This past week I took an unexpected break from my blog. I am committed to blogging and writing at least three times a week. However, last week was a different story.

I would like to say I took the break because I was out saving the world or I was on vacation (I can dream!), but the reason I took an unexpected rest was because I was flat out too busy!

I find myself for two or three weeks each year in a week I like to call a “bottleneck week”. A bottleneck week is when work and commitments from different angles all come to the same cross roads at the same time. I remember living back in the UK where I had a 50 minute commute each day to work but lived only 10 miles away! I use to complain and get mad each day because the people who designed the road system had created hundreds of bottlenecks. Last week I found myself in a bottleneck I created!

As a leader I have a lot to learn. The lesson I was taught last week showed me that as a leader you have to plan well and not to bite off more than you can chew. I had three big assignments and events that intersected paths. If I had planed a little better a few months ago, the heavy work load of those three assignments would have never had to cross paths!

When you find yourself in a bottleneck three things happen:

• You feel the stress and pressure – No one works most effective and productive when under the gun!
• Everything you do ends up being average not out of this world – Individual projects do not run as well as they could if they had the road by themselves
• You end up having bad memories of the project – The project suffers long term because of a bad system.

One thing I am learning is that less is more! The less your life is cluttered the better you become at what you do. Bottlenecks should be left to bottles not leadership, work, your social life, family life or the roadway system!

What bottlenecks are you going through at the moment? What can you do to prevent a bottleneck in the future?