Why is strategic work so hard to do? A little science. A little logic.
A client lamented this week.
She despaired that she wasn’t doing the strategic work on her business she should have been.
“Why is it so hard to do?”
A few things:
I never do strategic work and execution on the same days.
For the same reasons, I don’t write and edit in the same sessions.
They are two different cognitive modes
Strategy and writing require expansive, big-picture thinking—brainstorming, generating ideas, and exploring possibilities.
Execution and editing demand focused, detail-oriented thinking—refining, structuring, and improving what already exists.
Switching between these modes can be mentally exhausting and inefficient.
When you jump between ideation and execution, you lose momentum and flow in both.
I’m religious about my Sundays, for reasons that have nothing to do with God.
I look at the week past and the week upcoming and take a 10,000 foot view on my business. I’m now siloed in Lisbon, for my quarterly personal retreat, thinking big picture for my business.
Sue Ashford, Management and Organization Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, shares in my interview that women, by nature, are ‘doers.’ The dopamine hit that we get from quick ‘doing’ wins are delayed when engaged in strategy work that just may not yield that ‘win’ in one sitting.
Blog summarizing interview | Video | Full interview (audio only)
Because we have deep neural pathways that have the ‘know how’ to do the lesser 4 or 5 goals, we do them instead, ac to organizational psychologist Dr. Ben Hardy.
Lemme give you an example from baseball:
The New York Yankees hired a single smart guy to think about baseball bats for ONE WHOLE YEAR. Can you imagine doing strategy for 365 days?
But you know what? That MIT physicist changed the game forever as a result of that think time. I found this in Shaan Puri’s newsletter, BTW.
He invented the “Torpedo” barrel - it brings more wood (and mass) to where you most often make contact as a hitter
The idea is to increase the number of “barrels” and decrease misses
The result: the Yankees have hit 15 home runs in 3 games
“Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.” -Benjamin Disraeli
Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
1.Join the Samita Lab Mastermind. Join 7 other women leaders in giving a TEDx style talk on a NYC stage in front of 200 people at the end.
2. The Anatomy of a 'No' If you’re struggling to say ‘no’ gracefully at work, I created a digital community where all my scripts are organized (15,000 downloaded)
I’ll add to it each week.
3. Enroll in my workshop: “3 tips to supercharge your TEDx Application”
1600 already took it.