Every Monday I write one question and put it at the top of my screen, where it stays for the week. I call it the Commanding Question.
A recent one was: Have I taken action on every real and live opportunity in my funnel?
It is a modest practice: a sentence in a place I will see it. It has become useful enough that I have been paying attention to what it actually does for my week.
The question gives me something to return to when the day fills up. It also asks me to be quite honest about what I have done with something that matters.
The attention an open loop takes
An open loop can be a conversation I need to have, a decision that is waiting on me, or a follow-up I have composed in my head several times. It keeps returning to my attention because something remains unresolved.
The follow-up may only take a few minutes to send. Before I send it, though, I can spend quite a bit of energy deciding what to say, remembering that I need to say it, and finding another reason to leave it until later. The time it would take to do the work tells only part of the story.
Some of that thinking is useful. A difficult conversation deserves care. A decision may need more information. I also know how easily I can revisit the same ground and feel that I have attended to something because I have thought about it again.
A handful of these commitments can make a reasonable week feel heavier than the calendar suggests. They keep asking for attention, often while I am trying to give it to something else.
What the question asks of me
The words “real and live” did some useful work in my funnel question. They asked me to look at each opportunity and decide whether it was actually in motion. An opportunity can stay on a list because I hope it will become something. Naming that honestly helps me decide where my attention belongs.
“Taken action” asked for something I could point to, such as a message sent, a call booked or a proposal delivered. If I had spent the week thinking about a follow-up, the question would bring me back to what happened next.
Those actions give me evidence of whether I have done the part that is mine to do. That makes the question answerable even when the outcome depends on someone else.
Keeping it on the screen matters too. I can have a clear intention on Monday and lose sight of it as the week gathers requests, conversations and decisions. Putting the question where I work gives that intention a place in the day. Each time I see it, I have an opportunity to consider whether it needs my attention now.
The Commanding Question sits within the Fourfold Method. This particular practice is small enough to try on its own: choose a question that matters to your week, keep it visible, and return to it with evidence.
Choosing a question you can answer
The wording deserves some care. “Am I being a better leader?” leaves me with a lot to interpret on Friday. “Have I sent that email?” may be useful, although a single task might fit just as well on my task list.
I am looking for a question that is specific enough to check and important enough to help organize my attention across the week.
For example: Have I clarified the next step for each commitment currently waiting on me? That could involve making a decision, asking for information, or agreeing with someone when a piece of work will resume. The question leaves room for judgment while asking for a visible response.
Try it with one commitment
Choose one unresolved commitment that keeps coming back to mind. Decide what it needs from you this week. You might be ready to act. You might need to defer it to a specified date, with a clear reason for returning then. You might recognize that it is time to close it, including informing anyone who is still expecting something from you.
Write a question whose answer you can support with evidence by Friday. For a conversation you have been putting off, that might be: Have I arranged the conversation and made clear what we need to resolve?
Then choose the first action and give it a day. In that example, it could be sending the invitation on Tuesday. Put the question somewhere you will see it when you sit down to work.
On Friday, look at what happened. What did you do? What is still unresolved? Has the commitment become clearer, and what does it need next? If you kept seeing the question and leaving it unanswered, that is useful information too. Look at what made the action difficult before carrying the same question into another week.
That is how I want the practice to work: a little more honesty about what has my attention, and a clearer way to decide what I will do with it.
What commanding question do I want to drive the week’s activities?