How to Be a Great CEO While Keeping Sane – The 3 Ps
There is a common denominator that CEO’s experience. The feeling that they can never seem to get enough of their most precious asset, Time. At Pinnacle Growth Network, when our clients come to us they always say: “There are not enough hours in the day!” or “I feel like I am constantly chasing time.” It’s exhausting to work that way and also impossible to grow at scale working like this.
If you can relate, do not fret, because there is always a way to become more organized to allow yourself more “time”. Most business CEO’s first thought is usually, “Should I just do less in a day?” You could, but unfortunately that would leave you still feeling behind, and we want to avoid that. The key is working on the right things, only the things you truly need to do, not what you think you must do out of habit. Then empower your employees to do the rest. Let them step up. Seriously, doing more of what interests you and got you into business in the first place – will allow you to grow your business without hitting burn out.
This is why at PGN we created a four-step process starting with the Three P’s of Planning, Prep Days, Pinnacle Days and Play Days.
The first step is creating Prep Days. This is where all you are doing is creating, researching, writing, preparing and organizing. No outward-facing work with clients and no big events. This is serious focus and internal work; the projects you want to get done! This will keep your energy in a steady flow instead of stop, start, stop, start; which ends up adding hours and hours to your work time.
Next, you have your Pinnacle Days, but it is important to know that having a few solid Prep Days are going to set you up for successful Pinnacle Days. There really is a method to the madness. Pinnacle Days you are on! These are for team meetings, events, speaking engagements etc. You are out and about and getting things in motion. That way, all day, you are in alignment with this outward-facing energy and you are not needing to shift gears from one type of energy to another. It’s about batching like-energy activities into each day and this way you actually get things done faster, easier and with a lot less stress.
Let me also say that being ON does not mean pretending to be something you are not or becoming an actor in your field, it is about stepping into your most authentic expression. When you are genuine in who you are presenting yourself to be, your peers, whether they are your team, colleagues, or clientele, are going to be more drawn to you when they can feel your authenticity pouring through. People can really tell when you are trying too hard. Be yourself! Those meant to align with you will.
Last, but definitely not least are Play Days, and they are exactly that! This is where you make sure you are setting aside time in your life to have fun, or just plain old RELAX.
You know you have hit true success in your career as a CEO when you are able to play or rest as much as possible while still hitting all your work and revenue goals. You’d think setting aside time for relaxation and fun would be the easiest part, but for most driven entrepreneurs this is actually the most challenging thing to commit to.
You may think “How can I hit my goals or become a success if I stop, rest and enjoy myself?! There are deadlines to meet and sales to be made!” Well what if I told you the real work is literally in the rest! That space where you pull yourself away from your calls and emails and just allow yourself to BE. This is where the magic happens and you actually have space for new inspirations and ideas. Some of the world’s most innovative ideas came during the most reflective times. So go play at the beach with your kids or have lunch with an old friend. Relaxing your brain makes room for the inspiration to come in. I actually take one week off every single month! Since I started doing this 4 years ago, our business has skyrocketed. Why? The team has been empowered to step up and run with it. I am not stressed and I leave those weeks feeling energized, full of new ideas and solutions that have grown our business so much further than if I had been pounding away at the computer keys and getting lost in the minutia of the day.
The fourth and final step is organizing your Mile Steps and Mini Feats which are all about breaking down projects into small steps to bypass procrastination. Your Mile Steps are the big projects that need to get done in your company to lead you to your Big Picture Vision, where you want to ultimately be. The Mini Feats are small steps of accomplishment that lead you to your Mile Steps and again, your Big Vision. When we break things into small steps, it removes the overwhelm and helps you at least get started. The goal is that you are delegating each of those steps to someone on your team or outsourcing them so you can be the CEO you are meant to be and only working on the business, not in the business. Again, what fascinates you, excites you and fires you up to truly scale your company.
At the end of the day prioritizing the right kind of planning system has to be intentional. You are creating a ripple in time where you are able to access everything you need in the time frame necessary to get it all done.
At Pinnacle Global Network, this is what we help our CEO clients do all day long! We help them build a team-managed company, a more scalable model and help them get their life back. It is life changing.
Apply for a deep-dive Scale Strategy Session with one of our high-level strategists. Your company must be generating a minimum of 500K to qualify. You will walk away with clear-cut steps to get your company from where you are now to where you want it to be. It’s a true gift to be able to take a look at the entire picture of your company, get clarity on your gaps and the strategies you need to close them and move forward.
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