One of the biggest lessons that startup founders, newly promoted managers, and even senior business leaders need to learn is how to do less.
I’m not just talking about delegating (although that’s a concept that many leaders also struggle with). I’m talking about changing their mindset to adopt an approach of humility, identifying their limits, and keeping non-essential tasks off their to-do list in the first place.
Managers might have gotten to where they are by saying yes to opportunities and constantly pushing to do more, but when they’re responsible for others, they need to learn the delicate, paradoxical nuances of how to say no.
Let’s look at a few insights on how you can improve your leadership focus with an attitude of humility—and knowing when to say “no” to the to-do list.
The importance of saying no
Leaders cannot do it all. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, and leaders’ time gets scarcer and more valuable the higher they rise. As leaders, we must have the humility to know when we can’t achieve everything. What we need to do is focus on the highest-value activities and eliminate the rest. When we do that, we can achieve almost anything.
Too often in everyday life, when people say they’re “busy,” they’re really unfocused and ineffective. Their calendars might be full of meetings, but they’re not making progress toward their most important goals.
Humble leaders don’t value being busy for its own sake. Instead, they focus their day on the right activities that are most essential to their projects and their team’s success.
This often means saying no to people, which can be hard to do. But real humility requires transparency and honest communication. Don’t be afraid that saying no to a meeting or declining to lead a new project will cause people to see you as less capable. Instead, speak up, protect your time, and carve out space on your calendar.
Bring these four ‘Ds’ to your to-do list
The first step to eliminating non-essential activities and enhancing your productivity as a leader is to transform your to-do list. I recommend using a framework called the “four Ds:”
1. Delegate
Who else on your team can do this task or lead this project? Humble leaders don’t try to do it all themselves; they look to create opportunities for others and engineer a smoother workflow by involving the wider team.
2. Drop
What items do you simply need to “drop” off your to-do list? Think rigorously to declutter your time management closet. Ask yourself:
- Are you truly excited to participate in all those recurring meetings, or are some of them just there because of habit and routine?
- Which projects have good momentum, and which are languishing?
- Which initiatives are on track and which ones are lacking buy-in from your management team?
Knowing which projects to drop, which initiatives to cancel, and which products to kill is more important than picking the right winner to support. If you realize that a project isn’t worth your time, it’s probably not worth the company’s resources either.
3. Defer
Which items are worthwhile but not urgently time-sensitive? Give yourself permission to stop thinking about these projects for a while and then revisit them in the future.
4. Do
What tasks and projects do you, and you alone, need to do? Hopefully this list of “Do” items has gotten much shorter after you’ve worked through the first three “Ds.”
The 3 humble mindset that improves focus
Along with transforming your to-do list (and making it shorter!), humility can re-energize your time management. Use these three humble leadership mindsets shifts to reframe your focus:
- Shift from “we have to” do these things to “we choose to” do these things. Humble leadership means being deliberate and mindful. Choose to spend your time and energy where it makes the biggest difference.
- Shift from “it’s all important” to “only a few things really matter.” You’ve probably heard of the Pareto principle: 80% of the results come from 20% of the activities. So why waste time on the 80% of activities that are mostly just clutter and noise? Stay disciplined, humble, and focused on the essentials.
- Shift from “I can do it all” to “I can do almost anything—but not everything.” No one can “do it all.” Humble leaders know their limits. Creating healthy boundaries and structure gives your team a much-needed sense of focus and discipline that helps make everyone more productive and innovative.
If you want to accomplish more as a leader, your ultimate goal should be to do less work yourself and unlock your people’s potential to do more as a team.
When leaders stop doing the things that don’t get them closer to their goals and embrace a humble mindset, that’s when they can add real value and achieve amazing results for everyone on your team.
Urs Koenig is a former United Nations military peacekeeper and NATO military peacekeeping commander, a highly accomplished ultraendurance champion, a widely published professor, and a seasoned executive coach and keynote speaker with more than three decades of experience helping hundreds of leaders and dozens of executive teams unlock new levels of achievement across four continents.
