I’m asking because it really is a decision.  And one that matters if you want to look back with accomplishment at the end of the year.

Some professionals will spend most of their time and attention scattered this coming year-investing in too many things with too little payoff, chasing too many tasks that don’t deserve to be completed and generally dabbling and playing on too many devices, with too many programs, involving too many people, resulting in too little outcome.

Whew!

An antidote I propose to you at the beginning of this year is a simple two step process:

Big Step #1: Drop Some Weight

Make a list of all the obligations, commitments, projects and tasks that require your attention AND aren’t that important to the life you want to live or the work you need to do.

Drop as many of these as you can from your life.  If they are unnecessary and unproductive…they are dragging you down.  At the very least, they are distracting you.

The fewer of these you keep, then the more time you have for…

Big Step #2: Pursue Meaning

Make another (probably shorter) list–this time with of the people, projects, commitments and purposes that have the most meaning for you in your life and work now.  Maybe you also are thinking about some things that are important to your future.

If this list is a long one, prioritize it.  Figure out which of these things are more important than the others.

Now, do your planning for the year.  Only this time, you’re thinking, strategizing and scheduling so that those things that have the most meaning will get the most attention, the most investment, the most…focus.

If you can stick to a plan formed this way, at the end of this year, you just might feel the exhilaration that comes from accomplishment and significance, instead of the weariness that comes from trying to do so many things that matter so little.

And that is a pathway to struggle less so you can BE more.

(This post was previously published in the January 2011 issue of Business Leader http://www.businessleader.bz/ )

Hopefully, you’ve dropped a lot of clutter, thrown out some old, worn things and even dropped some of your activities and obligations that have been weighing you down.

Those are all things I encourage leaders to do in order to struggle less, so they can be more.

Here are three challenging ideas to help you DEEP clean in your business.  You might also find they apply to other areas of  your life as well.

Idea #1:  Let Go Of Your Bad Ideas

Bad ideas get implemented because they start as potentially good ideas at the time.   We then realize they aren’t working so well, but things like habit / inertia / fear keep us from changing again.  If you know that your incentive system, the way you schedule, the way you hold staff meetings, the rule or policy you have about…anything, has turned out wrong…have the courage to drop it.

Idea #2:  Get Rid of The Wrong Tools

You know that having the right tools for the job is important.  So why do some of those people in your organization spend half their day wrestling to make their tools work?  Computers, are one or our most common tools…and the best and fastest have become very affordable.  So why is that person (or you) straining to see the screen or waiting so long for programs to load or wishing they had that piece of software that would make the routine things they do every day, less of a hassle?  Get rid of the chairs that wreck your backs, the lights that cause you to squint, the forms that don’t fit the situation perfectly, the phone you have to apologize about using…etc.

Idea #3:  Part Ways with the Toxic People

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why toxic people- employees who make life miserable for their fellow workers and for customers and clients, continue to have jobs.   I know the short answer is that changing things is difficult.  But please…if you have employees OR clients who distinguish themselves from all the others by being a menace to everyone they meet…let them go do that somewhere else.   Everyone in your organization will want to throw you a parade.  One exception (maybe): If you have a vital employee, who is toxic to others: the very least try and shield everyone else from their affects.  The productivity you’ll gain will be worth it.

Even though these three ideas seem common sense, the reason why many leaders never get to this level of cleaning is because they are unaware.

The antidote if this could be you: ASK your people if there are any bad ideas or wrong tools to drop, or even toxic people issues to address.  If they trust you, they will tell you.

If this has you thinking about your work personally, spend some time reflecting on these three ideas, and make some changes  so you can struggle less and be more.

(This post was previously published in the June 2010 issue of Business Leader http://www.businessleader.bz/ )

Sometimes it just makes sense to hit the reset button in order to give yourself a fresh start.

Here are the usual reasons why I sometimes have to re-start my PC- adapted to your work, to get you thinking about re-starting in your business (or life).

Too much stuff is running in the background, competing for resources and making the work extremely slow.

Do you have a lot of tasks and programs that are running and keeping you and your people extremely busy with activity, but very slow when it comes to results?  Just like the slow PC, you haven’t stopped doing anything, just started more and more.  Now you wonder why you can’t get the important work of getting or serving customers, done.  Reboot: Shed tasks and programs that don’t serve your core work.

We’ve started a new program / initiative, but people aren’t getting on-board

When you install new software, usually a reboot is required to integrate key settings into your PC’s operating system.  Have you embedded the new program into the basic activities of your business?  Have you changed the rules of operating so that the new initiative isn’t just an add-on, but an integral, definitive part of your work now?  Reboot: Restart the system long enough (or shake it up) to alter the status quo and replace the old way with the new.

We’re trying to do too many things at once, too quickly, and our customers have “stopped responding”

The problem here, provides its own answer.  If the people or systems you’re working with have stopped responding, you’re likely spreading your attention too thin.  If you wait, PC programs that are hung up will often start responding again.  But sometimes the situation is bad enough that you need to reboot.  You’ve overtaxed the entire system by multi-tasking.  On computers, people often try to move things forward by clicking their mouse button a lot on the various programs (maybe you’re read about these people).  Reboot: FOCUS on what’s most important for you to accomplish.  Identify the simplest version of how you value-add to your client- and do only that.  And avoid the temptation to think that more pushing (clicking) is the solution.

We’ve started a new program and it’s not really working that well

With computers, as in my work itself, I try lots of new programs.  Will they take? Are they useful? Do they move things forward?  Sometimes they don’t work well on my system, so I simply remove them.  It’s easier and quicker than trying to get every new thing working well.

How do you regard new initiatives and programs?  Are you able to drop them if they don’t work and cut your losses?  Reboot: If you really need for that new program to work, then by all means invest more time. But if another idea will come along soon and this wasn’t THAT critical to your work…drop it.

We were able to get more done, quicker before we “made upgrades”

You can remember a recent time, maybe last month or last year or 3 years ago, when the way you worked really did…work. But the improvements and changes you’ve recently made are actually more frustrating than helpful.   Reboot: Return to the point when things were working.  Identify why things were going well back then.  And then implement like you did back then.  Strip away all those new developments that obviously aren’t helping and get back to your basics.

Don’t be afraid to reboot your business so you can spend more time being creative and gaining the edge.

(This post was previously published in the April 2010 issue of Business Leader http://www.businessleader.bz/ )