Meetings are supposed to help us get work done. But what happens when we spend so much time in meetings that the meetings actually become the work?

In this episode of the Business Coach Unplugged Podcast, Tom Kelly explores the growing problem of meeting overload and why it has become much more than a time-management issue. He shares the story of an executive whose calendar revealed that 92% of his 40-hour workweek was being spent in meetings. When meetings, email and preparation were combined, the workload being generated was estimated at 195% of his available capacity.

At that point, telling someone to “manage their time better” misses the real problem.

Tom explains how organizations can unintentionally create a culture where meetings become the default solution for communication, decision-making, problem-solving and accountability. The result is a workforce that spends more and more time talking about the work while having less time to actually do it.

But the answer isn’t simply to eliminate meetings. The right meeting can solve a complicated problem, resolve conflict, create alignment or move an important decision forward. The goal is to make sure every meeting earns the time and attention it requires.

In this episode, Tom shares practical strategies leaders can use to rethink their meeting culture, including how to determine whether a meeting is actually necessary, who really needs to be in the room, how to create clearer outcomes, when to shorten or eliminate recurring meetings, and how leaders can give their people permission to protect their time.

Most importantly, Tom challenges leaders to ask one simple question before putting another meeting on the calendar:

What will be different when this meeting is over?

If your calendar is packed with recurring meetings, or your team feels like there is never enough time to get the real work done, this episode will give you practical tools to create more space for the work that matters.

Listen to Episode 26: Death by Meetings – When Meetings Become the Work.

Learn more about us at www.businesscoachchicago.com

A few months ago, I walked out of my annual physical with a problem I didn’t particularly like. My doctor wanted me to go on a statin. My first reaction? “No way.” Instead of arguing with my doctor or ignoring the problem, I asked for 90 days. I would make some changes, create a plan, execute it, and then come back and measure the results.

What happened next was surprising. And this isn’t really a story about cholesterol. It’s a story about ownership. It’s about what happens when you stop focusing on everything you can’t control and start focusing on what you can control.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the exact same principle applies to business. Your market may be difficult. Your competitors may be aggressive. Your sales team may not be performing. Your business may have plateaued. You may be working too many hours. You can’t control all of those circumstances. But you can control what you do next.

In this episode of the Business Coach Unplugged Podcast, I walk through the 90-day experiment I ran, what I changed, what I learned, and why I believe the lessons apply to virtually any problem you’re trying to solve—whether it’s in your business, your career, or your personal life.

• How to take ownership instead of making excuses
• How to turn a vague problem into a specific 90-day experiment
• How to identify the behaviors that actually create results
• Why measuring your results is more powerful than relying on feelings
• How to stop waiting for certainty and start learning through action
• Why 90 days can be enough time to create meaningful change

You don’t need to know exactly how everything is going to turn out. You don’t need the perfect plan. You don’t need to have all the answers. Sometimes you just need to decide what you can control, make a plan, execute it consistently, and see what happens.

So here’s the question I want you to think about:

What could you change in the next 90 days? Not forever. Not someday. 90 days.

Listen to the full episode of the Business Coach Unplugged Podcast and find out what happened when I decided to give myself 90 days to see what I could change.

Learn more about us at www.businesscoachchicago.com

Why do smart people stop doing the very things that made them successful?

In this episode of the Business Coach Unplugged Podcast, I’m going to tackle one of the biggest reasons business owners, salespeople, and leaders lose momentum. Surprisingly, it’s usually not because they don’t know what to do. It’s because they stop doing the simple, proven disciplines that created their success in the first place.

As we gain experience, it’s easy to get distracted by the next big idea, a new strategy, or the latest business trend. Meanwhile, the habits that consistently drive results—prospecting, networking, following up, coaching, planning, and executing the fundamentals—slowly disappear. The result isn’t an overnight failure. It’s a gradual decline in performance that often leaves people wondering what changed.

In this practical and thought-provoking episode, you’ll discover:

• Why successful people unknowingly abandon the habits that built their success
• The psychology behind “success amnesia” and why it happens to almost everyone
• How to recognize the warning signs before your results begin to slip
• A simple framework to identify the fundamentals you’ve stopped doing—and how to get back on track

Whether you’re leading a team, growing a business, or building your sales pipeline, this episode will challenge you to stop searching for the next breakthrough and start recommitting to the habits that already work.

Sometimes the fastest way to grow isn’t to start doing something new—it’s to start doing, consistently, what you’ve stopped doing.

Learn more about us at: www.businesscoachchicago.com