How do I decide what really matters over the next 12–18 months when everything feels important?

Most people don’t struggle because they can’t see what needs doing. They struggle because they can see too much. Too many parallel priorities. Too many reasonable requests. Too many things that would all make sense if this were the only thing they were responsible for.

The issue isn’t ambition or capability. It’s that without a held horizon, judgment starts to blur and everything begins to feel equally urgent, even when it isn’t.

I often meet leaders at a point where they are still delivering, still trusted, still carrying work that genuinely matters and yet something feels slightly off. Not dramatic. Just compressed. Decisions take longer. Energy drains faster.

There’s a quiet sense of being pulled rather than choosing. When the conversation slows down enough, what becomes visible is this: they’re being asked to make short-term decisions without a long enough line of sight to stand on in their role.

When there is no real 12–18 month horizon holding the work, the surrounding environment fills the gap. Other people’s priorities become defaults. Context starts replacing choice.

Reasonable requests pile up. “Just for now” becomes the way things are done. And over time, you’re no longer deciding what matters. You’re responding to what is loudest, closest, or most insistent, even when it doesn’t sit quite right.

What tends to surprise people is that clarity doesn’t come from analysing everything harder. It comes from choosing fewer things and holding them longer. Not because those few things are perfect or fully resolved, but because they give your judgment something solid to organise around. Once there is a real horizon, many decisions stop needing justification. They either belong to it, or they don’t.

This is also where saying no changes shape. Not because it becomes easier, but because it becomes cleaner. You’re not refusing people or withdrawing care. You’re protecting direction and the integrity of the role you’re in. And when direction is clear, trust often strengthens rather than erodes, even if not everyone agrees with the choice.

One of the most important shifts I see is when leaders stop asking, “Can I take this on?” and start asking, “What would I be saying yes to, and what would I be moving away from, if I accepted this?” That question changes the quality of thinking. It moves the decision out of capacity and into consequence.

If you’re feeling the strain of too many important things at once, it’s worth asking yourself this quietly, without rushing to answer: what would need to be true about the next 12–18 months for your decisions to feel clean again? Not busier. Not more impressive. Just aligned enough that your judgment isn’t constantly negotiating with itself.

Clarity doesn’t arrive as certainty. It arrives as enough structure for your judgment to breathe and for your role, your values, and your direction to stay in the same conversation.

Warmly,

Rita

This is part of my Ask Me Anything series, where I respond to real questions that come up in my work.