In busy weeks filled with meetings, decisions, and endless messages, it is easy to lose sight of what drives us.
Sometimes we move from one task to another without noticing whether we are acting out of obligation or out of genuine choice.
This quick reflection can help leaders and teams reconnect with what truly matters.
Take a piece of paper.
Draw a horizontal line across it.
Now think back over your past week.
Each time you did something because you had to, make a small mark below the line.
Each time you did something because you wanted to, make a small mark above the line.
Pause.
Look at your page. What does your week look like?
This simple exercise can reveal a lot.
It shows the balance between obligation and intention, between compliance and choice.
A week filled mostly with marks below the line might feel heavy, reactive, or constrained.
A week with marks above the line often feels lighter, creative, and purposeful.
Now ask yourself:
- Are there any “below the line” activities that could move above the line if I changed how I look at them?
For example, a difficult meeting you “had to” attend could become something you “want to” do if you saw it as an opportunity to learn, to build trust, or to clarify direction.
Then, take the reflection one step further:
- What might the week of my colleagues in the leadership team look like?
What would happen if we shared our drawings and compared perspectives?
What would we learn about where our collective energy goes?
And finally:
- What might the week of the people in our organization look like?
Are we, as leaders, unconsciously pushing work “below the line,” assigning tasks that feel like obligations?
Or are we creating the conditions for people to want to do work that truly matters to the organization?
This simple drawing can open a deep conversation about motivation, meaning, and the space between “have to” and “want to.”
And that space, as Viktor Frankl reminded us, is where our freedom (and our leadership) begin.
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