Most leaders I speak to aren’t short of work or opportunities. Their calendars are full, their teams have a solid pipeline of work lined up, and there’s no shortage of priorities competing for attention. But ask them how much time they spend in an average week doing the work that creates the greatest value for their business, and the answer is usually, ‘not enough.’ I don’t see this gap as a time management problem. I think it’s an operational one.

Earlier this year I shared my ‘Types of Busy’ framework after noticing how often the word busy gets used as a catch-all. What prompted it wasn’t just volume of work, it was what I kept hearing from some of the most capable people in their businesses: ‘I’m exhausted. I’m burnt out. I’m tired.’ They had become the gravitational centre of work – always on, solving problems, filling gaps, keeping momentum. Work flowed through them, not around them.

This is why I developed the ‘Types of Busy’ framework: to highlight that some busy creates value, while other forms quietly consume the people a business depends on most. It raises a simple question – how do we design work so our greatest capability is directed towards the highest value, rather than absorbed by constant operational demand?

Often the response is systems, hiring, or process improvement. While important, true operational excellence starts earlier, with how we think about time, focus and energy.

6 practical ways to boost your operational edge

1. Timebox your thinking, not just your doing.

Most people use timeboxing to schedule ‘doing’ blocks – for instance, a 45-minute block to prepare for a client pitch – of which the outcome is output under time pressure. But we also need to be timeboxing ‘thinking’ blocks such as a 30-minute block labelled ‘what is the real problem this customer trying to solve?’. This thinking block produces clarity that makes the doing part faster.

How does this work in practice? Aim to protect at least one thinking block per week to solve a real issue.

2. Build a second brain before you need one.

The second brain concept from Tiago Forte, capturing and organising information outside your head so it’s retrievable when you need it, is what can separate leaders who compound their knowledge over time from those who start from scratch with every project. It doesn’t need to be complex; it simply needs to be a consistent place where ideas, insights, lessons, and innovations are captured so they’re easy to find, build on and reuse.

How does this work in practice? At Mindshop, we’ve made Microsoft Teams our second brain where our collective knowledge lives, meaning we’re continually building an organisational knowledge base that everyone can contribute to and learn from.

3. Use AI to augment the middle, not replace the thinking.

AI has created an extraordinary amount of leverage but it’s also shifted where the bottleneck sits. Producing work is no longer a challenge but knowing what to ask, interpreting what comes back and deciding what to do next is where the real value lies.

How does this work in practice? With Mindshop’s AI Diagnostic Technology, an advisor can create a tailored diagnostic for a specific client, industry or issue in seconds, but the real expertise lies in deciding what insights are worth uncovering in the first place. The AI tech then does the heavy lifting in the middle – building the diagnostic, analysing the responses, identifying patterns, opportunities and potential next steps. The advisor then becomes the last thinking layer to apply their experiences, judgement and context to determine the right course of action for their client. Used in this way, AI doesn’t replace expertise but rather amplifies it with the thinking at the start and end remaining uniquely human and all the middle parts being accelerated by AI.

4. Design your week around energy, not just availability.

I’m an advocate for ‘theme days’ – grouping similar work into dedicated days. Every time we switch between strategy, meetings, emails, and projects we pay a cognitive switching cost eroding our focus and decision quality. When every day looks the same, every priority competes with every other priority.

How it works in practice? For me, that means designing my week so that each day has a focus – Mondays are for strategic thinking, Tuesdays for global events, Wednesdays for content creation and product development as examples. I certainly don’t always get it perfect but having this default rhythm means I’m working with my brain rather than constantly against it.

5. Define what ‘done’ looks like before you start.

A surprising amount of wasted effort doesn’t come from doing the wrong work but rather, from starting the right work without a clear definition of what success looks like for that task or project. Think of it like using Google Maps – you don’t just switch it on and start driving – you intentionally put in the destination first and only then have the route.

How does this work in practice? Before starting any important project I ask ‘What outcome am I aiming to create here and what does success look like?’ and if I’m not clear on this, I keep asking questions. Also, once I start, I’ll regularly pause and check I’m still heading towards that outcome, not just staying busy.

6. Accept 8 out of 10 as the new standard – on the right things.

Operational excellence does not mean doing everything at the highest possible standard. It means knowing which things require 10 out of 10 effort and which things require 8. Leaders who get stuck tend to over-invest in things that don’t move the needle, while under-investing in the work that really does. The result is high effort, but not always high impact.

How does this work in practice? This one is a work in progress for me. The skill is judgement and knowing where ‘good enough’ is genuinely good enough so I can protect energy and focus for the work that actually drives value.

I encourage you to imagine what your week would look like if you applied even just a couple of the ideas above. From my experience it shows up first in your calendar, then in your energy, and eventually if you’re consistent, in the quality of the thinking that you and your team are able to bring to the work that matters the most. This is where strategic productivity really sits – not in being more efficient for its own sake but in deliberately creating space for your higher-value thinking to surface and where your best work can happen.