Every choice we make, from when we wake up to how we fill our day, reflects our priorities. Do we scroll or connect? Do we tackle meaningful work or let it drift? These small decisions shape what matters.
Some priorities are sprints. Others are marathons.
A sprint is what we lean into when something matters now. It is a short burst of focus, energy, and execution. It is the presentation due tomorrow, the difficult conversation you cannot postpone, the week when a deadline or moment demands your full attention. Sprints require urgency, fast decisions, and the willingness to be all in for a finite stretch of time.
But marathons are different.
Unlike running marathons that have a finish line at the end of the day, big project marathons unfold over time. They require patience, pacing, and persistence. They ask you to keep showing up long after the initial excitement wears off. And most importantly, they require you to zoom out. To remember what you are building. To reconnect to the bigger purpose when the day to day starts to feel repetitive, messy, or slow.
Writing my book, CORE Leadership, was that kind of marathon. Years of choosing what had to happen next. Clarifying what truly mattered, part of the Clarify step in my CORE framework, kept me focused on essentials and how I wanted to show up.
And in recent weeks, with launches on Amazon, virtual, and in-person, I was running sprints within this marathon. I had to be crystal clear on what was vital and what could wait.
Because often the long projects, the marathons, contain sprints. Realizing what the situation demands, and whether you are in a sprint or marathon phase, helps you stop treating everything with the same level of urgency. It invites you to pause and prioritize. To zoom out, be intentional, plan for the long haul, and still rise to the moments that require extra focus.
Understanding what the moment demands, and managing your priorities and energy through both, is a great leadership skill.
At the end of each day, we have to remember that our energy is limited. Saying yes to one thing means saying no to another.
When have you experienced a sprint or a marathon, and what has helped you most in each phase?
The photo is from my in-person launch, a sprint moment inside a long marathon.
