Give Up Low Value Tasks

If you truly buy into your role as CEO, be willing to give up the urgent, less important, low-value tasks you routinely handle.

Realize that 80% of your results come from 20% of your talents and activities. Delegate the 80% of your activities that produce only 20% of your results. Stop doing the wrong kind of work.

CEOs should think, lead, and delegate –– not handle trivial matters. Your job, as CEO, is to design/redesign the business… to make it grow. Your manager’s main job is to improve the business. And your employees’ various jobs are to operate the business.

Here are a few more reminders:

• Don’t major in minor things! Don’t let yourself be distracted by irrelevant, insignificant “stuff.”
• Don’t let the urgent control your life. Put your cell phone/pager away more often. Don’t be a slave to email. Check it once a day... not all day long.
• Instead of creating to-do lists, start creating not-to-do lists for yourself. Let go of small things. Eliminate or delegate the 80% of your activities that produce so little impact for your business. Share these not-to-do lists with your team. Put them on notice that you are getting out of the daily detail (usually their areas of responsibility) in order to influence the big picture.
• Quit trying to manage details and start managing your people. Guide their focus and priorities. But let them do the work.