From time to time, people who enthusiastically start their day with the desire of being effective express frustration in finding that they didn’t make any progress, despite the fact that they identified what they needed to do and even reminded themselves of it several times during the day.
This challenge is often a result of giving yourself ineffective instructions on your ‘to-do’ list.
Technically, tasks are achieved as a result of a series of smaller actions being completed effectively.
So firstly, let’s define what I mean by an ‘actions’.
An ‘action’ is a written instruction. Having read it, I am able to actually carry out the action and cross it off my list.
An example of an ineffective action could be: ‘Get some sales appointments.’
The problem with this instruction is that when you read it you think, “Yes, I need to do that.”, but it doesn’t naturally cause you to take immediate action.
An example of some simple and effective action steps, to achieve the same outcome, could be:
1. List people I want to approach about my services.
2. Determine the time and place that would be best for me to make the calls.
3. Draft what I want to share with these people.
4. Identify the times I am available to meet.
5. Call and book the appointments.
Even though both goals are identical, you will be far more effective by taking just a few minutes to consider the actual action steps you need to take to achieve the overall task.
Now of course, this approach works in a perfect world, but the chances of me actually taking the time to do this are… well… let’s say… unlikely. Therefore, if you don’t have time to stop and think of the complete list of action steps to complete the entire task you could simply get into the habit of just thinking of the first action and write that beside the task e.g. ‘Get some sales appointments – list people I want to approach about my services.’
The main point here is to write an instruction that starts with a verb like: print, list, call, think etc.
I also believe in the concept of ‘motivation follows action’. What I mean by this is, that once I actually get started on a task, I am more motivated to keep going and finish. So often times, when I write my instruction I am simply trying to trick myself into getting started knowing that a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
Let me give you a specific example. Let’s say that I want to review my overheads and determine where I might be able to make some savings. I may write on my to-do list “Consider where I can save money on my overheads.” This is simple enough, but most likely ineffective. However if I write, “Consider where I can save money on my overheads – print the Profit and Loss Statement.”, I find the initial action easy to actually do and am highly likely to start scanning the document for potential savings. At worst, I am now in a much better place to potentially achieve the original desired outcome.
I encourage you to experiment with this concept. I can promise you it will dramatically improve your effectiveness once you master it.
And, if you try this and it doesn’t work for you, my final suggestion is… do something.
I’d love to hear about your successful experiences with taking action towards being effective. What’s worked for you?