CEO Mindset: How to Step Out of Busy Work and Into Real Leadership

I’m not here to tell you to “work harder” or finally master time blocking. I'm sure you've already tried that. What actually shifts your business is how you think about your role in it.

If your week is filled with manually tagging email subscribers, re-recording your course intro (again), or obsessing over your brand palette—you’re not in the CEO seat. You’re stuck in reactive mode.

This post walks you through the weekly workflow I use to stop defaulting to busywork and start acting like the decision-maker.

First, What Is a CEO Mindset?

It’s not about acting like you run Apple. It’s about acting like you’re in charge—because you are. A CEO mindset means you:

• Make strategic decisions based on real data—not vibes

• Prioritize revenue-generating tasks (even when they’re scary)

• Delegate, automate, or ditch anything that doesn’t need you

• Protect your energy like it’s part of your P&L (because it is)

• Stay focused on the big picture, even when the Canva font button is calling your name

It’s the difference between waking up feeling scattered and reactive vs. knowing exactly what moves the needle—and having the revenue to prove it.

The CEO Weekly Workflow

If you want to feel like a CEO, you have to act like one—and that starts with building a workflow that pulls you out of busywork and forces you to lead.

Here’s what mine looks like. It’s not cute or color-coded, but it works.

1. Look at Your Numbers

Yes, this comes first. Every week.

You’re not allowed to “trust your gut” until you’ve looked at:

• Revenue (gross + net—because profit actually matters)

• Lead flow (inquiries, applications, email replies, etc.)

• Email open + click rates

• Website or sales page traffic

• Client progress (who’s thriving, who’s ghosting)

You can’t scale what you’re not tracking, and we all know what happens to problems we ignore...

2. Set Weekly Priorities in 3 Areas

Every week, you need to make intentional decisions about where your focus is going. The easiest way to do this is to set one priority in each of the three core areas of your business:

1. Marketing (Visibility + Growth): These are the activities that help people find you and move closer to working with you. Think lead generation, visibility, audience building.

2. Delivery (Client Experience + Results): This is about improving how your current offers are delivered. Not necessarily creating new ones, but making the ones that exist better, smoother, more impactful. (New offers are great, but only if you're spending more time marketing them than creating them!)

3. Operations (Systems + Scaling): These are the behind-the-scenes systems that make your business easier to run. The stuff that saves you time, removes friction, and preps you for team support.

Each week, ask: What is one thing I can do in each area that will actually move the business forward?

Here are a few quick examples:

Marketing (Visibility + Growth):

• Pitch one podcast

• Write and schedule a sales email

• Share a case study on Instagram

  
  

Delivery (Client Experience + Results):

• Create a new client welcome video

• Add a bonus or tool that increases client wins

• Audit your program to spot drop-off points

  
  

Operations (Efficiency + Systems):

• Set up a Zapier automation for scheduling

• Create a reusable email template for common questions

• Record a Loom walkthrough of your weekly workflow so that someone else can do it next time

  
  

These are needle-movers, not filler tasks. And if your calendar is filled with stuff that doesn’t touch at least one of these areas? You’re probably doing busywork.

3. Schedule Like a CEO, Not an Intern

Your time isn’t for filling—it’s for focusing.

Block off time for:

• 90-minute deep work sprints

• 1–2 hours of client delivery (or improvements to it)

• 30 minutes max for admin catch-up

  
  

I don’t care if you use Google Calendar, ClickUp, or a sticky note on your desk. If it’s not scheduled, it’s not happening. Period. So pencil the important stuff in.

4. Fire Yourself from Employee Work

Ask yourself:

"Would a legit CEO with a $500/hr rate do this?"

If not:

• Automate it (tech can do more than send appointment reminders!)

• Delegate it (if you don’t have a VA, start documenting now for when you do)

• Delete it (some tasks just don’t need doing—full stop)

Examples you can drop right away:

• Rewriting your IG bio

• Making 17 versions of your lead magnet cover

• Changing your brand colors. Again.

Yes, it feels productive. No, it’s not helping you grow.

5. Recharge Like You Actually Matter (Because You Do)

Burnout isn’t a badge. And exhaustion isn’t strategy.

You need space to:

• Think clearly

• Make smart decisions

• Create bold content

• Love what you're creating

  
  

This could mean a walk, a nap, a solo Target trip, or a screen-free Sunday. But it has to be deliberate.

You can't scale on fumes. And nobody does their best work from a place of “please no one talk to me or ask me for anything.”

Stop Organizing. Start Leading.

Your business isn’t going to implode if you take a day off Instagram (in fact, mine grew 5x when I finally ditched social media!)

But it will stall if you keep hiding behind tasks that make you feel safe instead of ones that actually build momentum. Leadership is not about doing more—it’s about doing what matters. And doing it consistently.

So let’s make this easy. Here’s your CEO-level Thrive in 5:

1. Pick 3 business metrics you’ll track weekly (start with revenue, leads, and email list growth)

2. Choose one priority in each area: marketing, delivery, and operations

3. Block off CEO time on your calendar (yes, actually block it)

4. Identify one task to delegate, automate, or delete this week

5. Schedule one recharge activity that fills your cup

You are not the bottleneck. You are the brain.

And brains don’t belong buried in the backend of your business.

Remember, a CEO doesn’t waste hours troubleshooting tech or guessing how to string together their systems. A CEO makes clear decisions, delegates what’s not in their zone of genius, and builds a business designed to scale. The Shortcut gives you the backend, the automations, and the strategic support to step fully into that role—without trying to piece it all together alone. It’s not just faster. It’s how you start leading like you mean it.