Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor. I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, a firm

specializing in activating workplaces, helping leaders create the conditions that unleash bigger

results while engaging our teams. So one of the conversations coming up on repeat these days

is about burnout. Yes, still. Like, we all know it's a problem,

we all talk about how to fix it, but nothing seems to be getting better, at least not in my universe.

My philosophy is it's not a big singular problem to solve, but it's something we need to attack

in moments, in increments. So I'm always on the

hunt for small strategies my clients can use to slowly dial back the horror and overwhelm.

Today, I would love to share just a handful of questions that I encourage my clients to use

with themselves or with their teams when they're staring down

to-do lists that seem to get longer by the minute. Sometimes just a moment of pause and reflection

can help us find clarity in where to best invest our time and energy. Because the key to doing

this well, it's not just asking should we do this? Because it's hard to say no to that.

No, the key is asking better questions that help us to effectively prioritize, so the most

essential to-does rise to the top of our list for the right reasons. The first question is,

will this teach us something valuable? Our typical to-do lists are full of things that,

well, we need to do, like attend that meeting, review that spreadsheet, hit that conference,

read that article, draft that email, and on and on. But the problem with such a list is that it

doesn't offer us a way of discerning, of asking and answering,

should I actually do this? Because our time and energy aren't in endless supply. And being

great at your job is not about how many things you can do, but how effectively you get done the

things that matter most. And often this means making choices. This first question,

...