Originally Posted: September 11, 2016 "I'm going to do it all - and I'm going to do it perfectly." While few say that out loud, their actions say it for them. ​ Know anyone who thinks (and acts) that way? I see it all the time, whether in a small business - where doing it all seems a necessity - to teams in giant corporations. The very same people who treat money as a scarce resource are willing to spend their energy doing tasks that provide a low business payoff. Trying to do too much and trying to do it perfectly will lead you to mediocrity and drain your energy faster than it drains your bank account. Many years ago, when I was working with Norm Smallwood of Results Based Leadership, he introduced me to the "anti-perfectionism/strategic clarity" model he called "Types of Work." It changed my life, the way I approach work and how I make trade offs. And in that timeframe, this new awareness guided me to say no to some very exciting global work with - you guessed it - Norm Smallwood. Norm's point of view on strategy could be boiled down to this: What you say "no" to defines you more than what you say "yes" to. In other words, being opportunistic causes you to say yes to more things than you can do well. Being strategic means saying no to anything that doesn't fit your distinctive core business. Having the backbone to have a strong ...