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Between constant change, the rapid adoption of AI and a steady stream of competing priorities, leaders face more distractions than ever. Staying focused and effective in this environment often takes more than a well-organized calendar or the latest productivity tool. In fact, some of the most useful habits involve slowing down, creating space to think and intentionally doing less.
Below, Forbes Coaches Council members share unexpected practices that can help leaders keep their focus and lead more effectively, even when everything around them is shifting.
1. Admitting What You Know And Don’t Know
Stability for a team in these unstable times doesn’t come from certainty. It comes from a leader who stays in touch and present even when situations remain unresolved. Think of how plexiglass still holds its shape while providing clarity to what’s happening on the other side of it. Being willing to say, “Here’s what we know, here’s what we don’t know and here’s what we’re going to find out together” can be incredibly powerful for team integration, even in the most chaotic times. – Dawn Garibaldi, Amplify Strategy
2. Defining Exactly What Is Changing
Constant changes trigger fight, flight or freeze reactions that make it challenging to respond to, and engage with, change in productive ways. Those amygdala hijacks make successful change unlikely. When a leader takes the time to define for their team precisely what is changing, how it fits with goals and how each person can thoughtfully prepare for it, they invite a conversation that calms those amygdala reactions and sets the team up for healthy change navigation. – Steve Salee, Wildfire Strategies
3. Eliminating Priorities Instead Of Adding Them
The unexpected habit? Stop adding priorities, and start eliminating them. When everything is changing, your values become your filter. Before asking, “What should I do?” ask, “What matters most, and who do I choose to be?” AI can accelerate almost anything. It can’t decide what deserves your time, effort, energy and attention. That’s the internal work of leadership. – David Taylor-Klaus, MCC, CPCC, DTK Coaching
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4. Taking A Purposeful Pause
Slow down. In an environment where things are moving so quickly, change is constant, and maintaining focus is a challenge. Taking a purposeful pause is a leadership differentiator. The leaders who are willing to pause between stimulus and response create sustainable change. Role modeling this for your team is important because they look to you to be the anchor amid the churn. – Kathleen Woodhouse, Nova Leadership
5. Asking Employees How They Feel About Change
The only thing constant is change. Leaders can ask employees how they feel about the changes being implemented. Helping someone feel seen and heard can go a long way in change management. Employees often are the ones who are closest to the real impact of change, and the people with boots-on-the-ground, first-hand experience can provide invaluable feedback to leaders. – Sunny Smith, Empowering Women Physicians
6. Practicing Self-Regulation
I would say self-regulation is vital. When everything is changing and competing for our attention, leaders need the discipline to pause and separate what is important from the noise, chaos and rush. Some of us learned self-regulation early in life, but it is a skill we need to carry into adulthood. It helps leaders stay grounded, make thoughtful decisions and focus on what truly matters. – Sandra Balogun, The CPA Leader
7. Asking Yourself Perspective-Shifting Questions
Get into the habit of asking yourself one of these three questions, or all of them: “How can I think about this differently?” “What would I advise my best friend to do in this situation?” or “If I were someone you admire for their attention, creativity and overall thinking, what would I do?” You can also ask AI or others these questions. Changing your thinking pattern gets you out of a rut and helps you elicit new ideas. – Liz Guthridge, Connect Consulting Group
8. Monitoring Where Your Attention Goes
Monitor your attention. Where your attention goes, your energy flows. Those who dilute their focus are less effective and get fewer results. What are the “vital few” things that make you successful in your role at this time? Which of the balls you are juggling is a glass ball that, if dropped, really creates problems? It’s best to zoom out when too much is coming at you, addressing what is both important and urgent first, followed by all else. – Evan Roth, Roth Consultancy International, LLC.
9. Deleting Unnecessary Decisions
One unexpected habit: decision deletion. Each week, identify one decision you should no longer make because it can be delegated, automated or governed by a clear rule. With AI multiplying options and accelerating work, leadership effectiveness may depend less on making better decisions and more on deliberately reducing the number of decisions competing for your attention. – Andre Shojaie, HumanLearn
10. Protecting ‘Analog Time’
One habit I’ve become much more intentional about is ring-fencing “analog time.” We spend so much of the day on screens, whether it’s AI, emails, meetings or social media, that it’s easy to live almost entirely in our heads. Stepping away for a walk, exercising or doing something hands-on reconnects you with your senses and grounds you in the present. That’s often when clarity emerges and the next right step becomes obvious. – Gabriella Goddard, Brainsparker Ltd
11. Gating Reprioritization To Set Review Points
One habit I’ve seen work is putting a gate on reprioritization. New information can arrive all day, but that does not mean the team should reshuffle work all day. Unless a pre-agreed trigger is hit, priorities only change at set review points. It protects focus without pretending conditions are stable. In volatile environments, effectiveness can mean limiting how often change interrupts execution. – Samuel Rodrigues, Baxtter Corp.
12. Staying With A Question Longer
An unexpectedly powerful habit is learning to stay with a question longer. Leaders are rewarded for quick answers and decisive actions, so they often close questions too quickly. I encourage them to ask with openness and depth, “What are we not seeing? What else could be true?” In a world overflowing with AI-generated answers, the quality of leadership will increasingly rest on having the courage to keep a good question open for longer inspection and fresher thinking. – Arthi Rabikrisson, Prerna Advisory
13. Running A Pre-Mortem Before Launch
One unexpected practice is the pre-mortem, a strategy I heard Brené Brown and Adam Grant discuss on their “Curiosity Shop” podcast. Before launching a project or change, imagine it is six months from now and it failed, then ask, “What went wrong? What did we miss? What got in our way?” Looking ahead this way can surface risks and competing priorities before they derail the work. It also helps teams stay focused on what’s important. – Kathleen Shanley, Statice
14. Asking What Your Best Customers Need
One unexpected habit is to regularly ask, “What do our best customers need from us right now?” Amid AI, constant change and competing priorities, leaders can chase too many possibilities and get caught up in an overwhelming amount of choices. Simplify in a word. Staying close to your best customers creates a powerful filter. What helps them most? What problems are changing? Focus there, and let those answers guide priorities, innovation and where you say no. – John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.
15. Writing By Hand Each Morning
Writing by hand is so important. It sounds old-fashioned, but the leaders I see holding their focus still keep a notebook. Not for notes, but for thinking. Every morning, they write down the one thing that matters today and why. Slowing your hand slows your head, and it forces you to decide instead of react. AI can move faster than you ever will. The edge isn’t speed anymore. It’s knowing what’s worth your speed. – Colby B. Jubenville, PhD, drjubenville.com
16. Working Alongside Your Team
One practice I have seen work is asking leaders to spend time doing the job alongside their teams. It helps them see where AI is useful, where work is getting stuck and what employees are not saying in meetings. That direct view often leads to better decisions than another report or dashboard. – Gwen Mdinaradze, EdBridge
17. Breaking Big Problems Into Small Steps
A key habit is breaking a big problem into small ones. What feels overwhelming is usually one large question that you have not cut down. Split it into a handful of concrete steps and, more often than not, you realize it was never as big as it felt. The other practice, oddly underrated, is reading a book—it pulls you out of the noise and gives your thinking room. Both slow you down enough to focus. – Julien Fortuit, Julien Fortuit Agency
