Leda Writes for Fintech Futures: The subtle art of holding yourself accountable

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week she turns her attention to planning for the future, accountability and caring about everything.

It’s easy to accurately judge what’s important over the next few days of your time. Some fires are blazing, requiring all your effort right now and others are smouldering away ready to be dealt with when you have a bit more free time. It gets much harder to judge what’s important two weeks in the future.

So, over the next few days, you already know which meetings are important and which ones aren't. But, it’s easy to say yes to any calendar invitation two weeks from now. Invites you’ll inevitably have to cancel on short notice, it’s the common trap of deferred accountability.

Saying yes comes from a place of optimism. The belief that there’ll be fewer fires in the futures and you’ll have the headspace to deal with the less pressing issues. But there will always be fires and while optimism should fuel your work, realism should organise your schedule.

Future you is the same as present you, just a bit more tired. And the truth is those issues which aren’t so important just aren’t impactful enough, resonant enough or urgent enough for you to make time for them today.

You can’t do everything, you don’t have the time and it’s impossible to care about every single thing. Treat your future self as a slightly more tired version of you. Not one who suddenly has plenty of free time and needs distracting.

Hold yourself accountable to what you’ve committed to doing today and accept there are things you will never have the time to commit to.

Read the whole story at Fintech Futures.