Great leaders are not “responsibility hoarders.” They seldom take on a new responsibility without eliminating a responsibility they currently have. They are as good at ending things as they are at starting things.

My wife sagely said to me “When you don’t say ‘no’ to someone, you are saying ‘no’ to someone.” She of course meant that when I didn’t say “no” to someone who was asking me for a time commitment, I was saying “no” to her. She has greatly helped me put this into perspective.

There was a time when I could have taken you to my office where you would have seen a four drawer file cabinet much like the one in this poster. Three of the drawers were filled with ideas and projects that didn’t work out. One drawer was filled with the ideas from which I was making my living at the time.

Mentally that’s still how it works. What might you need to eliminate today so you can get on with the truly important?

Categories: Closure

Tags: closure