May 05

Part II - What Are You Weeding OUT?

This is Part II of the post: What Are You Growing?

Last week I asked the question, “What are you growing?” This week’s question is, “What are you weeding OUT?” It’s good to ask these questions together, as if they were Siamese.

The “growing” question deals with what the items on your to-do list are helping you create, right? Well, not always. Sometimes they keep us stuck, hence the second question.

After reading last week’s Extra Oomph!, a client told me while he enjoyed the article, he was pretty much buried by his to-do list. There was nothing he could do because all the items on the list needed to get done. I said, “Yes. I understand. But, by whom?”

He told me by him because no one else could. But, the bigger question he needs to look at is, “Who should do those things, the president of the company, or someone else?” I wonder; if the president is fire fighting all the time, who is working on building a fire resistant company and on fire prevention?

I said, with a gentle poke, “Your biggest problem is not a to-do list as long as your arm. Your stategic problem is that you’re under-staffed.” Then I asked how can he attend to that problem when he is buried in his to-do list?

As I said last week, more often than not, to-do lists focus on short term needs. Something else has to add a focus on the longer-term and strategic.

Weed Killer
Since my client likes lists, he needs another kind, too, so he can create a fire resistant company (one that responds faster and with greater ease in the future). That list is the To-Don’t List.

If the to-do is about what you will do, the To-Don’t List is about what you refuse to do any more. One chap called this his delegation list. Certainly, delegate. Trouble for my client is, he doesn’t have someone to delegate to. Plus, he’s in the habit of being the go-to guy on every question. One item for his To-Do List should be, “Accelerate hiring new manager.” The Siamese item on his To-Don’t List could be, “Allow manager position to go unfilled beyond May xx, 2005.”

Two Approaches
Try this: For every item on your to-do list, add a Siamese entry on your To-Don’t List. The advantage is that you’ll have the need put in language that fits both sides of your motivation strategy – the side that moves you away from pain and problems and the side that gravitates toward the feeling of crossing the finish line.

If you don’t like the Siamese idea, use the To-Don’t List to focus your attention and resources on what must STOPPED if you are to succeed. Think of each thing you must STOP (attitudes, tolerations, work habits, procrastinating on hiring new manager, for example) as a weed that needs to be pulled if you are to have a great harvest.

These two lists won’t lessen all the work that needs doing. But, they can help you, personally, break the habit of doing it all – and build a stronger company.

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