She Thought She had an Executive Function problem
Linda came to me thinking she had ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ problem.
But what we found was something much simpler and much easier to "fix".
As we started working, Linda kept saying how sheโs bad with disciplining herself and so a lot of things keep falling through the cracks.
She was forcing herself to work after hours on โtediousโ tasks.
โWalk me through last week,โ I said. โLetโs do a time study.โ
As we went through her days, the real pattern started to show up.
She told me, โMost evenings I end up catching up on all these tasks Iโve pushed off during the day. I know theyโre important, I just dread them. So I procrastinate. And then Iโm working late.โ
At the same time she also kept saying how ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ท๐ผ๐ฏ.
That sheโs ๐ถ๐ป ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ต๐ฌ% of the time.
But the more we mapped out her actual days, the clearer it became that 90% was nowhere near accurate.
๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐.
The truth is that Linda is exceptionally talented in strategic thinking.
But somehow she ends up adding all those โtediousโ tasks to her to-do list that she procrastinates on.
And then beats herself up about it.
I asked her, โDo you believe that if you develop a strategy you also have to execute on it?โ
She paused, โYeah, I think so.โ
So I told her: โHereโs what Iโm seeing. Your literal genius is in defining the strategy. You shouldnโt also be the person grinding through every operational detail. There are people who actually enjoy the tasks youโre calling โtedious.โโ
You could see the shift immediately.
She asked, โSo itโs not about me getting more disciplined about the boring stuff?โ
โNo, itโs not. Itโs about you finding time to work on more strategies and delegating the โboringโ stuff to people who love executing on strategies.โ
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ผ๐๐.
They take the thing that comes incredibly easy to them for granted and call the stuff that doesnโt come easily to them, โreal workโ.
Linda ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต need more discipline to work after hours.
She needed ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ that what comes naturally to her โ her innate ability to translate her big picture thinking into a strategic plan โ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ for her to continue bringing value to the employer she genuinely loves. โฅ๏ธ
