Keep it moving through the team

Playing well on a team means not slowing things down unnecessarily or holding things up. To collaborate, contribute, do our bit or add our expertise to a piece of work, is a fundamental part of work.

It's rare we work in total isolation - unless in our own business - even then, we might have a team member, suppliers and ... customers.

Do you know how your working style impacts the 'flow' of work through the team? Are you searching for 'more' or to make something you're working on 'better' before it's 'done' or handed on to others?

Perfectionism and the pursuit of 'right' isn't just an individual thing; it has a huge flow on effect for the wider team and beyond through the organisation, to customers and clients.

This article talks about the impact of perfectionism on the team.

Have you been slowed down in a team where someone might be going for perfect?

Love to hear your thoughts. 

Tinkering kills productivity

Tinkering. It's one of the top productivity killers in the workplace today.

You know how it goes ... you've got a presentation, report, something to get 'done'. And you start it. But then when do you stop? When is it 'done'? Hour after hour. Possibly day after day. For some important reports and presentations it even becomes week after week. (month after month anyone?)

Tinker tinker tinker. We fiddle, adjust, move the shape a little to the left, a little to the right, change the font, change the size, change a word here and there. Change things back again. Re-read, change, edit, fix and fiddle.

This is tinkering with information and communication. And it's a massive time waster.

In our efforts to make something 'better' we often spend - or waste - an inordinate amount of time on the things that are less important. Our perception of what constitutes 'value' is skewed; skewed and distorted by our desire to make things look good, impressive, clever, perfect. After all, it reflects on us - doesn't it?

Do you tinker? How do you know when something is 'good enough' to go?

Follow the law of forced efficiency

The incredibly successful Brian Tracy, who authored plenty of books and inspired many to greater things in their life, certainly inspired me in the earlier days of running my business.

I spied one of his books on the shelf of a local bookstore, I jumped at it and thought, ‘this will do; I won't have to read 100 books, I'll just read this one. It will be good enough.’ The book? ‘The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success.’ And the Law I love love love? It's # 15: The Law of Forced Efficiency.

It reads ‘The more things you have to do in a limited period of time, the more you will be forced to work on your most important tasks.’ It's just another way of saying ‘there is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important things.

As you take on more, you'll be forced to act with ‘maximum efficiency’. He continues: ‘If you are successful, you will almost always have too much to do and too little time.’ So ask: what is the most valuable use of my time right now?

And for you? What is the most valuable use of your time right now? I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Hey, didn’t you write and release that book last year, Lynne?

Hey, didn’t you write and release that book last year, Lynne? I’ve mentioned recently that my book ‘ish: The Problem with our Pursuit for Perfection and the Life-Changing Practice of Good Enough’ is out!

People have asked, 'But didn’t you release it last year? What’s with it being out now? Again?'

The book is about perfectionism and the increasing problem it presents in the world today. One of the ways we can tackle perfectionism I think, is to work in:

- increments (smaller packets or chunks of work, rather than trying to work on the w-h-o-l-e of a project) and,

- iterations (improving on things over time, as we release new or updated versions). This works well for reports, presentations, websites, blogs … yes, and books.

I released a couple of iterations of the book last year and got feedback and insights from people who’d read it. They let me know what they thought. Now I’m up to the 5th iteration.

Each version improving on the previous one. And it’s time to stop; it’s done. We can always, always work some more on our projects and make them better. But work in increments and iterations and you’ll get feedback to make things good enough to go 'live'.

Look again. What's good enough to go live?

Your pursuit of perfectionism could be stopping you from getting things done.

Your pursuit of perfectionism could be stopping you from getting things done.

With all the focus on productivity apps, to-do lists, email inbox to zero strategies and advice to wake up at 4am, I don't know about you, but I'm tired and the day has barely started! If we think we've got plenty to do but perhaps not getting it done as soon as we might have hoped, there might be something getting in your way that you haven't considered. Perfection.

Yup. Perfectionism is on the rise according to the researchers and it stops us putting great ideas out there, pressing 'go' on projects and business concepts and can make us difficult to work with.

Read more in my article published in B&T magazine. And could you... would it be possible... might you have got in your own way?