Fun bit: the term “coach” traces to Kocs, a 16th‑century Hungarian village known for sturdy carriages; by the 1830s at Oxford it meant a tutor who “carried” students to their exam goal. I share that in workshops to remind leaders their job is to transport potential into results — what’s your favorite little trivia that sparks a mindset shift when you’re setting goals?
I share that ‘decide’ comes from the Latin ‘to cut off’ — so when we set goals, we pair each one with a single stop-doing item to make the tradeoff explicit. It can feel harsh, but like pruning a bonsai it helps the thing grow in the right direction.
Quick one: ‘priority’ was singular for 500 years; when I kick off a cycle I ask the team for the priority in one sentence, then tie every commit to it and say what we’ll delay. @eleanor_29’s point about cutting off fits — if you must list more, rank them and treat only #1 as a promise.