Weed Out The Time Wasters
By Faye Hollands of Outshine Consulting
The consulting firm McKinsey & Company are well known for their harsh but effective policy of weeding out the bottom 10 percent of performers in their business. Whilst this might seem drastic to some, it’s an approach which has served them well, and a concept that we can apply to our own lives in order to get ahead. Here’s how…
Shape Up Or Ship Out
Take a look at your to-do list now. If you’re like most, you’ll have a heap of things on there, some of which are minuscule and only there as reminders. Hopefully you’ve also got some much more important tasks listed that will make a bigger impact on your day when done.
Now imagine that the items on your to-do list are staff and you’re thinking the ‘McKinsey’ way – what tasks on your list are the ‘under-performers’? By that I mean the tasks that won’t help you achieve your goals or objectives. So for example, if you’re in a sales roles it’s highly unlikely that filing emails is going to help you reach your targets, and if you’re a pie baker you’d have to question whether updating your Facebook status is the most effective use of your time.
Be honest with yourself, and ruthless. Cut out the bottom 10 percent of tasks on your to-do list that don’t serve you well and get focused on the points that are actually going to make a difference in reaching your goals.
Leap of the Week:
How can you apply the same concept to other areas of your life:
Friends – are you spending time with people who sap you of energy and enthusiasm? Ditch the bottom 10%…
Email – what newsletters do you rarely read? Unsubscribe…
Books – are you struggling to get through a book you just can’t get into? Put it down, let it go and move on…
Social Life – do you say yes to too many things? Start saying no to the bottom 10%…
Finances – are you paying for things that you never use? Cut your spending by 10%…
Stop tolerating things that don’t fit well into your life. Humans are creatures of habit, so it’s important to take stock every now and again of the things you’re doing ‘just because’ you’ve been doing them for a while, and weed out the tasks and scenarios that are wasting your time, energy and focus.
Have fun spring cleaning!