Have a “by Friday” habit

Many of us live most of our business life in a 90 day box. Others are lucky enough to live on a calendar year basis. I’ve worked in one sales organization that was fanatically driven by the weekly total. This goes back a few years, but I can remember it well: Three bad weeks and you have to let them go. A good first week makes a good month. Friday is not a fun day, its the real hump day in this system.

So many refuse to measure that way anymore. From car lots to technology companies, monthy and quarterly goals/metrics are the norm.

But I’ve found that as individual leaders, we need to hold ourself accountable to accomplish something every week. This will help us reward ourself with a great weekend experience. I belief that a sense of satisfaction that coincides with a reward (time off) is a part of finding work/life balance and meaning.

Here are a few Friday goals you can have:

1. Introduce three people in my network that “should meet”.
2. Finish a great book or an important article related to my work/professional challenges.
3. Eliminate all quadrant 3 items from our TODO list (these are items that are urgent and unimportant — many times you were roped into doing it or you’ve mishandled expectations).

Chip in more ideas with comments. Note that I’m not going to measure revenue in this model. Stick with the company system when it comes to numbers-metrics. Think add value, synergy when coming up with suggestions.