If you aren’t working on your boss’s top three priorities, you are not working on the agenda.

If you aren’t working on your boss’s top three priorities, you are not working on the agenda.

Here is a checklist to ask yourself when you feel stuck.

First check if you are really working on stuff that matters.

You are working on stuff that matters, when

- People have time for you, calendars open up, and meetings get scheduled quickly.

- Resources become available. Funds typically flow to the most important work.

- Work gets easier. As support for the work increases, progress comes faster and more efficiently. - There’s more pressure. Because the work matters, expect to feel more weight on your shoulders and greater pressure to perform.

- There’s more visibility. When your sights are set on what’s important, all eyes are on you. And when are you off the agenda?

- No time. Meetings are hard to schedule. You hurry up and then wait for peoples time. One-on-ones with your boss are often canceled.

- No response. You send emails but don’t receive replies.

- No feedback. When you ask people to review your documents, you get little/no feedback or receive a cursory “Looks good.”

- Stalls and delays. Initiatives get stalled and then scrapped. Or progress is slow; needs change before the work is complete.

- Not on the boss’s short list. Your boss isn’t asking you about your work.

PS: Recommended book reading - "Impact players" - Liz Wiseman.