Ditch your task lists and accomplish more

Humans are very task-oriented creatures. We have to-do lists, check lists, and agendas in many forms around our personal and work lives. My PC had alarms and reminders to keep me on track throughout the day and sticky notes on my monitors to remind me of the really important to-dos. Does this sound familiar?

While I was doing research into excellent customer service, I came upon a fantastic post on YouTube where Mr. Tony Robbins discussed shifting focus from tasks to results - turning the "what" to "why".

Now, I know what you are thinking and it’s probably along the same lines as mine… at first. The tasks and to-dos we make are steps to achieve X results, right? 

It was something I had to wrap my brain around, and when I did… wow.

In thinking of customer service, the result we want is for customers to rave about the excellent customer service they received, right? We give our employees the tasks of returning phone calls, emails, answering the phone with a smile, etc, which are important steps of good customer service.  The problem here is that the focus is now on the task, not the result. When the employee picks up the phone to call the potential client, their focus is on making the call and not on making that customer feel appreciated and cared for. If that employee gets a voicemail, they leave a message and check it off their list. Done, on to the next task. 

Now what about tasks in our own lives?

What about fitness? Summer is around the corner and I’d like to lose a few pounds. What do I do? I make a list of things I need to do to reach my goal: get up early before the kids do, use the elliptical for working out (instead of a clothes rack), eat better, etc. What actually happens? My alarm goes off at 4:30 am and I hit snooze four times before resetting my alarm to go off at 6. Why? Because I was focusing on the "what" and not the "why". My focus was dragging myself out of the comfy bed and sweating. If getting in shape is really the result I want then I need to think of my “why” when my alarm goes off… how great I’ll feel when I look in the mirror, the increased attention from my husband, and the positive example I’m setting for the kids.

So why does focusing on the results over tasks work?

To put it simply, positive emotion. Think about it for a moment. When an employee goes to return a call or my alarm goes up at 4:30 am, what are our thoughts? Yuck, right? Now, if we think about someone raving about the customer service experience with our company or fitting into that skimpy little bikini? Yay! All positive.

When you focus on your result, or the "why", you will accomplish more and accomplish faster than if you simply focused on the "what".

Be result oriented and not task oriented. Give it a shot for a few days and see how it changes your life!