I saw this the other day on Facebook and laughed because it felt familiar.
Today’s to-do list:
- Bite off more than I can chew
- Build Rome in one day
- Poke a bear with a stick
- Beat a dead horse
- Skate on thin ice
If I’m honest, I spent a good part of my career doing some version of that list — and calling it leadership.
Taking on too much because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone. Pushing timelines because urgency felt productive. Stepping into situations because silence made me uncomfortable. Revisiting decisions because closure was harder than it looked. And maybe the biggest one — doing for others what they needed to do for themselves.
I spent years carrying what wasn’t mine to carry.
It looked like effort. It felt like responsibility. But over time, it did not produce better outcomes. It produced more noise, more entanglement, and more exhaustion.
Lately, I’ve been trying something different. Not a new framework. Not a new system. Just a cleaner way of showing up.
These days I’m trying to:
- Do fewer things — but make sure they are the things that matter.
- Let progress take time.
- Stay steady when things get tense.
- Leave decisions where they land.
- Address what needs to be addressed sooner.
- Keep ownership where it belongs.
None of this makes for a dramatic to-do list. But it creates clarity. It reduces friction. And it gives other people room to step up.
It is also changing something more personal.
My work feels less heavy. My days feel less crowded. And I am not carrying nearly as much that was never mine to carry in the first place.
Maybe effectiveness is not about doing more.
Maybe it is about doing what matters — and carrying less of what was never ours to begin with.
Leadership gets lighter when ownership goes back where it belongs.
What are you carrying right now that may not actually be yours to carry?
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