Simplifying a Year with a Pie Chart & Sticky Note
Merrie Williamson
Technology Executive || Speaker || AI Optimist || Community Amplifier
One thing I aspire to do this year is share more about what I’ve learned in my path to executive leadership. How do you balance the needs of hundreds or thousands of people you lead, responsibility for business outcomes, and your own personal priorities? Here is a simple approach that may be useful, one I wished I would have used earlier in my career especially as a working parent.
Typically, on the first few days of a new year, my then executive assistant Marnie Gibson and I would meet in person to map out how I aspire to prioritize my time in the upcoming year.? It’s a two-way dialog, often a debate, that helps us both create a plan to balance unlimited demand and limited supply.? Let me share how we came up with a plan over the last six years.
This is a whiteboard discussion; I need a pen and eraser.? We start with a pie chart, and I begin chopping it up in sizes and priorities that almost always fall into something like these areas:
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We also discuss boundary conditions and things I need to do to make sure I bring the energy day to day to these priorities. I block non-negotiable time to support my kids.? Daily morning exercise (weight training is my new focus) has been a staple for me since my kids were school age (and could get up, get dressed and make food, theoretically).? Mapping out my annual health check-ins with doctors was a new idea Marnie introduced a few years back and we also do that as the year begins.?
I found that one of the most helpful things in my life is a sounding board on reality.? The reality, as Marnie will share, is that this is aspirational and almost never perfectly achieved.? There will be weeks where it feels very imbalanced for good reasons as the urgency of business impacts priorities.? We use this barometer to check in and make sure we’re looking ahead to get rebalanced.?
?? Simple tip: Once you get a sense of the split that you want, put it on a sticky note and put it next to your monitor.
As a working parent I sometimes feel like the pie is never big enough, so I refocus on that simple pie chart that grounds me in a plan. Not everyone has an outstanding partner and executive assistant like Marnie, or a role that has this type of balance required.? But I wanted to share with you all as you plan your next year and seek out ways to balance aspirations, priorities and life.?
Group Finance Manager, Microsoft Azure
1 个月Thank you for sharing this, Merrie! As I continue to balance motherhood and work, I can easily see how this will help me stay grounded and clear on how and where to prioritize.
Chief Legal Officer, Intel Corporation; Board of Directors, Trane Technologies (NYSE), (Chair, NomGov Committee)
1 个月Love this Merrie. A great way to frame it.
Optimist.
1 个月Love this Merrie! I have access to Copilot at work and it helps me take inventory of where I'm spending my time. So even if you're not in the place in your career where you can have an EA partner, I've found that Copilot can make for a reasonable proxy -- giving me insight about where I'm spending my own time. I need that vantage point I need in order to correctly load balance. Here's a prompt I love using in case anyone else finds this useful: Copilot, look at my Outlook calendar and Teams messages and categorize how I spend my time into buckets you identify based on the context of what's included in each calendar invite and Teams chat.
SVP | Pegasystems | Head of Enterprise Sales for North and South America
1 个月Thanks for sharing some valuable nuggets!
Director of Software Engineering @ Intel | Delivering Software Products | Empowering Global Teams
1 个月Merrie, this is a powerful reminder that true progress comes from intentional prioritization, not just responding to the endless cycle of meetings and urgent demands. I still remember the framework you shared with me years ago about a manager spending a third of your time managing down, a third managing up, and a third managing across. It’s great to see how the year pie chart has evolved through your ongoing leadership journey. The way you've balanced personal and professional priorities—especially as a working parent—is inspiring. Thanks for sharing !