn goal.
A daily top priority. I wouldn’t overly worry about a specific KPI for this other than whether or not you got it done.
All of these should layer on top of each other. So, your daily priority should help you move forward with your quarterly goal. And your quarterly goal moves forward with your yearly objective.
Okay - now you’ve got some main things. How do you make sure you keep focused on them? Keep it simple:
Every day, start by reviewing your daily priority
At least once a week, review your progress towards your quarterly goal
Lastly, at least quarterly, if not monthly, review your progress toward your annual goal
You can do complex things like set up automated dashboards, put posters in your offices, and have themes to help people remember. These are all great, but don’t let what you could do overly complicate getting started.
That’s it! Some basic, yet hopefully powerful tips that in my experience will transform your leadership if done consistently.
I am considering doing shorter, but more to-the-point articles like this one more frequently. If you like this style, please like this article by clicking the ❤️ below. Thanks!
I like the shorter format.
That said, I'd love (not always, but every so often, cuz I know it's a lot to prepare and share those) to hear your personal experiences with these.