Written by Kristin Harrington
Does your world feel faster than it used to? Are deadlines, tasks, and responsibilities piling up and overrunning your to-do list? Does it always feel like there’s not enough time to get it all done?
If you caught yourself responding “yes” to these questions, you’re not alone. Across industries, leaders tell me the same thing: the pace of work (and life) has become nothing short of frenetic.
In Essentialism, Greg McKeown explains that priority was originally singular, meaning the very first thing. For centuries, it referred to a single, most important focus. But with the Industrial Revolution, the term evolved into priorities, implying that multiple things could hold equal importance. The result? A culture of busyness, where urgent tasks multiply, and true focus is lost.
Fast forward to today—what one leader recently called the instantaneous generation—and we’ve taken this to a whole new level. We’ve prioritized our priorities, creating offspring priorities everywhere. Everything is urgent. Everything is important.
But here’s the paradox: speed and effectiveness don’t come from doing more. They come from doing the right things, in the right sequence, at the right time. The leaders who thrive in this high-speed environment aren’t the ones trying to juggle it all—they’re the ones who have mastered focus.
At Lead Star, we help leaders and teams identify what truly moves the needle, so that execution isn’t just fast, but meaningful. Because in a world that moves at breakneck speed, the smartest move isn’t just to go faster—it’s to make sure you’re going fast in the right direction.
If you’re eager to move with more focus, here are a few suggestions to get you started:
- Clarify your true priority.
Instead of juggling an ever-growing list of priorities, ask yourself: What is the one thing that, if accomplished, will create the most impact? High-performing leaders resist the temptation to spread themselves thin and instead focus their energy on what truly moves the needle. When you define your singular priority, decisions become clearer, execution becomes sharper, and results come faster. - Align speed with strategy.
Speed without direction is chaos. Before jumping into execution, take a step back to ensure your actions align with broader goals. Urgency is important, but urgency without strategy leads to rework, misalignment, and burnout. A well-placed pause—whether it’s a five-minute check-in before a meeting or a monthly strategy session—ensures that your momentum is taking you in the right direction. - Create space for deep work.
In today’s reactive work culture, it’s easy to get stuck in a cycle of constant responsiveness—emails, Slack messages, and last-minute requests. But the most effective leaders carve out time for deep, uninterrupted work known as “white space.” Protecting even 30-minute blocks in your schedule for thinking, planning, and problem-solving can help you operate proactively rather than reactively, improving both speed and quality of execution.
The world isn’t slowing down, and neither should you. The best leaders don’t just keep pace with the speed of business—they define it. By focusing on what matters most, aligning execution with strategy, and making space for deep work, you won’t just get more done—you’ll get the right things done. And that’s how real progress happens.
Founded in 2004, Lead Star is the company behind New York Times best-sellers SPARK, Leading from the Front, and Bet on You. Our mission is to support our clients in achieving better results through their people. By developing better leaders at every level, we help organizations unlock the essential capabilities needed to elevate their performance.
