THE POWER OF ONE WEEK: WHAT I NOTICED AFTER BEING AWAY

Lusaka, then Livingstone. Work trips, business reviews, strategy sessions.

A lot packed into seven days.

And when I drove back home on the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway, something caught my attention that I had not noticed before.

Progress.

Visible. Undeniable. Real.

But only because I had been away for a week.

What Changed in Seven Days

The Ndola Teaching Hospital roundabout—where the dual carriageway connects with Kwacha Road and Broadway. For months, the contractor had it partly closed due to construction works. A source of major congestion and frustration every time I passed through.

This time? They opened it up.

Suddenly, smoother flow. Less chaos. Real progress.

And homes in the residential area where I stay. New constructions going up all around. For months, they looked like they were at the same level. Frozen in time. But this time, after a week away? Windows in. Roofs progressing. Movement I had not seen before.

Here is what struck me:

I see these places regularly. But I never noticed the progress.

Because when you see something every single day, the changes are too small to register.

But step away for a week? The difference becomes obvious.

The Business Units That Forgot Their Goals

During the week, I visited four different business units. Part of the year-end review and planning process.

Each team had set goals for 2026. Written them down. Had meetings about them. Discussed them at length just weeks ago.

So I asked: “What are the main goals you set for this year?”

Silence. Blank stares.

Most people could not recall. Not because they did not care. Not because the goals were not important.

But because the goals were not visible.

They were buried in documents. Filed away in emails. Somewhere in a forty-page strategy document that no one opens after the planning session ends.

And here is the uncomfortable truth:

If you cannot remember your goals, you are not working towards them. You are just working.

Busy. Active. Showing up.

But not necessarily moving in the direction you said mattered.

The Strategy Session and the Vision Board

We had our own strategy session during the week. My colleagues and I. Planning the year ahead for our business.

Brilliant ideas. Solid plan. On paper, it looked excellent.

But I have been in enough planning sessions to know: Most corporate plans are too bulky. Too detailed. Too difficult to remember.

Forty pages of strategies, objectives, key performance indicators, timelines, budgets.

Comprehensive? Yes.

Memorable? No.

And if it is not memorable, it will not be followed.

So I applied something I have done before—with good results each time.

I created a vision board. One page.

Not forty pages of text. One visual page.

Graphs showing where we are and where we want to go. Diagrams highlighting the core focus areas. Simple images representing the main goals.

No jargon. No corporate language. Just the essence.

I used technology at my disposal to help design it—inputting our key objectives and letting it generate visual representations. The result was clean, clear, and memorable.

And I shared it with the team.

Now, here is what you can do with something like this:

Put it on your phone screen saver. Stick it on your office desk. Pin it on your bathroom mirror. Somewhere you will see it every day.

Because here is what I have learnt:

What is visible gets attention. What gets attention gets worked on.

Why Vision Boards Work

There is something powerful about making goals visible.

When you see something repeatedly, your brain starts paying attention to it.

Think about when you decide to buy a certain car. Suddenly, you start noticing that exact model everywhere. It was always there—but your brain was not looking for it.

Your brain filters millions of pieces of information every day. It cannot process all of it. So it focuses on what you have told it matters.

When your goals are buried in documents, your brain treats them like background noise.

But when they are visible—on your phone screen, your desk, your mirror—your brain keeps them front of mind.

You start noticing opportunities. Resources. Ideas. Connections.

Not because they suddenly appeared. But because you are now paying attention.

That is why vision boards work. Not magic. Just focus.

The Danger of Getting Lost in Details

Most annual plans fail not because the goals are bad.

They fail because people get lost in the details.

Too many objectives. Too many initiatives. Too many KPIs.

And when everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.

Here is what I told the teams during the reviews:

“Take your forty-page plan. Now condense it. What are the three main things you must achieve this year? Not ten. Three.”

“If you accomplish those three things, will this year be a success? If yes, those are your focus areas. Everything else is secondary.”

Simplify. Focus. Make it visible.

Because you cannot execute what you cannot remember.

Progress Happens in Weeks, Not Days

This brings me back to what I noticed driving on the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway.

The roundabout. The houses in my residential area.

I did not see progress day by day. But week by week? Undeniable.

And that is how most meaningful progress works.

You work today. You show up. You put in effort.

Tomorrow? It does not look like anything changed.

Next day? Same.

Day after day, it feels like you are running in place.

But step back after a week? After a month? Progress becomes visible.

There is a story about bamboo that illustrates this perfectly.

A Chinese bamboo tree is planted. You water it. Care for it. Fertilize it.

For five years, you see almost nothing. Maybe a tiny shoot. But mostly, nothing above ground.

Then, in the fifth year, the bamboo grows 80 to 90 feet—about 24 to 27 metres—in just five to six weeks.

Twenty-four to twenty-seven metres. In less than two months.

But it was not just weeks of growth.

It was five years of root development you could not see, followed by explosive visible growth.

Most people give up in year two. Year three. Because they do not see results.

They do not realize: The work is happening. The roots are forming. The progress is real—just not visible yet.

What This Means for Your Goals

You set goals at the start of the year. Maybe you wrote them down. Maybe you were excited about them.

But now, a few weeks in, they are fading.

Not because you do not care. But because they are not visible anymore.

Here is what to do:

1. Simplify your goals to three main things

Not ten. Not fifteen. Three.

What are the three most important outcomes you want this year?

Write them down. One sentence each.

2. Make them visible

Create your own one-page vision board.

• Draw it by hand if you want
• Use technology at your disposal to help design it
• Use images that represent each goal
• Keep it simple and clear

Then put it where you will see it every day:

• Phone lock screen or wallpaper
• Desk at work
• Bathroom mirror
• Car dashboard
• Refrigerator door

Somewhere you cannot avoid seeing it.

3. Review weekly, not just yearly

Set a recurring reminder. Every Sunday evening or Monday morning.

Look at your goals. Ask yourself:

“Did I move towards these this week? Even slightly?”

Not “Did I achieve them?” Just “Did I move towards them?”

Because progress happens in small, consistent steps. Not dramatic leaps.

4. Trust the process when you cannot see progress

Some days will feel like nothing is changing.

That is normal.

The bamboo spent five years looking dead. But roots were forming the entire time.

Your consistency today is building foundations you cannot see yet.

Keep going.

The Week Ahead

This week, I am doing two things differently:

First: I am putting my three main goals for 2026 on a single page. Visuals. Simple language. And I am making it my phone wallpaper.

Second: I am setting a weekly review. Every Sunday evening. Fifteen minutes. Just to check: Did I move towards what matters this week?

Not perfect execution. Just movement.

Because that is all progress requires.

Small steps. Repeated. Week after week.

And one day, you look up—and realize you have covered more ground than you thought possible.

Just like the Ndola Teaching Hospital roundabout that suddenly opened up. The houses in my residential area that suddenly have roofs.

The progress was always happening. You just could not see it day by day.

What are your three main goals for 2026? Can you state them right now without checking your notes? If not, it is time to make them visible.

I am noticing a pattern: we tend to overstate what we can achieve in the short term while understating the power of time and compounding in the long term. There is something called the valley of disappointment—that period where effort feels invisible and results seem distant. That is a topic for another day. But for now, just know: the work you are doing today is forming roots you cannot see yet.