Pause & Reflect -- The Cause & Effect

Digital media.  Media meets technology.  It's my world.  It's our world.  Meetings.  Calls.  Emails.  Blogs. Tweets.  We rarely turn it off.  I know I don't (I am writing this post at midnight after all, and likely will be up by 5).  I love it.  And, I need to respond to everything.  Now!

Or do I?  Do we?

Yes, by responding immediately to everything -- doing it all now -- we each knock down those individual trees.  One by one.  But, in so doing, do we miss the forest?  Do we miss the big picture?  The context?  The focus?  The true mission?

Candidly, the answer is frequently yes.  I am always in execution mode -- many of us are.  The cause is the bombardment of inbound messages.  The never-ending "things that can be done."  The internal feeling/drive/passion/obsession/energy to do more.  But, the effect is not always "more."  Full speed and heads down almost certainly leads to loss of true vision ... at least sometimes.

I started my new gig -- as CEO of Manatt Digital Media Ventures -- nearly 3 months ago.  I love it.  Am passionate about it.  And, the good news is that I am bombarded with new business and investment opportunities to consider, new people and companies to meet, and new meetings to take -- opportunities, companies and relationships that need (nay deserve!) exploring.  So, I explore.  All of them!

But, that can lead to drowning in them.

So, last week I did a little experiment.  I checked out for a full day.  I held my own little individual strategic "off-site."  I literally went off site -- away from my office in LA.  Away from my home office in San Diego.  I holed up in a room at my club.  I turned off the phone.  I ignored emails.  Instead, I carefully ... carefully! ... re-read my business plan.  I reflected ... methodically! ... upon its goals.  Its areas of focus.  Its strategies.  And I objectively overlaid the actions I took in the past nearly 3 months on those goals and strategies -- I weighed my actual allocation of time against a candid assessment of how I should be allocating my time.

And it was enlightening ....

Through this one-day exercise, I realized that my actions skewed to certain activities that, while important, were not of paramount importance.  I realized I need to reallocate my time.  I realized I need to sharpen my focus.  And, I realized a very difficult thing ... a very difficult thing for me ... I realized that I need to say "no" some times.  Many times.  Candidly.  Unapologetically.  (But always respectfully).  To opportunities.  To companies.  To meetings.  To people.  I -- none of us -- can do it all.  While not an epiphany (after all, after pausing and reflecting upon it, the conclusion is rather obvious!), this realization was meaningful and impactful.

In other words, I had one of my most productive -- and ROI positive days -- in weeks, even though I did not take a single meeting, answer a single phone call, respond to a single email, write a single blog post, or tweet a single tweet.

I just paused ... and reflected.

And that, my friends, made all the difference.

I plan to build my 1-day individual strategic off-sites into my overall professional schedule -- likely one day per month.  One day to pause, reflect ... and recalibrate.

I urge you to do the same.