Happy Wife, Happy Life - many of you have heard this simple phrase before. How many of you use this as a filter before you say yes to something?
If you are asked to play cards tonight with the guys, will it make your spouse upset? Will the fun you have playing cards outweigh a little pain later on? Most of us use this type of decision making tool naturally when it comes to our personal lives.
What is your filter in your professional life?
There are two types of people; those that say yes to everything, and those that understand the value of saying no. If you are the type of person that is often doing things that do not help you advance toward your goals, aspirations, or happiness, you haven't set your filter.
Knowing what direction you want to go is half the battle. What decisions have you made along the way that are sidetracking you? Everything we participate in requires us to make a decision. When we make those decisions we could be putting something else off, or hindering it in a way. Always ask yourself if this action is going to get you closer to your goals, or take you farther away.
Here’s a simple example: "Hey, let's go out to dinner tonight" - a colleague asks.
Do you think to yourself, does this get me closer to my goal? Or farther away from it? Are you going to cross that personal development webinar that you were planning to attend off the calendar to go out with this person? Are you not going to read that report on your prospect that could help you in tomorrow’s negotiations?
I also know the value of a balanced life, and saying yes might help you maintain that. If that is your end goal, then that too is part of your filter.
Addition by subtraction
What if you get a call from your least favorite customer, asking for you to work on a project. You know that the price they will pay is low and the work not fulfilling or enjoyable. You justify the decision by thinking to yourself, I have the extra time ... Shouldn't you be using that time to develop business that is better paying and more enjoyable? Maybe that’s the time you spend with your colleague above having that social dinner.
How much more productive could you be if you weren’t wasting your time servicing high maintenance customers? If you run a manufacturing operation, how much of your overhead is consumed by low volume and low margin customers? Do you spend extra time setting up machines that are only running for a few hours? How much downtime is created when you change over?
If you have ever said no to a high volume prospect because you didn’t have capacity - check where your capacity is allocated. When you said yes to all that low-volume high maintenance business, you were saying no to everything else.
Defining your filter(s)
Simon Sinek has a great answer to this "start with why". Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Why are you doing what you are doing?
What is the end game?
If you continue to do this activity, are you still on the right track to meet or exceed your goals?
In my book PROFITS, Your Seven Letters to Success, Chapter 1 starts out with the 5 P’s .. Proper planning prevents poor performance. That’s what this boils down to. If you truly want to be a peak performer, crushing your goals - map it out. Plan. Don’t waste your time. Be intentional.
If you are looking to create and develop your filter, contact us. We work hard today, to improve your tomorrow!
Podcast version: What is your filter? When to say no?