By Friday, your calendar’s clean and your priorities are blocked (see Week 1 if you missed it).

Now it’s time to look further out.

Because most weeks? They’re for firefighting – ping to ping, deck to deck, meetings that go nowhere, priorities that change mid-sentence.

The long-term stuff waits.

And so does your growth.

That’s how smart people get passed over — buried in work, but invisible where it counts.

This ritual interrupts that drift.

Every Friday, you carve out one quiet hour.

To shift from operator to builder — and take ownership of your career and your life.

This is your time to:

• Zoom out and re-anchor to where things are actually going
• Identify what you’re already doing that could be reframed or elevated into a strategic win

And if nothing fits? Create something or ask for it

What You Do

Block 60 minutes. Quiet space. No distractions.

If music helps, try Marconi Union – Weightless. It’s designed to calm your nervous system and open up thinking space.

This is your strategic breathing room, your high-leverage hour that protects your future from being hijacked by busywork.

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Step 1: Pulse Check the Horizon

Open your strategy doc, roadmap, or professional goals.

• What matters over the next 6–12 months?
• Are you aligned with it — or orbiting something obsolete?
• What kind of leader do you want to become?

Then dig:

• What milestones are coming up that could be leveraged into high-profile outcomes?
• What’s quietly stalling that deserves a nudge?
• What’s missing from your plate entirely – but needs to exist?

If nothing connects to the bigger picture, you’ve just uncovered a blind spot — That’s not a setback — it’s a signal.

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Step 2: Reframe One Task into a Strategic Win

Look at what’s already on your plate and ask:

“How could this signal momentum to the people who matter?”

Examples:

• A data pull becomes a prototype for a cross-functional dashboard
• A weekly email becomes a high-visibility touchpoint to senior leadership
• A team sync becomes a space to float a bold idea

This surfaces the strategic thread hiding inside your execution.

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Step 3: Manufacture One if Needed

If nothing you’re working on moves the strategy forward — make something that does.

A few tactics:

• Draft a proposal that fixes a persistent team pain
• Volunteer for a cross-team initiative no one wants — but leadership notices

Ask your manager:
“What’s a priority we’ve ignored too long — but still matters?”

You’re sending a signal: I build things that matter.

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Step 4: Define One Next Move — and Who You Need

Big ideas die from never starting.

Before you log off:

• Write one next action: email, deck title, meeting to schedule
• Name the person who can unblock or accelerate it
• Keep it light. But make it real.
• Wrap-Up

This is how you avoid waking up in six months asking,
“What did I actually move?”

No one’s coming to hand you strategy.

You have to claim it. Build it. Ship it.

Every Friday.

And Monday?

It’s already on its way.

Fix what no one sees — before it becomes the thing everyone remembers.

The truth is, no one cares how your system works.

But when it breaks?

They’ll notice.

• When you’re live on a call and the file won’t open.
• When the team starts rehashing decisions you already made — but didn’t capture.
• When you’re in the room but can’t steer — because someone else came more prepared.

Those moments quietly chip away at trust.

Not just others’ trust in you — but your own belief that you’re still in control.

This ritual exists to catch those cracks — before they compound into something public.

What You Do

Block 30 minutes every Friday.

Don’t expect to overhaul your entire system but do expect to spot one friction point and strip it before it costs you next week.

This is how you patch leaks before they turn into full-blown failures.

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 Step 1: Scan for Open Loops

Start with your inbox.

If you’re like most people, it’s a graveyard of half-decisions and tasks you meant to circle back to.

Pick one of two moves:

• Send yourself a list of what’s still open (subject line: “Open Loops – [Date]”)
• Or forward anything unhandled to a folder that you actually review

This doesn’t close every loop.

But it keeps the thread alive — and saves your future self from saying “I forgot”.

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 Step 2: Run a Surface Check on What’s Coming

Look at your calendar. Again. But this time, ask:

“If this were happening live, what would make me fumble?”

• Rename files so they’re share-safe
• Reorder folders so you’re not fumbling on Zoom
• Make sure AI tools (like Copilot) are turned on and trained
• Drop links or files directly into invites

Test: Would you be proud to share our screen mid-call? No?  Fix it now.

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Step 3: Make One Thing Easier for Future You

Fix the one thing that slowed you down this week — or would’ve made you look unprepared.

• Rename the file so it makes sense
• Move it where you’d expect to find it
• Leave yourself a note for Monday so you’re not asking, “Where was I?”

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Step 4: Test the Trust Layer

Ask yourself:

“If I had to share my screen with my boss right now, what would break?”

• Would the file open?
• Would the name make sense?
• Would it look like you own the system — or that you’re held together by duct tape?

That’s your test.

Because broken systems don’t always break in private.

And once they’ve seen you scramble?

They start to question if that’s the default.

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Wrap-Up

Most people won’t tell you when your system looks shaky.

But they’ll remember how it felt.

And they’ll make quiet decisions about what you’re capable of.

A solid system keeps you efficient and protects your reputation in rooms you’re not in.

By the end of the week, it’s always the same:

Five days of back-to-back meetings.

Three late nights.

You’re out of fuel — and your brain’s trying to bargain.

“If I just push a little more tonight… I won’t start Monday behind.”
“If I work this weekend, I won’t have to tell my boss I missed the mark.”
“Just one more hour. Just one more email. Then I’ll rest.”

But you don’t rest. You stall. You scroll. You pour a drink.

You call it decompressing, but it’s just you running from the noise.

And Monday? It’s already circling your thoughts.

The deliverables.

The conversation you don’t want to have.

The part you dropped and hope no one brings up.

There’s a voice that says:

“Just work through the weekend. It’ll be easier.”

This ritual is how you stop running.

Because if you don’t reset you, none of the other systems matter.

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What You Do

Block 20 minutes. Just for you.

No meetings. No multitasking. No expectations.

You don’t owe the rest of your Friday to guilt or recovery.

You need a pause long enough to catch your breath – so you don’t drag this week into the next.

 And that includes your weekend.

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Step 1: Acknowledge the Real

Call it what it is:

You’re tired.

You’ve been performing.

You’ve been holding more than anyone can see.

Name the loop that’s trying to take over:

“Keep working. You’re behind.”
“You can rest after the deliverable.”
“You didn’t do enough yet.”

You can’t recalibrate what you don’t name.

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Step 2: Mark the Wins

Even if you’re behind on the big thing — something moved.
Write it down.

Quick list. No perfection. Just proof you weren’t idle:

What did you actually get done this week?

Where did you show up, even when you didn’t want to?

What went unnoticed, but mattered?

Optional:
If you’re feeling brave, send it to your boss or mentor.
No spin. Just a clear: “Here’s what moved this week.”

Sometimes it’s not about convincing them.

It’s about reminding you.

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Step 3: Close the Open Tabs (Mentally and Digitally)

You’re not trying to finish everything.

You’re closing loops so your mind can let go.

Delete or archive the junk in your inbox

Send yourself an “Open Loops” email

Drop one sentence in your notes: “Pick this back up Monday”

When your brain believes the loop is closed, it stops spinning.

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Step 4: Give Your Weekend a North Star

Pick one plan this weekend that’s for you.

Not aspirational. Not productive. Yours.

A real date night

A solo walk (no podcast)

Something fun you can actually look forward to

Because without it?

Your weekend turns into a fog of procrastination and low-grade shame.

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Wrap-Up

High performers burn out from never hitting stop, not from lack of effort.

This is maintenance.

You can’t run a machine that never gets serviced.

Your job isn’t just to execute.

It’s to last.