Edge without erosion is a choice—architected, not hoped for.
We all have them. A calendar serves a purpose especially for those of us who can forget so quickly. However, calendars also fail smart and visionary people.
They’re built for other people’s urgencies. They are built primarily so we can be there to serve others and to fill a list of obligations real or imagined. Frequently, they confuse motion with momentum. They schedule what’s measurable, not necessarily what’s meaningful. At one point I noticed I was on 5 boards.
I got on them one at a time so I hadn’t noticed until my calendar was so full I couldn’t catch my breath, literally, I was running from one meeting to the next. So, I get it. I quit each one as soon as my year was up when I realized there was no “me” time, no down time, only collapse into bed time.
We have all heard of the 80-20 rule. Where only 20% of our time is actually profitable. What about a 70/20/10 rule?
- 70% Necessary Work: Strategic choices only you can make.
- 20% People & Belonging: Family rituals, key 1:1s, recovery.
- 10% Wonder: Learning, silence, beauty—fuel for vision.
It’s a whole other way of assessing yet a very important one if you give it a minute. In the hospital or on your deathbed is bad timing for reevaluations– now would be good.
The discipline
- Every Friday: reschedule until the ratio is true. Eventually it becomes a natural process.
- Color-code by energy, not topic (green = gives energy; red = drains). It may surprise you.
- Protect two soul hours (essence others – reflective hours – you name it) weekly—no devices, just high-trust thinking.
Micro-reset (3 minutes) even on a packed day it needs to fit in.
- Inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 6—five cycles.
- Ask: What is mine to do? What can wait? What must go?
- Act on one deletion immediately.
- It’s a shock how when we actually look from this perspective what shifts.
Reflection prompt:
What would my children or closest friend say I protect (is my highest priority)?
Soundbite to adopt:
“I lead at my highest level—and love my life at the same time.”
