Bossing it: What you get done today doesn't really matter

I know that sounds crazy — you run a business, right? Your task list is always massive and you'll never get everything done, yet you must plug away or it all falls apart. I know, I know.

But hear me out.

Getting away from this daily busy-ness, this task fixation, is one of the difficult transitions on becoming a boss.

As leaders, our role is now less about us doing stuff, and more about leading others to get stuff done.

When you do your boss role well, the team becomes way more than the sum of its parts. An aligned and engaged team of 25 can achieve massively more than the work of 25 individuals. That's why most clients choose to hire an agency instead of a bunch of (cheaper) freelancers — they want a whole team in which impact is multiplied, rather than a group of individuals in which impact is additive.

As the boss, therefore, the greatest priority is what enables that multiplication factor. Purpose, direction, strategy, communications, talent recruitment and development, alignment, and so on.

If you focus your attention on being a multiplier in the agency, rather than just another do-er, you will truly boss it. I promise you your work will feel way more rewarding, and your agency will feel like it's becoming a smooth machine.

What you personally get ticked off a list each day doesn't matter anymore — all that matters is what your agency as a whole achieves.

So what can you do this week to create the time and mental space to be the boss, working on those multiplication factors?

For a start, I'm willing to bet* that more than half of your task list today can probably be done by somebody else**. Be the boss, and ask the right people to take on those tasks.

[*] If I'm right, so I win the bet, your 'payout' is to spread the word about this newsletter on social media, or send me a testimonial I can use in promoting the newsletter to others. If I'm wrong, so losing the bet, I'll post on LinkedIn promoting your agency and your leadership — just email me the details. I know you're an honest bunch, so let's see how this goes! Bet only applies for current email subscribers, so if you read this on the web later, just play in your head.

[**] In an agency of fewer than 10 people this is only caveated by the fact that there aren't many other people around to do the tasks. The key for you is to block out at least one day a week to be your CEO day. Keep task-based stuff and generic calendar things out of that day. Use it as your time to be the multiplier. For agencies on the road between 10 and 30ish people this time needs to increase until you're pretty much a full-time CEO by 30 people.