Pings.
Requests.
“Quick call?”
You feel the pull of now.
Urgency is loud.
Impact is quiet.
Leaders choose quiet.
The trap
Busy looks useful.
Busy hides waste.
We confuse speed with progress.
We reward fire drills.
We ignore root causes.
The A‑L‑E Priority Loop
A — Awareness
Stop for sixty seconds.
Write your top three outcomes for the week.
Not tasks. Outcomes.
Scan your inbox and board.
Circle the work that moves those outcomes.
Cross out the rest for now.
L — Leadership
Choose one hard, high‑leverage item.
Define “done” in one sentence.
Decide what you will not do today.
Tell the people who need to know.
E — Execution
Block ninety minutes.
Silence notifications.
Start.
Ship a small, clear slice.
Review.
Repeat.
A short story
A sales head spent her days in chats.
Every ping felt like a fire.
Revenue stalled.
She tried the loop.
Morning: list outcomes.
Pick one.
Ninety minutes.
By Friday, two key deals moved.
Her team copied the rhythm.
The noise stayed, but it stopped leading.
What “urgent” really means
- Someone else’s timeline.
- A missing system.
- A fear of saying no.
- Work without a clear owner.
- A problem we keep solving at the surface.
Name it.
Fix the root when you can.
Protect the mission when you cannot.
Say it like this
To a peer
“I’m focused on X this morning. I can look at this at 3 pm. Will that work?”
To your team
“Today our one win is the launch checklist. Ping me only if it blocks a customer.”
To your boss
“Here are the three outcomes I’m driving this week. If you want me to add this, which one should drop?”
To yourself
“I do less. I do it well. I finish.”
Simple tools that help
- A single page: Week Outcomes, Today’s One Thing, Parking Lot.
- Calendar holds for deep work: same time daily.
- A visible WIP limit: only two active items at once.
- A “Done” definition for each task: clear, small, shippable.
- A five‑minute shutdown note: what moved, what’s next.
Common mistakes
- Ten priorities.
- Meetings without decisions.
- Starting new before finishing old.
- Checking messages every two minutes.
- Mixing planning and doing.
- Confusing effort with value.
Fix one at a time.
Keep it simple.
For managers
- Set the weekly three for the team.
- Kill or merge low‑value work.
- Protect focus blocks.
- Close the loop fast: approve, clarify, or cut.
- Praise finished outcomes, not heroic hours.
For remote teams
- Publish the week’s three outcomes on Monday.
- Use status notes, not surprise calls.
- Record decisions in one place.
- Ask for async updates by 4 pm.
- Hold a 15‑minute Friday “What moved?” round.
One‑minute prep
Write three lines before you start:
- Outcome: What will be true when done.
- First slice: The smallest step that creates real progress.
- Block: When you will do it.
If you cannot write it, you are not ready to do it.
Tiny scripts you can copy
- “Happy to help. I can pick this up after I finish the pricing draft at 2 pm.”
- “Let us pause this. It does not move our week’s outcomes.”
- “I will send a V1 in 60 minutes. Expect rough, not perfect.”
- “Can we turn this meeting into a decision note? I will propose options by 5.”
Metrics that matter
- Impact hours: time spent on the top three.
- Finished slices: number shipped per day.
- Queue health: items waiting on you.
Track for two weeks.
Adjust your day to raise these three.
Tiny action now
Open your calendar.
Block one ninety‑minute focus slot for today.
Pick one outcome slice.
Start.
Finish.
Share what moved.
The bigger frame
Awareness sees the difference between noise and value.
Leadership protects value from noise.
Execution turns value into visible wins.
Do less.
Do it deeply.
Finish what matters.