That is, meditation and mindfulness are not sought for our personal benefit alone, and they aren’t achieved solely through individual effort. The same is true of leadership.

It really doesn’t matter what companies do or produce: If you want to shift or improve organizational culture, focus on the way leaders run meetings

For me, the antidote to busyness is remembering to be mindful and to practice being focused, engaged, and spacious. What does this mean?

FOCUSED: See what matters most, your ground truth, your creative gap, the most important thing, and focus on that. Come back, over and over, to the simple, yet difficult question: What is my priority right now? What is the most important thing to accomplish in this call, this day, this week?

ENGAGED: This refers to your level of energy and attention. Whatever the task, engage with it fully till it’s time to move to a new task. In general, I find I can remain fully engaged with tasks in forty-five- to ninety-minute increments, then it helps to take a short break of five or ten minutes. When working, engage with your full energy, then completely disengage and relax.

SPACIOUS: This refers to bringing your attention away from concerns about yourself and noticing the space and openness, literally, that exists around you, wherever you are. At the same time, notice stress without becoming stressed. Expect stress, anxiety, and fear to arise at times, and let them go when they do. Studies show that stress and busyness aren’t the real problem; the problem is our relationship with stress. In one study, people who believed that stress was inevitable and positive had greater well-being than those who believed that stress was negative and something to be avoided. Further, those who had a positive attitude about stress lived longer than those who experienced relatively little stress in their lives.

Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment.

The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. And this can best be done in the context of the week.