Thought Tweet #785.5 Make sure your business solutions are less complicated than your problems.

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

If you cannot get your people to do what needs to be done, you are not alone. And, perhaps you are not in good company. Or, perhaps you need some straightforward help.

Do not buy into the current trend of thinking that claim solutions need to be complex. That's untested...unproven smoke-and-mirrors opinion.

Consider the decisions made at your business:

• Are decisions made quickly? 
• Do decisions receive attention and quality input from many people?  
• Are decisions understood and implemented successfully? 

These are important areas:

• the simplicity with which decisions can be made, 
• the quality of input received prior to finalizing decisions, and 
• the success rates for implementation of decisions. 

If your leadership team scores high in these areas then your business will stand above most of your competitors:

• Your business will be fleet of foot. 
• Your business will be thinking accurately and acting properly. 
• Your business will be able to forecast, budget, and receive profitability. 

All of these things contribute to a best-in-class workplace and a sustainable approach to business. Less than these things signals potential problems. More often than not, the problems have passed through the potential stage and they are real - real problems. Now, problems are a necessary ingredient if we want to make business our career. However, repeated problems are destined to ruin the business recipe. And, too many problems spoil the business meal.

So, there is value in stepping back and checking the pulse of your business decision-making:

• Is it a healthy pulse? 
• If so then you will find decisions are made relatively quickly. 
• Is it a strong pulse? 
• If so then you will find your key people are pushing in the same directions as your decisions. 
• Is it a pulse that can withstand stress? 
• If so you will find it is a variable pulse, able to hum away at methodical work and also able to ramp up when situations demand more. 

And finally, is it a pulse that complains rarely?  If it does not complain too much about already-made decisions then it is a good and healthy pulse...a beating pulse.

The beat goes on.

Desired results follow.

If you are like most people, 20% of the things you do generate 80% of the results you desire.

Stated another way, 80% of the things you do are not essential, not successful, and possibly counterproductive.

• they do not contribute toward your long-term personal goals &
• they do not contribute toward your work goals.

You do many things. You do hundreds of different things...maybe even thousands.

You do things subconsciously and you do things out of habit. 

Sometimes you think about what you should do. More often, you do not. Your actions are mostly habits, some good, some bad.

Sometimes you think about what you should do then you do something quite different. When this happens, chances are good you are performing a bad habit. You know the 'right' thing to do to take you toward one of your goals but instead of doing that thing you choose to do something else that provides short-term gratification. For example, you know you should eat healthy foods but you eat that bag of chips or chocolate bar or fast-food burger because it tastes good. This battle between short-term urges and long-term goals is part of the human condition.

Most of the time, you do not think deeply about the action you take.

Rather, you act.

Most of the time you do not focus your attention on actions: you are not specific about actions; you do not clarify actions in advance; you do not select proven-successful actions as often as you should. And, you do not take the time to identify, celebrate, and repeat proven-successful actions. 

That's perfectly normal...it is the way the vast majority of people go about their day-to-day activity.

The vast majority of people perform far too many questionable actions:

• People perform far too many bad habits. 
• People underestimate the huge benefits that exist in proven-successful actions. 

This isn't criticism. This is good news.

It is good news because it confirms the huge upside we all face.

If we can increase the attention we pay to proven-successful actions and then repeat those actions a little more then we will dramatically increase the likelihood of achieving our desired long-term goals.

All of us can gain much by simplifying and organizing our actions.

Here are 5 suggestions on how that can be done...

Simplifying Your Actions

1. Identify the 20% of actions that generate 80% of your success toward your long-term goals.
2. Exercise some self-discipline and delay actions that satisfy near-term urges.
3. When you perform proven-successful actions celebrate your successes...even tiny ones.
4. Make a habit of repeating actions that are proven-successful in terms of your long-term goals.
5. Make a habit of repeating actions that are proven-successful in building positive relationships with other people.