Staying off that yellow brick road!
The first of the two key elements in effectiveness, at least as I’m defining it, is knowing what we need to be doing. And this covers the full spectrum, from the purpose behind our work all the way down to the best use of our time on a given day.
As I’ve been working through this process, I’ve learned (at least) a couple of things about my biases and preferences in this regard. I tend to veer towards what I ‘should’ be doing and I seem to crave structure.
I realise these are two separate things but they are connected in a certain sense. And, they’re not always faults necessarily, depending on how flexible and aware I am at any given time.
Every now and again, it’s seems appealing to be able to present our situation to someone else and ask what we should be doing next. Almost like our desire to get a prescribed medicine when we visit our doctor. We’re hoping that our own ‘yellow brick road‘ will be revealed ahead of us.
And that’s where I find myself on questions of making a successful business more successful, of making valuable offerings more valuable and available to more people, of delighting happy clients in a new and unexpected way. Maybe it’s time to suspend the urge to think about what I ‘should’ be doing and to leave the goals and project plans aside for a while? Maybe it’s time to pause, and listen, to both my valued clients and to my own instincts?
Maybe this dilemma is relevant only to me or maybe you also recognise your own situation as you read this. What I’m thinking now is how I want to avoid any road lined with yellow bricks and how I might be better paving my own path.