David McCullough, biographer of John Adams, Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman was asked recently about the qualities that made these presidents along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln truly great. He listed four:

Some of my teams hit an emotional wall after their first year of implementing EOS. Teams that begin with many large issues to resolve, can make significant progress in the first year and, because of what is still left to accomplish, still feel unsatisfied and a bit discouraged. It’s not unlike the marathoner who, after completing 10 miles, realizes there are still 16 miles to go. If you are feeling a bit exhausted from the first 10, the prospect of running out the final 16 can feel overwhelming. Dan Sullivan calls it “the gap” between where we are and where we want to be.

How can it be true that the more I work in my business, the less it’s worth?

Last week marked the 500th time I’ve heard a leader utter the words “I can just do it myself in the same amount of time it takes me to teach someone else.” I hear this often, and when I do, I think to myself, “Oh boy, we just lost another one.“

An article in Fast Company magazine, Why You Should Work From A Coffee Shop Even When You Have An Office, prompted this post. You can read it here. Entrepreneurs and leaders of companies of all sizes oftentimes get lost in working in their business. The todo list they came into the office with this morning grew, not shrunk, by the time they left the office. The urgent drives out the important. What to do about it?