I almost went as far as calling it insanely obvious, too.
I’ll even give you a hint right up front, even though it pains me. It pains me because this insanely overused quote really doesn’t need to be used…
ONE. MORE. TIME.
“Too much” of most anything leads to insanity, and we all know the definition of insanity by heart…
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein
But guess what? According to QuoteInvestigator.com, “There is no substantive evidence that Einstein wrote or spoke the statement above. It is listed within a section called “Misattributed to Einstein” in the comprehensive reference “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein” from Princeton University Press.”
So… LET’S. JUST. STOP. Already!
And there it is… that’s your hint. It’s about doing the same thing (…or, not doing the same thing).
Now back to getting more done (the easy way). Can we all agree there aren’t anywhere near enough hours in the day to get done, what needs to get done?
When I was in the corporate world, my day was spent doing each and every task as fast as I could, then on to the next one… as fast as I could. Multitasking was alive and well. (You have heard that multitasking has been declared dead, haven’t you?)
The universal answer has always been… BE. MORE. EFFICIENT.
Oh, yeah, that’s it. Be more efficient. Which of Einstein’s quote jockeys came up with that one?
Just keep doing more in less time until there isn’t any time left in which to do less. Got that?
Productivity systems only work to a point… the point at which the clock strikes 168 hours. Then the week is over and we get to start again.
I was reading Ian Brodie’s marketing blog this past week (IanBrodie.com). Yeah, I know… yes, I read about marketing. Please don’t tell anyone.
In it, he shared a post titled (hold on tightly now) … “How to get more marketing done in less time.”
But wait! There’s more! Ian says,
Well, what I’ve found that actually does work for me is what I call my “radical productivity system.” You might want to try it to see if it works for you.
Here it is….
…. drum roll….
Stop doing stuff that doesn’t work.”
But who does stuff that doesn’t work? WE ALL DO. ALL THE TIME.
Seriously. Think about it for a minute. And, be honest with yourself.
You do stuff that doesn’t work.
Would it be easier to agree if I said any of the following? —
- Stop doing stuff that doesn’t work well.
- Stop doing stuff that doesn’t work for me, no matter what everyone else says.
- Stop doing stuff that doesn’t work well enough to justify the use of my valuable time.
We could keep going. But, the bigger question is this –
How well do you know what IS working and what ISN’T working all that well for you?
We’re hard-wired creatures. We do so many things out of habit, or routine, or because “that’s how we do it around here.”
You’ve actually got to take a look and see what is and isn’t working for you.
For Ian, (remember him… the marketing guy?) he says,
By simply cutting down on the activities that weren’t making much of an impact for me I saved about half a day per week.”
With a little self-observation and reflection, we all can eliminate things from our weekly routines that that aren’t all that productive, that don’t serve us well…
And replace them with activities that do.
Sure, it might be one of those three steps forward things. Then, two steps back for the new activity that takes its place.
But, do a few of these tweaks, and you’ve created some margin, some white space around the edges.
What could you do with that?
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