Get It Done

I recently had a “disagreement” with my wife, Aja. Allegedly, I was leaving a trail of personal items around the house that she kept picking up after me. I wasn’t sure what she was talking about but perhaps for a minute there was some truth to her allegations. And maybe, although I doubt it, this has happened more than once. I needed to quickly change my habits to improve our relationship.

For the next several days I tuned into putting my dishes away, picking my dirty clothes up off the floor, and cleaning up anything I saw that would take a minute to do and yield a more positive living experience for the household, especially for my lovely wife.

When I thought about it, this minor behavioral change did not disrupt my day. I still had plenty of time to get everything else accomplished that was on my calendar.

A revelation!

I realized that when a thought comes to mind, e.g. putting the clothes in the dirty clothes hamper, that I need to act on it right away before the thought gets pushed back to another time, which could be costly.

This mindset is applicable in my daily work life, as well. So many tasks that don’t take up too much time can be executed when they are top of mind without disrupting the day. So why don’t I do that more often!? Complacency. Lazy habits.

I want you to think about all the tasks you push aside due to complacency or procrastination. I then want you to imagine how much more productive you would feel if you executed these tasks when they were top of mind instead of pushing them off to another time.

How much time does it take to send a quick follow-up note to a contact after a meaningful meeting? How hard is it to peruse LinkedIn for a few minutes? How difficult is it to poke your head into your colleague’s office to say good morning?

What you do in your personal life is your own business, however I want to challenge you to take care of the little things in your work life when they come to mind instead of entertaining the thought “I will take care of that later.” You will find that taking care of the task doesn’t take up a lot of time. It is simply overcoming the “procrastination hurdle.” This minor way of thinking can pay huge dividends over the long term.

I am happy to report that Aja is much happier with me, and our “disagreement” has been resolved. The effort on my end was minimal yet the result was big. I am now parlaying that behavioral change in my daily work life. Stay tuned!