Could. Should.

In a planning session to identify focus areas for the coming year, we started with a huge list. Every idea on the list was a good one. We could do any of them and they would all improve our organization in some capacity. Figuring out which ones we should do was the trickier part of the conversation.

We had a good amount of:

• If we don’t do this someone else will

• we could do this better than someone else

• this will lead to more sales or brand exposure

There was a clear absence of a North Star. No vision of the world we wanted to create. 

In our personal lives and relationships, if we don’t have a clear idea of the kind of person we want to be, it’s easy and often tempting to go down paths that don’t serve our highest self — to fall into the trap of doing something simply because it’s convenient, trendy, or will pacify us in the short term. 

Business or personal, in a world with so much possibility, opportunity costs are higher than ever. Doing is relatively easy. Doing the right things is hard.