did you play the game of guacamole as a kid i know i did i remember going to an arcade and going so why am i talking about whack-a-mole on beyond the comfort zone right a game i played when i was little because as leaders it constantly feels sometimes like we're playing a game of whack-a-mole an issue pops up over here fire over there and we're constantly just jumping from thing to thing to thing right and it feels like we're never getting to the truly important a lot of times and we're not moving the company forward because we're constantly firefighting or going after those moles so how do you get out of that state of playing the game of whack-a-mole and really focus on executing your plan and accomplishing your goals it's actually really simple it just takes effort to do it so step one have clear goals you need to understand clearly what it is you are trying to accomplish step two break those down into key performance indicators and projects right step three when one of those mold pops up ask yourself a couple really important questions if i don't deal with this issue right now will it prevent me from achieving my goals that's the critical question does dealing with this issue even tie into the bigger picture roles of the organization if it doesn't go set it aside in a parking lot doesn't mean you'll never deal with it um it might be something you delegate out or it's something that you deal with when you have some extra time but it's not where your priority or focus should be focus on the issues that pop up that affect your goals and the kpis tied to those goals if you can do that then you're going to get where you want to go a whole lot faster you're going to head towards your goals and you won't feel like you're playing whack-a-mole because you're always going to be working on the things that are truly important to your business and to your goals so stop playing the game of whack-a-mole and go get focused