What should I do next?

Not that they'd admit, but many people in senior management struggle to know how best to use their time.  The more senior you get, the more people want your endorsement by copying you in on email - so you could easily spend all day reading email.

My response to that temptation is to use my little book (NOT Moleskine actually, but a brown - yes brown - copy from Rymans at half the price) to draw my thoughts and figure out what I could be doing that will have the highest impact.

This requires a bit of space - and it shouldn't be shocking to admit that I try and go for a ten minute walk most mornings - to go and pick up a coffee, while working through in my head what needs my attention.

Of course, the mistake we can make is to try and spend ALL our time working on our own strategic agenda.  I know that I need to give time just to listen to and respond to various conversations, emails etc from others around me.  I need to drop that 'majorly significant' thought I'm shaping in my head, while I focus entirely on a challenge presented to me by one of my direct reports.

It's not easy to get the balance right.  I'm searching for equilibrium (should go on a tee shirt).