better business blog

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Simplify, Combine, Stop

20 December 2015

When life gets complicated we can lose sight of the essence of what we are about. We can forget what the core of our business is and be diverted by new schemes and complex multi-party opportunities. It is tempting to say ‘yes’ to all comers and we think we are being more successful as our project portfolio gets fatter.

This is dangerous ground for us and if we are consumed by the fog of too much opportunity we can let the core of our business wither away and not service our regular clients in the way we used to.

The solution is simple. Taking a leaf out of the big book of Lean Process Improvement we can make a list of all the things cluttering up our business and indeed our life. Then we can take a marker pen and, with relish, choose some or all of the following options:

a) Simplify our list – sort items into ‘do now’ and ‘do in six months’.

b) Combine items – where there are natural overlaps we can work on one project and avoid repetition of our labour.

c) Stop the project – it’s healthy to call time on a project and we can trust our intuition here. We don’t have to justify our decision, we can say to ourselves ‘I know all the facts and I’m doing what’s good for me, and this isn’t it!’

We can apply the same logic to Christmas. More crackers and extra presents don’t make for a better time. What counts is that we share love and kindness with people who are close to us and people who need support. Have a wonderful Christmas, or holiday season, and thank you for being part of the Better Business blog. If there are topics you would like covered during 2016 do let me know and I will add you to the list! Go well!

Next week: Reviewing the Year That Was 2015