Manage Yourself
“Always know what your contribution to the mission is.”
The best people to work with share one quiet trait: you never have to chase them. They already know what needs doing. They’ve already done half of it. They already have a plan for the rest. Nobody taught them this. They just decided, at some point, that they were responsible for their own output.
There are three numbers I keep in mind: 100, 40, 10. A hundred percent of the time I’m on something, I’m on it. Forty focused hours a week is what I owe the work. And a ten-out-of-ten on what I put out is what earns me a place on any team worth being on. Manage those three, and you rarely need managing.
A strong culture is simply a team where everyone manages themselves.
Self-management isn’t about working alone. It’s about being trustworthy alone. When every person on a team takes ownership of their own contribution, the team stops being a group and starts being an engine. Managers become coaches instead of chasers. And everyone gets to do their best work.
- Start each day knowing what you're going to contribute, not just what you're going to work on
- End each week able to answer: "What did I move forward? What was I responsible for? What did I own?"
- Don't wait to be told. If you see it, do it. If you can't do it, flag it. If you don't know, ask
- Protect your focused time the way you'd protect your most important meeting