When the Week Slips Away

On Monday, the team agrees what matters.
By Wednesday, the week has other ideas.
By Friday, no one remembers what Monday even looked like.

That’s drift.

It’s not failure — it’s reality. Emails land, customers shout, systems break, opportunities pop up. Work sneaks in sideways. And little by little, the plan fades.

Most teams don’t see it happening. The original priorities get rewritten, shuffled, or quietly abandoned. By the end of the week, all you’ve got is a blur of activity — and no record of what was meant to matter.

A Simple Fix

The answer isn’t another tool. It’s a simple discipline:

• On Monday, write your team’s priorities for the week. No more than eight.

• Keep that list visible. Treat it as untouchable.

• When the unexpected barges in, don’t edit. Don’t swap. Don’t pretend the plan has changed.

Just jot it underneath.

Now you’ve got two truths side by side:

• The work you chose at the start of the week.

• The work that pulled you away.

Why It Matters

That contrast is powerful.

• It keeps direction clear — the plan you agreed is still there, unedited.

• It keeps reality honest — interruptions aren’t hidden, they’re recorded.

• It creates learning — because patterns appear. Drift isn’t random. The same fires keep breaking out. And once you can see them, you can start fixing them.

Try It Next Week

Give it one week:

• Agree your priorities on Monday.

• Keep them visible.

• Capture the drift beneath.

On Friday, review both lists together.
Ask: Where did our time really go?

That’s where the insight lives.

Focus won’t hold itself. You have to hold it.
Eightly at the top. Real life underneath.
Direction stays visible. Drift stays visible.

That’s how you hold direction, without ignoring reality.

Do what matters. Every day.