Maintaining the right priorities is important in any role. A unicorn CTO I know has their goals for the year (yes, the year) at the top of each page in their notebook to serve as a reminder of what matters and a means of recognizing and avoiding distractions.

Something I have worked on with many clients is the value of recognizing what represents an opportunity for them, and what should be dismissed as a distraction. Having clear goals, like my CTO friend, is the first step here. I’ll write more on that another day.

What does it mean to differentiate between opportunities and distractions? People will sometimes say, “I have an opportunity for you…” when what they actually mean is “This is an opportunity for me”. If you’re told “This would be a great project for you”, or “I’m sure you’d get a lot of value out of this”, don’t take it at face value. Consider whether or not the new direction, or some variation of it, can serve your goals. If so, then yes, it’s an opportunity. If you can’t see a way to align it with your goals it’s almost certainly going to be a distraction… avoid it!

It might be interesting, it might be lucrative, it might be fun… but if it doesn’t serve your goals it’s still a distraction.

Here is a deliberately silly example. Suppose someone has a sandwich, and offers it to you. If you’re hungry, or you know someone who is, the sandwich probably represents an opportunity. Grab it :) However if it’s not going to get eaten it is really just a distraction… you’re going to end up carrying a sandwich around with you.

Are you carrying around one or two sandwiches that you don’t need, just because someone labeled them as opportunities? 🥪