Greg's Right FIT #457

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Strengths
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Strengths

• The I in my FIT tool is Individual strengths. Consciously using them, you'll get more done in less time. Before you go home today, take the VIA Character Strengths Test. 
• The best way to put our strengths to work is self-talk. Ask “how can I use [strength] to get [task] done?” It puts your brain to work while you do other things.
• Managers can use this by asking their team, "How will you use your strengths to get this task done?" instead of looking for the rare person who enjoys doing the task. 
• No matter how elegant the tactic or technique, if it doesn't feel right to you, it won't get done. Your best way of completing a task is your best way. Stick with your strengths.

Being Human - Competing priorities

"Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things." – Peter Drucker

This week I got to dust off an old prioritization tool. I showed it to a group of managers facing a long list of competing priorities. At first blush this tool looks like more work than the list itself, but when used correctly, it helps us attack tasks feeling invigorated, in control, and confident of progress. The basic idea is when you have a long list of items that you need to accomplish, focus on what you think are the highest gain activities.

But they're all important, Greg.

I know, I know, this is yet one more "simple, but not easy" solution to a common problem from my trusty tool box.

This tool helps us tease out what we think is the highest gain activity. It focuses us on the potential outcome compared to the company's goals, and contrasts against effort. The tool lets us focus 1/3 of our energy on 2-3 activities that will get us to 80% of where we need to be.

How to start

The first step is to list all tasks/events competing for your attention. Using freewriting and concentrated effort, give it 20 minutes of uninterrupted thought.

The second step is to use a single set of criteria to score the list of items against each other. An easy one is OPQRS: Opportunity, Pragmatic, Quick, Rewarding, and Success. Quick definitions.

Opportunity is scoring the capability to do the task. Use a scale of 1-10. If you have all the tools needed at your disposal, give it an 8 or 9 or 10. If you're missing key pieces, give it a 2, 3 or 4. (It's common to end up with most lumped into the 6 or 7 range.)

Pragmatic is scoring how realistic the priority is to actually work. "Should work" or "it worked for others" is a low score. "Been there done that" is a 7, 8, or 9. 

Quick is scoring how quickly the results will show up. Faster is a higher score. 

Rewarding is scoring how personally rewarding you or your team will find the task. It’s not uncommon to score a priority low on the Opportunity rank, but high in Rewarding. (FIT says we're more likely to do tasks we find rewarding)

Success is scoring how likely the task is to get the results you need. The success score sits apart from the other four because gut feel shows up here. If you have a gut feel it's going to be important, score it high. If you're not sure, score low. 

Work the grid

The temptation is to work each task across the grid. Instead, work each column/criteria at once. This let's you score the tasks against one another, leading to a better result. After scoring each task, add up the columns and consider the scores. Your grid should roughly look like this:

I pick a short list of marketing tactics for my example. The scoring of tasks against each other makes the exercise go fast. In my example, the tasks that rise to the top are a new booklet, testimonials, and a book proposal. A mix of things I find rewarding/easy to do, and something I don't like to do, but I know will get me closer to my goal (asking for testimonials).

In roughly 30 minutes, the managers have a guide they can use to prioritize their focus for the next 30 days. It lets them use their strengths, it gets activity started, and it builds momentum. 

Good stuff. 
 

Random Stuff

"I work out of my home, I have no staff, I have no offices. My den, my office, is 20 feet from my bedroom. Sometimes I hit traffic." 
– Alan Weiss

I've told you about one of my rules of three. When I get the same suggestion from 3 unrelated sources, I try to take the advice. It can be as innocuous as a song, or as risky as committing to a long-term relationship. I don't believe in signs, per se, but I submit to the wisdom of the crowd. 

The latest regards my home office. I have plans to make a little building out back to serve as my office. It's a little obsession. I read about framing, and about heating/cooling. I studied the land, watched the sun, and made drawings. I have quotes for materials and labor, and started designing the interior. I even made a little nook and added a porch for the pooch. It's pretty great.

Why isn't it built you ask? Good question. It's a project and a kind of unnecessary one at that. Most days it's just me and the dog padding around the house. If we ever move, who would want a fancy writer's shed? Does it need to be a simpler structure? Most important, I have no idea if it will make me more productive. 

This is where the three suggestions come in. It started with the writer Robert Caro. He must have a new book coming out because he's doing interviews. In one, he has a picture of his simple writer's shed in the Hamptons. I think, aha! but as I read more, he actually does most of his writing in a sparse office in Manhattan that he commutes to.

Next, I heard an interview with musician Johnny Marr. In it, he says he moved out of his home studio to one he commutes to. His reasoning is it helps him separate physically from working, and although he never stops thinking about music, he gets more done commuting daily to his remote office. 

The third is sparked by the return to office policies being implemented by Amazon and others. It's all over the news. I'm reading the pros and cons and other hot takes when news of a friend's co-working office space. The article details their latest fund raise and expansion. It reminds me that when I toured his office, I made a few contacts. One of those led to a new project. 

That's three. Sorry, Wilson the ABC, your new favorite afternoon spot on the patio is put on hold again. 

PS - has there ever been a better pop song written about losing a cat?  Old 97s "Murder (or a Heart Attack)"

PPS - remember my ill-advised toilet paper adventure? I can report it takes one man approximately 200 days to go through 48 rolls of sandpaper, er, toilet paper. Yep. Half a year.