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The following has been excerpted from my book 鈥淔rom the Ground Up: Stories and Lessons from Architects and Engineers Who Learned to Be Leaders.鈥� It is available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers.

Josh loves water. Especially stormwater. As a consultant for a national civil engineering firm, he knew something about how it flows and how it can be managed for municipal projects. Well-respected by his peers at the city and county, he was a busy guy.

But Josh spent too much time using production software, computer-aided design (CAD), doing work that junior staff should be doing. Why? Because that was the way Josh approached projects. He knew it would get done right and on time if he was addressing every detail in the methodical, step-by-step way he was accustomed. That was the way he met his commitments and had a high say-do ratio. That was how he maintained a lot of equity with his clients. For 15 years, it worked. But while his approach got him that far, it wouldn鈥檛 get him to where he wanted to go.

Josh鈥檚 mountain was to spend more time with his 12-year-old son now before he got much older and didn鈥檛 want to spend time with his dad. Josh could already see his son pulling away and wanting to spend more time with his friends and was keenly aware of how important these father-and-son outings were to their relationship.

In three years, Josh wanted to be doing less project production work so that he could spend more time learning best practices in stormwater management. He was envious of his peers who regularly traveled around the world with a contingent of business and civic leaders to learn what other cities were doing for best practices. What were Tokyo and New Orleans doing to meet the future?

Josh also knew that to advance, he needed to develop his network. But it was challenging to find time for lunch or happy hour with colleagues, let alone a trip. He had to turn down participating in ACEC鈥檚 golf tournament because he couldn鈥檛 spare the time. The managing principal fully supported Josh doing less production work and even endorsed the weeklong trips to other cities. And if Josh delegated more work to staff, they would grow as leaders.

Nothing was stopping Josh, except how he had been working. Instinctually, he knew what he should do and what he shouldn鈥檛 do. He knew the stuff he shouldn鈥檛 do was weighing him down and keeping him from advancing. While his emotional bank account was high with clients, staff were being shortchanged by not being challenged with more responsibility, the firm couldn鈥檛 grow without him focusing on higher-value activities, his family didn鈥檛 get his attention, and he was not fully realizing his full potential as a leader and a dad.

As an assignment, I asked Josh to start each day by looking at his to-do list and current workload and asking himself what will bring him closer to his mountain and not further from it. For an example of this working to great effect, I turn to Neil Gaiman. As a young man, Gaiman didn鈥檛 set out to become a rich and famous author and screenwriter. He just moved in a direction that seemed right to him at the time. Smaller, more immediate decisions. Along the way, he learned what kind of writer he wanted to be. Gaiman, who never graduated from college, offered this advice at a commencement for the University of the Arts in Philadelphia: 鈥淲hen I truly was not sure what to do, I could stop, and think about whether it was taking me toward or away from the mountain.鈥�

Josh thought about his mountain and quickly identified that whenever he was working in CAD, he was getting further from his mountain. His decision-making broke down to a simple binary choice: Not opening CAD? Closer. Opening CAD? Further.聽Delegating CAD to junior staff? Closer. Doing it myself? Further. Coaching them to work out the solution? Closer. Taking back a project and doing it myself? Further.

By identifying one switch in his day he could control, Josh started to see his choices more clearly. He began each day reviewing his commitments and identifying CAD-related tasks he could delegate. He met with the staff and made sure they understood the scope and expectations of delegated tasks. He stopped himself whenever his mouse hovered over the icon for the CAD software.

After six months, Josh had reduced his time in CAD from 10 hours per week to one hour per week. That left him more time to spend with his son on camping trips and more time with peers on bigger, more engaging discussions about the future of stormwater management. Last time I checked with him, he was looking at joining the civic group to visit Bogota, Colombia.

What Josh learned:

• Start with one routine task you should delegate.
• Plan each day by identifying if you鈥檒l be doing that task.
  鈥� Intentionally avoid doing that task.
• Repeat until the new habit pays off and you can see forward progress.

Leo MacLeod is a trainer and coach who helps doers become leaders in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Contact him at 503-880-8393 or [email protected]. Visit leomacleod.com/work-with-me/ to learn more.

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the preceding commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Daily Journal of Commerce or its editors. Neither the author nor the 91视频 guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein.

Editor鈥檚 note: This is the third column of a four-part series. The final one will appear in the Aug. 17 edition of the 91视频.