Stop getting passed over: build strategy into your week

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.


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.


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.


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.


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.