Welcome to 2016! I hope you are as excited as I am about the possibilities of the new year.
This year, I have a high focus on meaningful productivity. Meaning: I’m involved in a lot of things, many of which I love, but I am not being as productive as I know I am capable. Can you relate?
One of my main goals is to cut down on the amount of time I spend in decision-making. Though I tend to be very purposeful about tying actions to my intentions, I still needed a more tangible method to getting things done. Part of this goal is working to eliminate having more than one contact with something. I stumbled across the saying, “Do. Delegate. Delete.”
This is a process that has already made me more productive. Let me explain:
Do. This is very “simple”; you actually do something. Examples: Respond to the email. Do the task. Take action.
Delegate. Ask yourself if this is something you can delegate to someone else. I struggle with this a lot. I’ve always had the thought that no one can do things the way I can do them. That is true… no one will do things the exact same way I can.
Here’s what I’ve come to realize: there are people who can do things FAR better than I can. Yes, that is a truth, and you will find it’s true for you as well. Because of that, it has become a tiny bit easier for me to let go and delegate. One of my goals is to delegate a lot more this year.
Delete. There comes a time in your life when you have to give up some things in order to reach your ultimate outcome. I’ve deleted serving on boards for organizations that I love. I’ve deleted some TV time (Sorry, I still HAVE to watch “Scandal”). I’ve deleted time spent on certain activities that were not moving me closer to my goals.
When you delete things from your life, you create space and energy for the things you actually want.
One of the areas where I have found the “Do. Delegate. Delete.” process to be the most helpful is with e-mails. I can easily become overwhelmed by e-mails and the amount of time I spend sorting through, pondering and responding.
Now, when I look at an e-mail, I either do something with it, delegate it to someone who might be better able to respond, or delete it (I’m looking at the million sales e-mails I get a day). This has provided some organization to my e-mails that, frankly, were a mess.
What it also has done is forced me to take action. It’s so much easier to take the two minutes to respond to the e-mail now, than to think about it, forget about it, wonder what it was I forgot to email, and then wake up at 2 o’clock in the morning remembering who I needed to email.
This week, I want you to focus your energy on Do. Delegate. Delete. In what area of your life do you think this will be the most helpful?
Colene Elridge is a trainer and success coach who offers an interactive approach to learning and development. She works with individuals and organizations that aspire to “Be More.” Colene is also a human resources professional and certified mediator. She has a bachelor’s degree from Transylvania University and a master’s from Sullivan University. More details on Coach Colene are available at CoachColene.com.