Making Things Easier

This morning was a fiasco. I had overslept by about 20 minutes. My youngest daughter woke up cranky, not liking her outfit, her hair and not knowing what she wanted to eat. It didn’t help that everything I was planning on wearing was dirty - literally. I couldn’t find underwear, an undershirt and forgot that most of my favorite shirts were at the cleaners due to the travel schedule I have been keeping.

We were late, we were cranky and we began using tones that rarely visit our home. This process turned our happy son into a crank pot by the time we were getting into the car for school. It was one of those mornings where you chuckle as you let the kids off of school with the happy tone of “have a nice day!”

As I was driving off I shook my head and wondered why our morning turned out the way it did. I mean, where was the leadership?

If I could do it over again I would have:

1. Gone to bed on time vs. watching the end of a movie that wasn’t worth watching.
2. Woken up on time.
3. Picked out my clothing the night before - usually takes me 2 minutes max.
4. Had my daughter’s clothes picked out.
5. Got downstairs earlier to have breakfast served.
6. Maybe a little bit of morning music to make our family atmosphere a bit more jovial.
7. Sent my kids off with cheer versus a scowl of disdain.

As simple as this seems, I realized that one thing throws another thing off. If you handle one small area well it will impact the next.

These same rules apply to our work. Think about it: pushing the things off you don’t want to do makes those things bigger than they need to be. That process then affects the next project and throws you off schedule. When that happens your capacity is lowered and the next person that asks for help usually receives a tone of disgust and stress. It wasn’t there fault, was it?

If you want to live an easier life I suggest setting yourself up for success by doing the things that are right in front of you. Plan for the next day before you leave work. Take care of the little details that would make your processes smoother.

Make a list of your daily activities. Make them more efficient and I believe you will find things click along a little smoother.

Posted on February 12, 2009 in Personal Growth