Pull out your calendar. Look at this week. Which of those blocks actually produced something?

Not which ones kept you busy. Which ones moved the scoreboard.

In episode 138, I break down WE 7 from Kyle McDowell's Begin With We: we measure ourselves by outcomes, not activity.

Last week was about picking each other up. So now you have a team with a standard. It moves, it tells the truth and it has each other's back. Here's the danger: a team like that can work incredibly hard on the wrong things. WE 7 aims the effort.

In this episode:

• John Wooden: don't mistake activity for achievement
• Hundreds of reports that nobody read
• Outcomes are the WHAT. Activities are the HOW. You get paid for the WHAT
• The line test: if an activity doesn't connect to an outcome, it's in the way
• The busy drug, and the executive who turned his laptop around to prove he was overwhelmed
• The meeting numbers: 67% of workers say most meetings keep them from their best work
• Five questions to ask before any meeting
• Five moves to shift a team from busy to results

Your move this week:

1. Audit your calendar. Mark every block O or A: outcome or activity. If you can't draw the line to an outcome, cut it, shorten it or hand it off.
2. Put the outcome in the invite. "By the end of this meeting, we will have ___." If you can't fill in the blank, cancel the meeting.

"Stop counting hours. Start counting outcomes."

Mentioned in this episode: Begin With We by Kyle McDowell, John Wooden

This is WE 7 of 10 in the Begin With We series. Catch up with episode 132 (The One Standard That Holds Up Every Other Standard), episode 133 (Who Sets the Temperature on Your Team?), episode 134 (Built or Destroyed One Commitment at a Time), episode 135 (We Take Action), episode 136 (Tough on the Problem, Easy on the Person) and episode 137 (Sit Back Down, We'll Come Get You). Next week, WE 8: we challenge each other diplomatically.

If this one hit, send it to the person on your team with the fullest calendar.

Find out where your team stands. Take the free 30-question SDE assessment and download the SDE Playbook at deadthreecoaching.com/sde-assessment