The CEO Shift: Moving From Reactive to Intentional Work
There is a moment every entrepreneur & executive faces that no one prepares you for.
It’s the moment you realize you’re busy all day… but somehow, nothing that actually moves your business forward gets done.
You answered emails.
You solved team questions.
You handled small fires.
You sat in meetings.
And yet, at the end of the day, the big things—the vision, the growth, the strategy—are still sitting there. Waiting.
This is the difference between working in your business and working as the CEO of your business.
And making that shift changes everything.
Recently, in my conversations with Monisha Longacre and her work around practical productivity, one concept stood out deeply: productivity isn’t about doing more. It’s about being intentional with what actually matters.
Because CEOs don’t just execute. They decide.
The Trap: Living in Reactive Mode
Most founders start in reactive mode because they have to.
In the early days, you are everything:
Sales
Marketing
Customer support
Operations
Finance
Vision
You become conditioned to respond. Quickly. Constantly.
Your day becomes driven by:
Who needs you
What’s urgent
What’s loudest
Not what’s most important.
The problem is, if you stay here too long, you unknowingly cap your company’s growth.
Because reactive work maintains.
Intentional work expands.
Reactive work keeps the lights on.
Intentional work builds the future.
The CEO Shift: Protecting Your Intentional Work
The most powerful shift you can make as a founder is learning to intentionally separate three types of work:
1. Vision Work
This is the highest-value work you do.
It includes:
Thinking about where the company is going
Identifying new opportunities
Building partnerships
Creating strategy
Innovating
This work often feels uncomfortable because there’s no immediate reward. No one is asking you to do it.
But this is the work that creates exponential growth.
This is CEO work.
2. Growth Work
This is work that directly drives revenue and expansion.
Examples:
Sales conversations
Relationship building
Hiring key people
Marketing strategy
Creating new offers
This work moves the business forward in real, measurable ways.
3. Maintenance Work
This is everything that keeps the business running.
Emails.
Internal questions.
Administrative tasks.
Fixing problems.
This work is necessary. But it’s also infinite.
If you allow it, maintenance work will consume 100% of your time.
Not because it’s most important.
Because it’s most available.
Why Founders Get Stuck Here
Maintenance work gives you a quick sense of accomplishment.
You can answer an email and immediately feel productive.
Vision work is different.
Vision work is quiet. Unstructured. Uncertain.
It requires space.
And space can feel uncomfortable when you’re used to constant motion.
But without space, there is no expansion.
Practical Productivity Isn’t About Time. It’s About Priority.
One of the biggest myths about productivity is that you need more hours.
You don’t.
You need more intention.
Some of the biggest breakthroughs in my own companies didn’t come from working longer.
They came from stepping back and asking:
What actually matters right now?
What decision am I avoiding?
What action would create the biggest shift?
Often, it was one conversation. One hire. One strategic decision.
Not fifty small tasks.
The Identity Shift: From Doer to Leader
This shift is not just logistical.
It’s emotional.
Because when you stop filling every second with tasks, you’re forced to step into a new identity.
The leader.
The visionary.
The person responsible for creating the future, not just managing the present.
And that can feel unfamiliar.
Even uncomfortable.
But it’s also where your real power lives.
What This Looks Like Practically
If you’re a founder reading this, here’s a simple place to start:
Before your week begins, ask yourself:
What are the 3 most important things I can do this week that will actually move my business forward?
Not the urgent things.
The important things.
Then protect time for those first.
Before emails.
Before meetings.
Before everything else.
You’ll be surprised how much changes.
The Truth Most Founders Need to Hear
Your business does not grow because you worked harder.
It grows because you worked intentionally.
Because you made decisions.
Because you created direction.
Because you allowed yourself to operate as the CEO.
Not just the operator.
Final Thought
Practical productivity isn’t about becoming a productivity machine.
It’s about becoming an intentional leader.
It’s about choosing what matters.
It’s about trusting yourself enough to step out of the noise and into the vision.
Because no one else can do that part for you.
And that is where everything begins.
