Imagine you are N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, tasked with doubling the value of a $300+ billion business empire.
What’s your next move? Where would you even begin?
Most certainly, your answer wouldn’t be to simply work 2 extra hours a day, going from 12 to 14-hour days – your gut will tell you that it is NOT the lever you need.
In this game, and at this level, outcomes simply don’t scale with effort. You can’t grind your way to 2x results. Instead, for Chandrasekaran, the real leverage lies in:
- Putting money behind high impact decisions: Entering (or acquiring) the right businesses and strategically exiting the wrong ones.
- Backing the best people: Empowering and investing in top talent.
- Using the power of Tata culture: Align millions of people across multiple organizations.
In other words, he will have to find these high leverage actions, and work on them with obsessive focus, without letting the noise overwhelm him.
In other words, the solution here is not time management, but leverage management.
Time management vs. leverage management. A fundamental shift.
While you may not be running a $300 billion conglomerate, if you are a high performer or aspire to be one, the underlying principles are the same. You are likely already motivated, and are already working hard. So just like Chandrasekharan, you can’t get to your goals by working 2 hours extra.
The starting point for you is to identify your leverage.
The game-changer: leverage management
Identifying disproportionately high-value work: The tasks that yield 10x or 100x returns. (Hint: Tasks whose impact you still feel 6 or even 12 months down the line.)
Letting go of even some “good” things: Deciding what you will not give your precious time and energy to, even if those activities hold some value.
Giving full attention to one thing at a time: Focusing intently on what truly matters, without switching or scattering your efforts.
Staying the course: Maintaining unwavering focus even when urgent noise screams for your attention.
Contrast this with traditional time management, which is all about, “How can I squeeze the most out of every minute?” But you’re not a sugarcane press. Squeezing more time or being busy every single minute isn’t the real game. Leverage is.
In other words, stop thinking like a time manager and start thinking like an investor – where your time and attention are the capital you are investing.
Just as financial investors selectively put their money in stocks they expect to deliver 10x or 100x return, you also have to give a disproportionate amount of time and attention to your highest leverage tasks.
That is how you become a high performer and deliver spectacular results.
– Rajan