What can’t be left to chance?

Most of us work in fast-moving organisations. We’re trying to deliver, respond, adapt, grow and keep pace with constant change. There are goals to hit, expectations to meet and an ongoing pressure to perform. In many businesses, acceleration is the norm. We are expected to move quickly and continue moving quickly. The faster things move, the more important it becomes to identify the things that can’t be left to chance for you to sustain success.

Have you ever stopped to consider this, as you accelerate, what can’t be left to chance?

A simple but powerful question

It’s a simple question, but I think it’s a powerful one. Inspired by a recent town hall where I was invited to deliver a five-minute segment for a client. Five minutes isn’t long, especially when you’re trying to build on ideas the audience has heard before, in this case, themes from Cadence and Sustain. So I asked myself: what is the single most useful idea I can leave people with in a very short space of time?

The question I shared was this: what is the one thing that absolutely needs to be in place for you, or perhaps for your team, that you can’t leave to chance, that really positions you for success as you accelerate?

When the pace accelerates, we need to double down on the basics

When the pace of work speeds up, the essentials are often the first things to become inconsistent. Not because we don’t value them, but because we assume they’ll somehow happen anyway. We tell ourselves we’ll get enough sleep or take a break when there’s time. We’ll eat a proper lunch when things calm down, or connect with the people that matter when things are less busy.

Without intention, those foundations can quickly become optional, and that’s when performance begins to decline.

Finding your foundation

For some people, it’s sleep; that’s their foundation, everything else rests on. This is a really good place to start if you’re not sure. I call sleep “the force multiplier” because when we sleep well, everything improves. For others, it might be regular breaks, proper nutrition, movement, time outdoors or being around other people. The specific answer matters less than the awareness of it and the focus on it.

Once you know the one thing that can’t be left to chance, you can stop hoping it will happen and start making sure it does.

That might mean scheduling it. It might mean protecting it in your diary. It might mean talking about it more openly with your team or your family. It might mean building small rituals around it so it becomes automatic rather than negotiable. The point is to keep it top of mind, especially when life and work get busy.

My three things that can’t be left to chance

I’ve got three: sleep, steps, and smoothie.

Those are my non-negotiables. They’re simple, but they matter. They help me feel grounded, energised and better able to cope with the pace of life and work.

So take a moment now and think about the thing, or things, that most reliably position you for success. Keep it small, keep it simple, and make it no more than three things that are accessible and achievable daily.

Resilience is in the small stuff

In reality, resilience is built through consistency around the basics. Not in times of high stress, not all at once, but in those small, consistent actions you choose to invest in every day.

If you lead others, it’s worth asking: what can’t be left to chance for this team to perform well under pressure?

Maybe it’s clarity. Maybe it’s recovery time. Maybe it’s honest communication, strong boundaries, or regular moments to pause and reset. Teams also need foundations, and in fast-moving environments, those foundations need to be named, prioritised and protected.