Join Vistage Master Chair Tom Cuthbert in this episode of the ChairLife podcast. Tom introduces lenses as guiding principles to keep leaders focused on their goals, offering a practical framework to make better decisions and stay on track. He also shares a system for managing daily inputs to reduce mental clutter and enhance productivity. Drawing on real-world examples and personal strategies, this episode equips Vistage Chairs with tools to strengthen their practice and guide members toward achieving more than they imagined possible.

Show Notes

Introduction: Tom outlines the episode’s focus on lenses as guiding principles and a system for organizing tasks to support a successful Vistage practice.

Lenses as Guiding Principles: Tom explains how lenses act as guardrails to maintain focus, using Warren Buffett’s tree-planting metaphor.

Why Lenses Matter: Three reasons lenses are critical—staying on track, considering perspectives, and improving decisions.

Examples and Application of Lenses: A Children’s Shelter case study and personal lens examples show how to apply and test guiding principles.

Tom’s Tips & Tricks: Putting Things Where and When They Go: Tom shares his mantra for managing inputs, inspired by Stephen Covey, to stay focused.

Conclusion: A call to adopt lenses and a task management system to enhance leadership and member outcomes.

Tom’s Tips & Tricks: Putting Things Where and When They Go

Tom explains his mantra, “Put things where and when they go,” a system to manage mental clutter and prioritize tasks effectively.

Mental Clutter Challenge: Constant inputs like emails and notifications reduce creativity and presence.

Where Things Go: Capture inputs in a Bullet Journal (weekly priorities), email inbox (via BrainToss), or delegate non-essential tasks.

When Things Go: Act on tasks immediately, delegate, or schedule to the future using tools like Spark or FollowUpThen.com.

Supporting Resources: Draws from Atomic Habits, Getting Things Done, Essentialism, and Indistractable.

Weekly Review: Spend 15 minutes every Sunday reviewing the Bullet Journal and calendar to prepare for the week.

Resources

www.tomcuthbert.com/goals

www.tomcuthbert.com/bulletjournal

www.chairlifepodcast.com

https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits

https://gettingthingsdone.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Essentialism-Disciplined-Pursuit-Greg-McKeown/dp/0804137382

https://www.nirandfar.com/indistractable/

https://braintoss.com/

https://www.followupthen.com/

https://sparkmailapp.com/

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_oIosnwMYhZV3CDahOJFZG4Dxtuq0mcRNmddbRs06Pw/edit?usp=sharing