Monday, July 11, 2011

Do less

How could you do less today yet have better results?

It's a serious question. With a little thought you may come up with a lot of answers. Whether you do or don't, ask yourself the same question tomorrow and the next day, and every day for at least a week. The repetition will tell your brain, hey, this is important...I need to get to work on this! And then the answers will start popping into your consciousness.

Here are some suggestions.

• What is your absolute priority for the day? If you don't have one, just about anything might distract you. If you do, you'll get to it right away and get it done. It's amazing how much time a strong priority "creates."
• Where is your scoreboard? Do you have a chart right in front of you that tells you how you're doing toward your most important goals? If you do, you're immediately reminded what needs to be done now. And about those goals: process goals are more helpful than outcome goals. Process goals are the daily things you do in order to achieve your longer term outcome goals. Process goals are simpler and more immediate so they are more motivating.
• What excites you? Those tasks that are exciting may be exciting for a good reason. If you give more attention to your most exciting tasks, you may spend more time doing what you're really best at and have better results in the end.
• What scares you? Fear is a major cause of procrastination and inaction. If there is something hanging over your head and causing anxiety, either do it right now or decide not to do it at all. Or if it is too big to do right now, do one tiny piece of it so some progress gets made.
• Delegate. Can an aide, student or parent helper take care of it? Delegation can be a bit of a hurdle to get started but can save a lot of time later. Have you ever considered hiring an online personal assistant? You may be able to delegate some bothersome tasks for no more than a few dollars.
• Say no. Focus on what matters most. Let the rest go.
• Automate. You don't still grade multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank quizzes do you? That's what computers are for.
• Prioritize. As Mr.  Pareto tells us, 80% of the benefit of just about anything come from 20% of the opportunities. Rather than addressing tasks as they come up, look for the ones that will have the greatest impact from the smallest effort. Either do those first, or do those only. Another way of looking at this, you may be able to dump 80% of your to-do list with little impact on your results!

So, if you take this suggestion and repeatedly ask yourself how to work less yet have better results, will you end up working less? The answer isn't yes or no. The answer is that the question is irrelevant. You will become more focused on high-value work which is more fun. You'll be more engaged. You'll spend less time thinking about whether you're working more or less and spend more time working on those high-value tasks that are indistinguishable from fun!

Ask yourself repeatedly: How could I do less today yet have better results?

Posted at 12:00 AM (permalink) 0 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: continuous improvement