Every Friday, I share concise, actionable insights for growing your business, optimizing your time, and expanding your mindset. Co-author of multiple million-copy bestsellers.
Pit Stops Win Races (2 Min Read) | Vol. 229
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PSA – Last call! Our final ONE Thing Summit & Goal Setting Retreat starts today at 1 p.m. CT. Join Wendy and me online for two half days of planning your best year yet. Every attendee gets our 40+ page goal-setting guide. Grab your seat here. November 13, 2026 | Read Online “Stress + rest = growth.” – Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness Pit Stops Win Races Last month, I was in Montana at a retreat called The Refuge. Its mission is to keep busy leaders from burning out. Michael Hyatt had invited me and a baker’s dozen of other leaders to fly fish and relax. Some ran companies with over $100 million in revenue. Others led a small team of volunteers or a congregation. We all had one thing in common. We rarely slow down. Over dinner, Daniel Tardy kicked off our discussion with a question – “How often do you change your tires?” “Every 40,000 or 50,000 miles?” one guy said. He said it with a question mark because, like me, he didn’t really know. “That’s right,” Daniel, an actual car guy, confirmed. “Now how often does a NASCAR driver change theirs?” He paused for effect. “Every 50 or so laps.” Daniel built EntreLeadership from the ground up. He’s spent his career talking with leaders. And he wasn’t really talking about cars. “You’re not everyday drivers. You’re not just going to the grocery store,” he told us. “You’re on the track every day.” Drive on worn tires long enough, and you get a blowout. The unfortunate truth is the people who need pit stops the most take them the least. A 2023 Pew Research study found that 54% of managers say they take less time off than they’re offered. For everyone else, it’s 42%. The people setting the pace are running on the thinnest tread. No one wins a long race without stopping. The pit stop is how you go faster for longer. Fresh tires. Full tank. Back on the track. So build your pit stops into the calendar. Every other week, take a half day. Every month, take a Friday. Every quarter, take a long weekend. Every year, take at least one real week. Start wherever you are. I felt like Daniel was talking directly to me. I take vacations. But after about 10 days, I’m the driver in the pit lane drumming the steering wheel and wondering what’s taking the crew so long. And I know better. I always come back with more ideas and more gas in the tank. Wendy and I start every goal-setting retreat the same way. Before we dive into business goals, we plan our time off. Here’s my challenge. Before next Friday, block a half day off. Then tell someone. Your spouse. Your team. Your assistant. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It just has to be on the calendar. Pit stops don’t slow you down. They’re how you win the race. One question to ponder in your thinking time: When is my next pit stop, and is it on my calendar? Make an Impact! Not subscribed? Become a Twenty Percenter here. |
Jay Papasan
Every Friday, I share concise, actionable insights for growing your business, optimizing your time, and expanding your mindset. Co-author of multiple million-copy bestsellers.
PSA – Our final ONE Thing Summit & Goal Setting Retreat is one week away. Join Wendy and me online November 13–14 from 1–4 p.m. CT and get our complete 40+ page goal-setting guide. True to today’s theme, we’ve built a 1-hour masterclass on wealth-building into the Summit! Reserve your spot here. November 6, 2026 | Read Online “To teach is to learn twice.” – Joseph Joubert Teach What You Want to Keep In 2018, Wendy and I started an investment club. Wendy refused to call it that. Too boring....
October 30, 2026 | Read Online “Trust arrives on foot and leaves on horseback.” – Dutch Proverb The Recipe for Trust My friend Ron Friedman’s first book, The Best Place to Work, didn’t cover trust. “I took trust for granted for a really long time,” he confessed. Writing about trust felt like saying honesty or integrity was important. Duh. Too obvious. Then he spent five years researching his new book, Superteams. He came away convinced he’d been wrong. Trust isn’t a given. It’s a skill. And...
PSA – If you’d like to do your goal-setting retreat with us, Wendy and I are hosting our final The ONE Thing Summit & Goal Setting Retreat virtually on November 13–14. It’s two half days, so you can book a hotel nearby, enjoy your mornings, and join us for the sessions. Every attendee gets our 40+ page workbook walking you through the process. It’s arguably worth the ticket price alone. Learn more here. October 23, 2026 | Read Online “Unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments.” –...