Your Real Strategy

Inspired by Clayton Christensen · How Will You Measure Your Life? Go to the source ↗

Your strategy is not what you say it is. It is where the hours and the attention actually went. Every card here is one allocation you make today — an hour, a yes, a no — because that is the only place a strategy is ever written.

Choose from 9

Where did the hours actually go?

Look at Where It Actually Went

I will look at where my time actually went, without arguing with it.

I look at yesterday plainly, without the story, and then back across the week — saying what that tells me I actually put first, and changing one thing about today because of it.

Give an Hour to the Long Thing

I will give an hour to something that pays off in years rather than today.

What am I really hiring this for?

Ask What I Hired It For

I will ask what job I was really trying to get done when I chose this.

Find the Job Behind the Ask

When someone asks me for something, I will find what they are actually trying to get done.

What does 'just this once' cost?

Hold the Line While It's Cheap

I will hold my line on the small occasion, where holding it costs almost nothing.

I decide where the line is now, while nothing is pressing on it, and count what this costs if I do it every time rather than once. Then I hold it on the small occasion, where holding it is cheap.

Who am I becoming to the people closest to me?

Invest Before the Return

I will put time into someone close to me long before I will see anything from it.

Let Them Do the Hard Thing

I will let someone I care about do the difficult thing themselves.

Make It as Unmovable as Work

I will treat one thing at home as unmovable as anything in my working day.

What am I measuring by?

Name the Measure I'd Choose

I will name what I would want my life counted by, and act by that once today.

I name what I would want my life counted by and act by that measure once today — including one thing that nothing will record.

You get your own editable copy — change anything, drop what doesn’t fit. They land in your Intentions, tagged Priorities; you pull in what each day is for.