The trap of being a good operator.

~2-minute read~

Hi Reader ,

There is a specific kind of professional pride that comes with a perfectly organized to-do list.

We’ve all been there.

The tags, the priorities, the sub-lists that capture every moving part of a complex organization.

It’s the hallmark of a brilliant operator. It’s how we got to where we are.

But for many of us, the very system that built our success eventually becomes the thing that holds us back.

I had a client once, let’s call her Jane.

Jane had the most sophisticated system I’d ever seen. She was a master of the "capture."

If a task existed, it was on her list.

She was highly productive. Always busy.

And yet, she told me: “I feel busy all the time, but I never feel like I’ve done the work that actually matters.”

The problem wasn’t discipline or effort.

The problem is that to-do lists reward task completion, not leadership.

They pull us into emails, follow-ups, and small actions.

They encourage constant motion.

They make us very effective at reacting.

But leadership doesn’t break down neatly into tasks.

Strategy needs time, not checkboxes.

Hard conversations need space, not sub-tasks.

Direction requires thinking, not constant activity.

What Jane needed wasn’t a better system. She needed fewer systems and more protected time.

The moment she handed the "operator" habits to her assistant, the tasks, the admin, the constant reactivity... her leadership finally had room to expand.

If you are still personally managing a long to-do list, it’s a signal.

It means you are still operating, when your people need you to be leading.

There is a huge difference between doing things you can do, and focusing on the things that only YOU can do.

Stop mowing your own lawn.

You have much more important ground to cover.

Talk soon,