The effort taken in perfecting PowerPoint presentations, answering every email and attending all the meetings you are invited to can leave you exhausted with no energy for strategic thinking. Photo: File.
May Busch found herself bogged down in a morass of day-to-day work that left her no time for the strategic thinking that would advance her career. Then advice from a top executive showed her not all tasks were worth 100 per cent of her effort.
I used to treat every task as if it were going to be my masterpiece. As a result, weekly updates were getting the same attention as board presentations.
I’d stay up until the small hours preparing answers to questions no-one asked. I had my team spend weekends perfecting exhibits that were never presented.
All that effort left me exhausted, with no energy for strategic thinking. Worse still, I got the reputation for being a ”resource waster”. Junior staff didn’t want to work for me.
That’s when I learned about the poker-inspired concept of blue chips versus white chips from a former president of China and Asia-Pacific for BP.
Blue chips are the high-strategic-value tasks that move your career forward. Examples would be preparing for a one-on-one meeting with a top executive, developing a strategic proposal, or volunteering for a cross-functional project.
White chips are low-strategic-value tasks that just keep you busy. In this case, examples would be perfecting PowerPoint formatting, attending every meeting you’re invited to, or responding instantly to every email.
Most high achievers plateau because they treat every chip the same, but here’s the truth: Not all tasks deserve your best effort.
Take a quick audit for your own work: What tasks could you eliminate, automate, or delegate? Which activities demonstrate your readiness for the next level? If you had only 20 per cent of your current time, what would you focus on?
The 80/20 career rule says 80 per cent of your advancement comes from 20 per cent of your tasks. The trick is knowing which are your blue chips.
What’s one white-chip task you’re spending too much time on right now?
May Busch’s mission is to help leaders and their organisations achieve their full potential. She works with smart entrepreneurs and top managements to build their businesses. She can be contacted at [email protected]. This article first appeared on May’s blogsite.
