Colorado Politics presents eight contributed essays offering guidance to Colorado’s next chief executive from some of the state’s best political minds. CLICK HERE for more.

I have always believed that ex-governors should adhere to my dad’s instructions to us kids when my folks were having friends over: “Children, tonight you should be seen but not heard.”

And while governors and ex-governors may ask for and proffer advice – I called upon Dick Lamm and Roy Romer for counsel, and Bill Ritter and John Hickenlooper have done the same with me – I believe such advice should be both privately given and received.

With those caveats in mind and considering that this advice is for Colorado’s next (and as yet undetermined) governor, I would suggest the following: Whoever is Colorado’s next governor should spend a significant amount of his time in his office actually running the state.

I know well the demands on a governor’s time – the speeches, meetings, ribbon cuttings, domestic and foreign economic development trips, ceremonial functions, receptions, lunches, dinners – the many, many ways a governor can “fill up” his schedule and believe he is making a difference. And in many ways, he would be right. It is important that a governor be visible and accessible and that he get out of the Capitol’s cocoon.

However, a state the size of Colorado ($32 billion budget, 31,000 state employees, 15 departments, more than 300 boards and commissions) requires an active and engaged governor who is willing – on occasion – to just stay in the Capitol and put in 12-hour days “at the desk.”

If Colorado was a private corporation, we would rank within the Fortune 100 in terms of size. Based on my experience of sitting on three corporate boards, as well as chairing an international bank, I can say that in the private sector, the CEOs we hire to run our companies spend a majority of their time in their offices running those enterprises, while certainly also dealing with the more ceremonial and public aspects of their duties.

Finding a balance is crucial.

With eight years of experience as governor behind me, I realize that there are always good opportunities – and a good rationale – to get out from behind the desk and accept the many opportunities and invitations which come in daily.

But sometimes the answer should be “no.” It is often the case that the best use of a governor’s time is to spend the hours necessary to delve into the state budget, to meet the key finalists for the most important boards and commissions, to interview judges, to have personal and in-depth contact with his Cabinet members, and to walk up the stairs to visit with the speaker of the House and president of the Senate. There is simply no substitute for time on task, and in this case, the task is running the state.

Governing a state has a lot in common with writing this column. Writing is not nearly as much fun as is looking out my 24th floor office window overlooking Coors Field, reviewing online the Rockies’ 2019 outfield choices, or checking my phone to see what is currently making people upset on Facebook. All of these distractions are more appealing to me than doing the work necessary to meet the deadline for this piece – but none of these activities will help me finish the job at hand.

As governor, I sometimes thought my day had been productive after a hectic day of photo ops and speeches and tours, only to later realize my day had been filled with the equivalent of window gazing, daydreaming about the Rockies, or losing myself in the drama of Facebook.

As a result, later in my time as governor, I tried to focus even more on the hard work of governing – which often means just sitting down and doing the work.

Not necessarily fun, not necessarily noticed by casual observers – but certainly essential to running a state.