In the Power Points section of the Report on Business in the Globe & Mail, there was a brief column on focusing on the things you can control.
The article went on to say that Michael Kerr, an Alberta-based consultant, told the story of a client who had a whiteboard in his office with just two lists. One contained the things he could control; the other list contained the things he couldn’t control.
The theory was to focus on the things you can control and try not to spend time on those that are out of your control — things like your office mate’s ugly ties, the fact that you don’t have a window in your office, etc.
It reminded me of when I first started consulting with CPP Investment Board back in 2005 (so many years ago!). A colleague had a white board in her office that listed all of the open positions she had to fill…and it was a quite a daunting list (at least it looked at that way at the time; who knew how much more that company would grow?). As soon as she filled one role, she erased it from the board and replaced it with a new open requisition.
Well, I thought it was a good idea and so I requested a white board of my own. But I found it depressing to always look up at the board and see all those roles that had to be filled. It felt like taking two steps forward and one back.
What did I do?
Well, I listed all the roles I needed to fill but, rather than erase them when I filled them, I left them there but crossed them out. When I looked at the board, I was able to see all the work that I had done — not just what needed to be done going forward. It was a constant reminder of the successes we had enjoyed rather than the long road we still had to go. Hiring managers loved to come into my office and see how many of their roles we had filled and how much their teams had grown.
Of course, over time, as the company grew and my open requisitions went from a dozen to two dozen to three dozen and more, I had to rethink my white board. But I never lost sight of the work that had been done.
It’s important to break down big projects or tasks into steps where you can celebrate your successes along the way…where you can how far you’ve come….where you can see all that you’ve accomplished.
And don’t forget to celebrate those successes along the way! Way to go!
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