5 leadership resets ambitious executives need now

I used to be the executive leader who had it all. I achieved the extraordinary and was constantly delivering. I started chasing the next win the moment the last one landed. And I’d thought that relentless pace was just what I needed to do to perform at the top. So I kept going. Until my body stopped me. I was diagnosed with a rare, incurable autoimmune disease. I also had cancer twice and spent over a decade in medical waiting rooms. And when circumstances stripped me of every external marker of success, I faced the question I’d been outrunning: If this is it, what do I truly want my life to be? That was my “enough already” moment. If you’re an ambitious leader who is wondering if there is a better way to succeed, you’re not broken. You’ve just been following the wrong blueprint. These five practices are the reset that you need to ensure that your success doesn’t come at the expense of your well-being. 1. Aim for high impact, not high performance High performance is about output. High impact is about results that matter. Most leaders are running a master class in the former while quietly starving the latter. Every Monday morning before my week starts, I spend 30 minutes with my diary and ask myself: Where can I add the most impact this week? From that answer, I write my top five priorities and plan them in. I deprioritize meetings and commitments that don’t genuinely move things forward. When you don’t do this, you end up spending your week reacting to what seems urgent rather than what makes the most impact. That’s why it’s important to design your week before it designs you. 2. Strive for excellence without exhaustion Every overachiever I have coached shares the same blind spot: They believe their capacity is infinite. It is not. The higher you climb, the more ruthlessly you need to save your energy. Each morning I identify my three most important tasks, the work only I can do at the level it needs to be done. On meeting-heavy days, I choose one task t