Learn to Play the Guitar, Write a Novel, Sky Dive, Take Flight Lessons, Try Out for American Idol, Visit the Pacific Islands, Buy a House, Start a Family, Go Back to Graduate School – Sometimes our “To Do List” seems to us to be more like a “Wish List”. Especially, the older we get. Time, money and resources seem to be barriers that get in the way. The quote from Kathy Seligman offers a good strategy, “You can’t hit a home-run unless you step up to the plate. You can’t catch fish unless you put a line in the water. You can’t reach your goals unless you actually do something.” It is that easy! Do something. Begin! Layout out a plan and get started. Anything worth achieving is going to take effort and require sacrifice so put on the waders and get fishing
Someday
Soon, I will get around to it. Someday…
Sometimes, “someday” never comes. Simple solution. Start right now. Start where you are. Pick a task that will move your dream, goal, project forward. Say, “No” to something less important and choose to start today. And, stick with it. Life is too short to work on a bunch of things that seem urgent and never get to the things that are most important to you.
Yes, easy to say and hard to do. But do it.
A Quality Corporate Performance
Recently I did a keynote presentation to over 200 sale managers from a large corporation. It was a pleasure to be asked to speak to this fine group. What was even more exciting was to walk into their corporate facility and see the “set up” of the meeting. They had taken the concepts from “Juggling Elephants” and wrapped it around the theme for their conference. In the lobby they had set up a concession stand for the breaks where they served drinks, popcorn (popped fresh in a circus like popcorn machine), and cotton candy. The Directors had dressed up in a variety of circus outfits (gypsies, barkers, clowns, etc.) with the M.C. and the vice president dressed as a ringmaster. Every detail was covered right down to circus music that played at the breaks. Each participant had been given the book “Juggling Elephants” prior to the conference and were encouraged to read it before attending. This was a group, like most of us, that has plenty of acts in their circus. The stage was set for us to have a fun yet very frank discussion on the importance of being the Ringmaster of our circuses and creating the performance of a lifetime. I would highly recommend such a setup and experience to any organization whose employees are feeling overwhelmed with too much to do. Taking an intermission to refocus is critical and will bring a return on the investment.
Living Life Intentionally
It is so easy to get caught up in the “thick of thin things.” To work a full day at your job, being real busy and leaving the office thinking, “What did I actually accomplish of worth today?”
It can happen in your personal life as well. 5 years go by like a flash and you look back and think, “what have I accomplished?” I have done some good things. I have been busy. I have been keeping those “elephants” up in the air but, have I progressed in taking my life, my relationships, my career to the next level?
Life is meant to be lived intentionally. More than ever, we are faced with so many distractions that get in the way. What needs to be turned off? What needs to be removed? What changes do you need to make in your life so that you can add in those dreams and goals that you want to achieve?
Be intentional. Choose one thing. Write it down. Make a plan. Hang it on the wall as a reminder. Focus on it. Work on it daily. Baby steps. It is what will help you get up in the morning.
One Easy Way to Fail
I enjoyed an article in INC Magazine recently titled, “How Hard Could It Be?: Five Easy Ways to Fail” by Joel Spolsky – The article mentioned five reasons technology projects go wrong. In line with the message of Juggling Elephants was Mistake No. 5: Work till midnight. Some highlights from the article are:
“There's a whole body of literature establishing that working more hours doesn't produce software any faster. Edward Yourdon, the software entrepreneur and author, dubbed this kind of project the ‘death march.’”
“Software development takes immense intellectual effort. Even the best programmers can rarely sustain that level of effort for more than a few hours a day. Beyond that, they need to rest their brains a bit.”
“Compelling employees to spend even more hours sitting in front of a computer won't really translate into more output--or if it does, it will be the wrong kind of output.”
“Running a death march is not the only way to make a project late and a budget buster. But it is a surefire way to do so.”
I think the same concepts apply to “non-programmers” as well. A lot of times we feel that if we work longer hours we will be more productive and get more done. The reality is that the law of diminishing returns applies. We need to take daily intermissions and “rest our brains a bit”. We need to maintain a good performance in all the rings of our life. A good, focused, 8 hour day will deliver better results in the long run.