Just Do It … But Do What?

“Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”

Vince Lombardi in Run to Win: Vince Lombardi on Coaching and Leadership, (2002) pg. 119

… which immediately reminds me of another saying:  

“We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”

Aristotle

When you are a leader (regardless of title) everyone watches what you do … all the time … without blinking.

As a leader, you are modeling the behavior which you want to see in those who trust you enough to follow you.  Doing the right thing, in the right way, all the time is essential.

It’s also hard.  Here are three points of consideration about all this:

Discipline

In order to do something repeatedly, we need the discipline to actually do it.  Not just when it feels good or is convenient, but when our body and our mind is screaming “Just let it go this time.”

When you are almost out the door on the way home and that little alarm goes off, discipline is what makes you turn around and spend the extra time to fix it.

Short cuts abound in this online world and the temptations are many.   I won’t say never use a quick route to a desired outcome, but ask yourself two questions before doing so:

1)  Will this actually achieve or contribute to my end goal?

2)  Will the potential damage outweigh the benefits? 

Intention

Seems a small thing to mention, but it’s worth saying that you have to want to do well.  Not everyone has a strong sense of excellence as a goal.  

If you think doing things as well as you can, every time, is not a particularly valuable goal, I probably have nothing of value for you this morning. 

We do live in a world that tells us “Good Enough” is okay and that getting by is sometimes (or usually) the real goal.  Some people spend their days doing what they must … and not an iota more.

Here’s my nomination for Overused Saying of the Decade:  “Mailing It In“

1)  Is what I am doing in line with what I want to do?

2)  Am I doing what I need to do to make it happen?

 Consistency

Consistency relates to discipline, but has more to do with how well you do something.   Doing your best all the time can seem an exhausting challenge.  In my opinion, it’s easier to stick to a quality than to vary.

This is particularly important as our days stretch on, as they sometimes do.

Remember earlier, when you remembered something you have to do before you can go home and relax?   It’s not just about doing it, it’s about doing it as well as you have done everything else that day.

Great customer service is not about how you treat the first sale or transaction of the day, it’s about how you treat the last.  The customer should not know that they come at the end of a very long string of challenges.

1)  Are my actions and the emotions behind them consistent?

2)  Do I believe that each person deserves my best efforts?

So do the right thing, in the right way, every time.  Any questions?

Trying to get it right every time in the Heartland ….

John

A Deep Thought for Hump Day …

“I want to know [God's] thoughts, the rest are details.”

Albert Einstein in ”A Talk with Einstein,” The Listener 54, (1955) pg. 370-371

 

Actually struggling for words to enhance this thought …

I have other places where I am more likely to consider things spiritual, but this is what popped up in the rotation of great quotations, so bear with me.

If I understand Einstein’s observation, he is reminding us that some greater power is “up there and out there” guiding the universe along, and all the things which we get so twisted up in knots about, are just details.

In some ways, this is sort of dismissive of human activity, but taken another way, it is oddly comforting.

An overall plan exists … it just has very little, if anything to do with what occupies our waking hours.

 … so relax and try to do good.   Let the rest be in Someone else’s hands.

Taking a long, deep breath in the Heartland….

John

 

 

Time IS Money, Isn’t It?

“Time is Money.”

Benjamin Franklin

Well,  yes … yes, it is … maybe.

This quotation seems always used to justify billable hours or some decision to go for the money, instead of for more satisfying, but less economic ends.

Time is money … in other words, time is what we use to create things of value for which others will reward us with money.

Some people create economic powerhouses with their time, while others create a child’s memories.  Some become learning machines while others restore old automobiles or build furniture.    Some seek adventure, while other look for peace and stability.

Some create value by leading and others by following.  Some create value through change and others through consistency.  What we do has value for someone else, even when we do not know the value we bring to that other.

Our time will come and our time will go.  Only two unknowns in this situation:

How much time do I get?   

How will I spend it?

We usually do not know the answer to the first question, but we are pretty much in control of the answer to the second one.

So the questions this morning are pretty straight-forward:

What do you create with your time?

How does what you create offer value?

My slightly revised motto:

“Time is Value” 

Whistling a happy tune while I ponder how I can share my talents to create value in the Heartland ….

John

Trying to See How Many Things You Can Get Up at One Time?

“When managers multitask, even small decisions can take days.”

–Sanjeev Gupta, CEO of Realization, writing in the Harvard Business Review

Several more nails into the coffin of multitasking below … will this box EVER be completely closed and sealed?

Read these excellent articles:

HOW EMPLOYERS CAN MAKE US STOP MULTITASKING- Sanjeev Gupta

THE MAGIC OF DOING ONE THING AT A TIME - Tony Schwartz

Both talk about the negative aspects of attempting to do several things at once “to save time” or because “I don’t have time to just do one thing“.

One piece of advice:  Stop kidding yourself.  Stop … take a deep breath … do something – just that one thing …  then do something else … repeat.

Trying to do one thing at a time and do it a lot better in the Heartland ….

John

Making Hash Out of Big Jobs

 “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.”

Henry Ford  as quoted in How to Write a Book Proposal, (2011) pg. 19

 

 

How’s this for a little twist on the old story about the blind men and the elephant?:)

I suppose we all agree that small tasks are easier to do than large tasks.

I would also suppose that dividing a large task into a series of smaller tasks makes the large task seem easier to do.

I hope most of us think that a key management task is to do the dividing and assigning of these little bits to carry out the goal.

I only have two quibbles with this:

1)  Quibble the First:  We don’t always divide up the “easy to do” tasks equitably.

Consider the skills and work load of those who will receive the benefit of what you carve up into those “easy” pieces.   Resist the two sins of delegation:

1)  Giving someone who already has a full plate even more to do.

2)  Giving someone a task without the support for them doing it well.

Resist the tendency to rely on your trusted and stalwart workers, even when they say “I’ll do it“.  Sometimes you need to give them a break and give someone else the opportunity to learn and grow.

Remember that your job as a manager and as a leader is to coach the person through doing the task.  If someone is working on a stretch goal, you should observe, check, and use questions to help them learn as they work.

2)  Quibble the Second:  We sometimes lose sight of the goal by focusing on the “easy to do” bits and pieces.

When a task involves a series of easily identified tasks, it is tempting to use the old “One Task = One Person” rule and simply divvy up the steps.  If all steps were equal in terms of what they demand in time, ability, and energy, this would be a reasonable approach.

Make sure the people power applied is equivalent to what is needed for a specific action.  All tasks are not one-person jobs and skill levels matter.

Sometimes people become so enmeshed in their piece of the problem, they are not aware of the larger whole.

Make an intentional effort to keep everyone in sync about the entire effort.  If we fail to do this, we have violated that management maxim about people doing better work if they understand how their contribution fits into the larger whole.

So, carve up that elephant and hand out the pieces, but remember to consider Who, What, and Why as you do so.   If your management actions are thoughtful, then you have a reasonable chance of really making the overall challenge easier to do.

What is YOUR experience with carving elephants?

How do you approach large tasks and how well does your approach work?

Wondering where to starting cutting on the big beastie in the Heartland …

John

Do What We Like or Like What We Do?

“Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living at it.”

Albert Einstein  as quoted in Albert Einstein, The Human Side: New Glimpses From His Archives (1979) pg. 57

 

So does this mean that earning a living doing something takes the joy out of it?

Most fields can be fascinating, I think and the proof is in listening to someone who has “found their passion“, as we say.  The enthusiasm and sheer fun of the topic come through loud and clear … even if we would be bored stiff dealing with that same topic:)

How often have I heard some version of this:

“Yeah, I just work to pay the bills, so I can spend my free time doing what I really enjoy.”

Here’s a thought:  Maybe it is not the subject that makes work so soul-sapping.  Maybe it’s how we approach work and working with each other.

I’m just saying …

Thinking about what I really enjoy and how to make a living at doing it in the Heartland ….

John

Image: Albert Einstein during a lecture in Vienna in 1921 -photo by Ferdinand Schmutzer - {{PD-US}} – published in the US before 1923 and public domain in the US.

Hitching A Ride …

“Hitch your wagon to a star.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Okay, visualize THIS one …

A star can be an astronomical phenomenon,  a geometric shape, an ocean creature, or a celebrity.  Which one do you think dear old Emerson had in mind?

My money is on another type of star … the type that represents a promise or a goal.

When I was in college, hitchhiking was a less dangerous and more practiced method of getting around, both in town and across the country.  Not something I would recommend anyone to do today, but we were a different society then, at least in some ways.

“Hitching A Ride” by Vanity Fair formed the soundtrack to many an adventure during that time.  Here’s the first verse:

A thumb goes up, a car goes by
It’s nearly 1 a.m. and here am I
Hitchin’ a ride, hitchin’ a ride
Gotta get me home by the morning light

I got no fare to ride a train
I’m nearly drowin’ in the pouring rain
Hitchin’ a ride, hitchin’ a ride
Gotta get me home to my baby’s side

Ride, ride, ride, hitchin’ a ride
Ride, ride, ride, hitchin’ a ride

Okay, these are not Deep Thoughts, but the bouncy tune and glorification of being soaked to the bone in the middle of the night on a dark highway is just too good to pass up.