Slow Down Before Sending
Everyone with me now … take a deep breathe in and hold it. Count to three and let it out. This is an incredibly easy step to help reduce mental blocks, re-ground yourself in your thoughts, and zero in on your work. It seems that businesses and individuals today are in a mad race to complete tasks, but very rarely do you hear of the consequences that can accompany the push to complete work almost instantaneously; even when taking a second and slowing down may reduce the chance of a slip up.
Why You Should Take a Breath.
Have you ever hit “Send” and, for a brief moment, your stomach drops because you might have sent the wrong message to the wrong recipient. Hopefully not, but the account manager in the example below is not so lucky.
A member of a large accounting business was working with an important client who was bringing in millions of dollars in revenue for their firm. The client was very particular as to how a certain action should be done, which they are entirely entitled too, but the accountant was running very low on patience at that time.
The client sent specific details and instructions for an upcoming project to their project manager in an email which was very professionally written. The business’ account manager, still upset from the amount of time put into securing this contact, is now even more agitated from the inconvenience of having to take EXTRA time with these tasks. They rushed to send their work to their boss for approval; typing a message and just hit send.
They THOUGHT they forwarded the email to their superior, but in fact they had managed to send the original message back to their contact with a snarky remark stating something along the lines of “This client’s demands are crazy” or “The client is driving me up a wall”!
The “Oh Shoot” Moments.
While we can all imagine saying these things to a persistently aggravating client, actually having it happen to you is comparable to having your wisdom teeth yanked out with pliers without any numbing agents. Needless to say this email slip up caused a massive controversy for the entire agency, as they struggled with damage control and client relations … all over one SINGLE employee that did not check their “To:” line in an email.
Speed allows businesses to stay ahead of the curve, but the downsides to racing through work is not often thought about, especially with a relatively quick fix.
The Quickest Fix? Slow Down.
As a friendly reminder, please feel free to revisit the first two sentences of this piece as frequently as you may need. While businesses may want you to lower your head and just bulldoze through project after project, it is still vitally important to ensure the quality of your work is being upheld. The classic quality versus quantity debate becomes void because it is more important to equally balance the two; finding the perfect sweet spot which works best for you.
Finding the perfect balance in your work life can be challenging and even time consuming, but it will prove incredibly beneficial across all aspects of your life. Balancing one’s business or work life can be challenging, but it is important to constantly strive to better oneself.
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