“The essence of genius is to know what to overlook.” — William James (1842-1910) Doctor, Psychologist, Philosopher
Consider This:
In any endeavor, you get bombarded with more information than you can handle. If you try to focus on too much you’ll scatter your energy – and lose your effectiveness. To succeed, sort out major issues from minor ones. Selectively disengage from some activities so that you can powerfully engage in others.
A client of mine uses a powerful tool to get at this idea. He has each member of his executive team keep a pie chart of where their energy is focused. When new projects come along, they discuss how sections and percentages should shift. “You’ve got to know where your energy should and shouldn’t go each day,” he explains. “Sometimes it’s obvious and sometimes it’s not. We’ve found explicitly talking about it every few months helps. Team members tend to feel more empowered in what they’re doing and are more successful as a result.”
Try This:
1. Create a pie chart of how you currently spend your time & energy.
2. Take note of areas where you might be spending too much energy on minor issues.
3. Create a second pie chart to reflect changes you might make to improve efficiency/effectiveness/enjoyment.
4. Like the example above, try sharing the chart with others to get useful feedback on where you should or shouldn’t focus your energy.
— Doug Sundheim is a leadership consultant, author, and speaker. His book on Smart Risk-Taking is due out in 2012.
©2011 TakingSmartRisks.com. All rights reserved. You may send this to your friends and family, but please don’t republish it in any form, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from us.
