Welcome to Hard Stop

Is there anything in business more respected than a “Hard Stop?”

“Hey everyone, I just want to let you all know that I have a hard stop at 11:00.”

“No problem, I have a hard stop too.”

“Well let’s get started then because we all have hard stops at the top of the hour.”

We hear it All. The. Time. We know exactly what it means when we hear it. And we *respect* it.

What would you wager that the 99% of times the hard stop is for another meeting?

I’m not a betting person, but that’s my guess. Because we respect the boundaries that come with a hard start time, a hard stop time, so that we can get in our “back to backs”, as many as possible, in a work day. When someone has a hard stop, in my experience, it’s usually to run to another meeting.?

How would our interpretation of that same statement above change if the hard stop was for a different reason?? “Hey everyone, I have a hard stop at 11:00 to …

• Take a yoga class
• Take a power nap to reset
• Think for an hour.? I’ve set aside time to work on something
• Go for a hike
• (fill in the blank with another priority).

Does it feel differently with someone being so candid about what matters to them outside of another meeting?

Does it feel as *real* and needs to be respected at the same level?? (I mean, they want to go on a hike for a bit; that can wait, right?)?

Even if (I’m going out on a limb here), we say the person who made this statement started work at 6:30 in the morning, regularly replies to emails in the evening at his kids’ baseball game, and is even online regularly on the weekends to move things forward on projects he manages, I’m guessing that if he was on a meeting and said that he has a *hard stop* to run to the gym the response would be met with criticism.

But, what would our lives look like if we honored hard stops that WE set up?

What would our lives look like if we were honest about our priorities (with both ourselves and others) and we set boundaries so that we have time for those priorities?

In this weekly newsletter I will share what has worked for me as I transitioned from going along with the motions and taking what life threw at me to be extremely intentional about the type of business and the type of life I’m building with a focus on my priorities.? But it won’t just be my story; I’m just one person.? I’ve been so inspired by talking to other people about how they’re living intentionally and how that approach has impacted all areas of their lives that I’m excited to share it.? Ending relationships, starting new ones; making changes in their career when they knew deep down it was needed; leaving the comfort of their current position to start a new business; having a family on their own when they couldn’t find the right partner; focusing on mental health when they needed a change.?

What I realized in working on this the last couple of months is this:

We have to stop certain things in order to start others.

Time is finite. There are only so many hours in a day to do the things that we prioritize but if we’re intentional with how we set up our weeks, our months, even if we look out towards the full year, we can make sure that those items/people who are on our priority list get what is most important – our time.??

I look forward to sharing tips, suggestions, and inspiring stories weekly.? Thanks for being here.