Is Focus Your Leadership Superpower?
"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." – Stephen Covey
January brings a burst of priorities, resolutions, and wishful thinking. We have the lineup of new initiatives, syllabus updates, curriculum revisions, research deadlines, accreditation timelines not to mention the day-to-day curve balls that come. Before long, everything starts to feel urgent and overwhelming.
Urgency is not the same as importance. High-performing pharmacy faculty and leaders share a discipline that sets them apart: they keep the main thing the main thing.
Here are three ways to stay aligned, focused, and head toward your next-level results:
1. Define Your “Main Thing”
Key Idea: Clarity creates capacity. When everything is a priority, then nothing is. Your effort gets spread too widely.
Try This:
Identify your #1 professional outcome for January-March.
Ensure it aligns to program needs, long-term goals, or promotion expectations.
Share your “Main Thing” focus with your chair, mentor, or coach.
Example:
A faculty member chooses a single quarter one outcome: completing their IRB submission. Once defined, course updates and service roles are structured around this goal rather than competing with it.
2. Protect Your Focus From the Noise
Key Idea: Academic life is full of distractions like emails, meetings, student issues, administrative tasks and interruptions. Focus must be protected, not assumed.
Try This:
Create “focus blocks” 2-3 times per week for your most important work. Don’t give those blocks up.
Set email boundaries: batch checking, delayed responses, or scheduled replies. Try similar boundaries for other areas that are less important and may waste your time.
Take a past week and audit it to identify activities that are not good use of your time. Make one change to lessen the noise.
Example:
A leadership team institutes “No Meeting Mondays” for two hours each morning. Scholarship productivity and student engagement both improve.
3. Align Your Effort with Your Impact
Key Idea: Impact is not measured by how many hours are worked. Instead it’s measured by the value created. When effort aligns with purpose, momentum grows.
Try This:
Reflect on how you spent your time one recent work week. Did it reflect what matters most? What were the main drivers pulling you away?
Reallocate 10% of your weekly effort toward high-value work.
Ask: If this disappeared tomorrow, what would be the impact?
Example:
A curricular lead realizes they spend hours updating slides that bring minimal value. They shift focus to developing case-based activities that better support student learning outcomes.
Final Thoughts:
Keeping the “main thing” central doesn’t simplify your work— it strengthens your impact. January isn’t about doing more. It should be about doing what matters, with intention and discipline. When clarity meets focus, next-level results and momentum follow.
Next Steps to Enhance Focus & Alignment:
Looking to bring clarity, direction, and momentum to your academic pharmacy performance? EduLead-Rx offers individualized leadership coaching and consulting to faculty and leaders to support align goals, protect capacity, and drive next-level results. Let’s turn your main thing into momentum.
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