Joan Walsh - a walking miracle, coach and author
We don’t have time to do everything; we only have time to do what matters.
You will often hear people around you say ‘there are never enough hours in the day’ or ‘I don’t have time’ – these are not phrases you will hear from executive coach, author and co-founder of Kashbox coaching, Joan Walsh.
While researching my latest book we interviewed Joan about her incredible ability to make impactful decisions daily. Joan is a walking miracle; in 2010 Joan had a brain aneurysm … 15 months after this event she was addressing a room full of women leaders accepting the Female Business Leader of the Year award for the impact she had made on the business community. Joan is highly productive and she attributes that to her ability to make the right choices daily.
Before Joan’s illness she was an extremely hard working, perfectionist with a full calendar of coaching clients and speaking engagements. Constantly traveling, contributing to her community, Alumni and family she took care of her health – she was one of the hardest workingwomen I knew – it took an illness to finally slow her down.
Here is a summary of our conversation to help all busy leaders prioritize themselves and filter decisions to have a great impact on those around them:
Plan each day… the day before – you have often heard me say, plan tomorrow today. Joan practices this by reviewing her calendar, making her to-do list and leveraging her most energetic time.
Event management – keep a close watch on your energy; be OK with cancelling attendance or rescheduling an event based on your energy levels, consider attending part of an event but not the whole event if you need to.
Rest daily – while we aren’t advocating you take a nap at your desk (but wouldn’t this be a treat some days) – Joan makes rest a priority in her afternoon schedule to continue to be productive throughout the day. Maybe you could take a power nap.
Prioritize your top 10 – Each month determine the top 10 priorities to achieve that month and then make your decisions based on those priorities – it helps you stay focused and avoids distraction.
Invest 30 minutes daily to review – we advocate 15 minutes each morning to identify your top 3 strategic activities for the day and then 10 at night to plan tomorrow today. Joan shared she does this to make sure she is focused and applying her energy to the right priorities.
Joan will tell you her injury is one of the best things to happen to her and her family. She was forced to filter her choices daily based on her energy and what was truly important to her.
Don’t wait until you get sick or lose someone you love to reassess your priorities. Take action today to filter your choices for maximum impact.
We’d love to hear how you filter choices, please share them here on our blog.
