“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” has been my mantra for 2025 and will continue for 2026. If you’re like most high achievers, you’re capable of doing many things, which can lead you into trouble.
When you’re smart, capable, and known for getting things done, you have a tendency to agree to take on more than you should. Because you can do it, you convince yourself you should.
Have you heard the saying, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person?” When you’re the “busy person,” your manager likely keeps giving you more and more to do because they know you’ll get it done - one way or the other.
At some point, leadership stops being intentional and becomes reactive and overwhelming.
Every day, you have choices to make, for you and your team. Will you stay focused on the important priorities and stay in control or will you say yes to things that bog you and your team down? Will you chase the next shiny object? Will you work on things that are fast, fun, and easy instead of the hard work that actually makes a difference?
Most leaders don’t collapse under one big mistake. They slowly get sidetracked by taking on too much of the wrong work or getting distracted.
Why This Problem Is Getting Worse — Fast
Today’s leader is hit with more noise, more tools, more opportunities, and more shiny objects than ever. Darren Hardy refers to this as Weapons of Mass Distraction.
How often have you said, “I’ll get to it when things calm down.”
Take a hard look at your calendar. Does it reflect activities that ensure you hit the outcomes of your goals? Or is it a bunch of meetings and a “to-do” list of tasks?
If someone were to ask you and individual team members what the top three team priorities for the week, month, or quarter are, would they all have the same answer or would it be a blank stare?
Being able to do a lot makes you the first one people turn to, and the last one to get real focus time.
Busy is not the same as being effective. Velocity without direction is chaos. Are you busy being busy? What would your calendar tell someone about your priorities?
Your time isn’t infinite. Saying yes to something meaningless steals from something meaningful.
If you’re overwhelmed, your team isn’t far behind. People mimic the leader. If you stray from priorities and take more work, so will team members.
Prioritization, clarity, and finishing what you start aren’t sexy, but they’re what separate real leaders from busy ones. It wasn’t glamorous to get up at 5:00am every morning to write for 2-3 hours on a book manuscript - but it’s what was required to achieve the desired outcome of having a published book.
You can execute a dozen initiatives halfway or three initiatives exceptionally well. Ask yourself and your manager this question: “Would you rather me finish three high priority projects or work on ten without finishing any of them?”
AI won’t magically simplify your life. But once you decide what matters, it can clarify, organize, and pressure-test your plans faster than anything else. I use AI as a thinking partner to help me prioritize the most important work.
Anyone can add more. Leaders earn trust by removing what no longer matters. Sometimes, it’s just moving the work to the right time. While I was still working on my book, I started asking about how to get on podcasts. Good idea but not at that time.
If your team can’t say your top three goals out loud without checking slides, you don’t have priorities. You have preferences.
A lack of focus shows up everywhere:
You don’t lose because you’re not capable. You lose because you’re spread too thin to apply that capability well on the outcomes that matter.
Why I’m the One Telling You This
For more than 25 years, I’ve helped technical and operational leaders reset priorities, rescue complex programs, rebuild execution systems, and regain clarity.
My book Practical Leadership and my workshops are built around a single belief:
Give leaders the practical tactics and simple systems they’ve never been taught but desperately need.
Not projects. Not tasks. Outcomes.
You can’t prioritize without pruning.
Have it:
Because it is.
Without a reset ritual, leaders drift back into chaos.
Let’s make 2026 your most productive year! If you’d like to schedule time for an AI-assisted strategic planning and goal-setting working session tailored for you and your team, go to janetply.me to schedule time for us to talk.
You’ll learn how to:
✔ Apply a simple goal-setting framework
✔ Define outcomes that actually matter, instead of a task list
✔ Develop context files to guide your AI tool to better responses
✔ Use AI prompts to help generate ideas for achieving outcomes
✔ Prioritize work using AI prompts
✔ Use AI to support better decisions
Your future success isn’t about doing more. It’s about choosing what deserves your best effort - and letting the rest go. That starts with clarity about your top outcomes.
Warm regards,
Janet Ply, PhD
Author, Practical Leadership
www.janetply.com
Schedule a free problem-solving call with me at janetply.me. Connect with me on LinkedIn.