3 Reasons Why You Should Never Phone It In

Anything worth doing is worth doing right…

YOUR SIMPLE LEADERSHIP LESSON

Have you ever heard the expression “phone it in”?

The dictionary defines the phrase this way:

Phone It In

— work or perform in a perfunctory or unenthusiastic manner.

Perfunctory or unenthusiastic. What a combo!

Perfunctory means — an action or gesture carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection.

As in —

Ho Hum. Here it is. I don’t care to care about it. It’s definitely not my or anybody else’s best. Take it as is…

And unenthusiastic? Just look at the synonyms —

indifferent, apathetic, halfhearted, lukewarm, tepid, casual, cool, lackluster, subdued, unmoved

Where we spend our time is important. Or at least, it should be.

Another way to state this is that what we do with our time should mean something.

In Season 7 of The Voice, during the Top 8 Eliminations, Blake Shelton picked the Eagles Take It Easy for his guy, Craig Wayne Boyd. Craig mentioned to Blake during rehearsals that he was very comfortable with this song and knew it well. He had been performing it in all his gigs.

Then the band started up and Boyd began to sing. It just plain sucked. Blake stopped the rehearsal, and sternly told him, “you can’t phone it in! You’ve got to sell it!” He was right. Boyd had been phoning it in. He sucked it up and this time, he gave it his best and sang the song the way it was meant to be sung.

I submit that phoning it in is not an option

I know people that regularly “phone it in”. I bet you do as well. Halfhearted attempts. Half-Assed effort. Sloppy work.

Why should you be like that? Like so many people we know? Why shouldn’t you differentiate yourself? Why shouldn’t you take every opportunity to separate yourself from the pack?

Here are 3 reasons to do it right and not phone it in.

AMPLIFICATION

The 3 Reasons You Should Never Phone It In

1. Recipient Satisfaction

The customer is king and queen

Perhaps you have “customers”. My premise is that we all do. Those we interact with and deliver our stuff to — our words, articles, services, advice, and the stuff we make.

But whether you think the recipients of your work product are customers, or not, don’t they deserve your very best? Wouldn’t that be their expectation? Wouldn’t that be your expectation?

Shouldn’t giving it your best be  your expectation?

Whether the recipient of the thing you produce is paying for it or not, they do deserve the best you can deliver.

That’s one of the things that differentiate the world-class from the also-rans. Recipient (Customer) Satisfaction.

2. Wasteful Rework

If you don’t have time to do it right, what makes you think you will have time to do it over?

Perhaps the most pragmatic reason I can think of for not phoning it in, is that it is absolutely wasteful. It’s a really ludicrous thing to do.

Doing half-assed work almost guarantees you will have to redo it. Or at least, finish it or improve it to the point where it is now acceptable. Chances are, whomever you turn that effort over to, is not going to be happy with it. They should, and probably will refuse it, give it back to you, and demand that you do it again.

Can you spell W A S T E F U L?

Rework is expensive. And often times, you simply can’t fix whatever is wrong with your output. You may have to start over. Do it twice, in order to get it the way it should have been done in the first place.

Rework is not a desirable thing to have to do.

3. Personal Satisfaction and Pride

This reason is what personally drives me.

I don’t know about you, but I like to enjoy what I do and how I spend my time. And I just don’t enjoy any time I spend when I am producing inferior output and outcomes that are less than my best.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying I don’t produce inferior results. Quite the contrary. There are times when I am not performing my best work.

It’s tough to stay above the bar 100% of the time…

But it is not tough to try. To shoot for the best. To NOT phone it in.

Repeat:

It’s NOT tough to NOT phone it in…

In Conclusion

I have a personal distaste for “phoning it in”. I have no time for it. No room for it on my daily agenda. It’s not part of my fiber. My values. My reason for being.

I’d rather not do something at all, then do it half way.

How about you?

This is a Simple Leadership Lesson. Visit my publication Simple and Practical Leadership and follow me for more short, useful, and practical Leadership Wisdom delivered to you weekly.

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I help Leaders bring some order to a complicated and chaotic world.