Hand Over a Whole Group of Decisions
Instead of making serial decisions, try making just one: Decide who will decide.
Say you regularly have to decide whether to expedite shipping due to work-in-progress delays. Pick someone in the organization that will make those decisions. Provide guidance, parameters, and advice, and turn that person loose. Then check in periodically to see if they need more direction. Then you can spend time figuring out how to eliminate delays instead of dealing with the repercussions. Teach, train, guide, verify… and give your employees the authority and responsibility they’ve earned.
Say you regularly have to decide whether to expedite shipping due to work-in-progress delays. Pick someone in the organization that will make those decisions. Provide guidance, parameters, and advice, and turn that person loose. Then check in periodically to see if they need more direction. Then you can spend time figuring out how to eliminate delays instead of dealing with the repercussions. Teach, train, guide, verify… and give your employees the authority and responsibility they’ve earned.
We all have a
finite supply of willpower. Resisting temptation creates stress and
eventually exhaustion. And then we give in. Say you keep a candy for
customers at the front desk. Resisting the sugar siren calls tires you
out and makes you more susceptible to the candy's charms (or to
something else you’re trying to withstand.) Just get rid of the candy
and you don't have to use any willpower. Pick something you have to
actively resist -- food, wasting time, web browsing, checking social
media accounts -- and eliminate the temptation. Discipline depletes and
exhausts. Stay fresh by totally removing the need for discipline.
Your actions
"train" people to treat you in certain ways. Drop what you're doing
every time someone calls and people will always expect immediate
attention. Return emails immediately and people will expect an immediate
response.
A friend created an "emergency" email account; he responds to those messages immediately. Otherwise his employees know he only checks his "standard" email a couple times a day… and they act accordingly. Figure out how you work best and “train" the people around you to let you be as productive as you possibly can.
A friend created an "emergency" email account; he responds to those messages immediately. Otherwise his employees know he only checks his "standard" email a couple times a day… and they act accordingly. Figure out how you work best and “train" the people around you to let you be as productive as you possibly can.
I worked at a
manufacturing plant where supervisors had to sign off on quality before a
job could be run. Seemed strange to me -- we trusted the operators to
ensure jobs met standards throughout the run, so why couldn't we trust
them to know if a job met quality standards before they started running?
You probably have at least one sign-off in place because somewhere
along the way an employee made a major error and you don't want the same
mistake to happen again. But in the process you reduce the amount of
responsibility your employees feel for their own work because you've
inserted your authority into the process. Train, explain, trust -- and
then remove yourself from processes where you don't belong.
You know the one:
The high maintenance, low revenue, non-existent profits customer. Start
charging more. Or start providing less. If neither is possible, fire
that customer.
A to-do list with 20 or 30 items is not only daunting, it's depressing. So you don't start. And definitely don’t finish.
Try this instead. Create a wish list -- include all the ideas, projects, and tasks you can think of. Make it your "would like to-do" list. Then pick three or four items that make the most difference. Pick the easiest tasks to accomplish, or the ones with the biggest payoff, or the ones that will eliminate the most pain. Make that your to-do list. And then get it done.
Try this instead. Create a wish list -- include all the ideas, projects, and tasks you can think of. Make it your "would like to-do" list. Then pick three or four items that make the most difference. Pick the easiest tasks to accomplish, or the ones with the biggest payoff, or the ones that will eliminate the most pain. Make that your to-do list. And then get it done.
Eliminate One Expense
Right now you
spend money on something you don't use, don't need, or don't want. But
since you buy it... you feel you have to use it. I subscribed to a
number of magazines… but then I have to read them since if I don't sit
there and make me feel guilty. So I dropped three or four. I don't miss
them. Pick one expense you can eliminate that will also free up time and
effort. Often the biggest savings in cutting an expense isn't the
actual cost; it's the time involved in doing or maintaining or consuming
whatever the expense represents.
We all do things
simply because we feel we should. Maybe you volunteer even though you
feel no real connection to the cause. Maybe you have regular lunches
with old friends but it feels more like a chore than a treat. Think
about one thing you do out of habit, or because you think you're supposed
to… and then stop doing it. The momentary pain -- or in some cases,
confrontation -- of stepping down, dropping out, or letting go will soon
be replaced by a huge sense relief. Then you can use that time to do
something you truly feel has meaning.
You already make
enough decisions. What to have for lunch shouldn't be one of them. Pack
tuna and a small salad. Pick something healthy, something simple, even
something you can eat at your desk. Save the decision-making for what's
really important. As a bonus, you'll lose a little weight and feel a
little better.
