An article by Peter O'Brien (Victoria)

Over the last two years I have been working on three very large projects and I can tell you that I have spent hours and hours and days, weeks, months working on planning, setting up structures, documenting processes, due-diligence reporting and the list goes on and on forever and forever.  This has been a non-revenue producing task that has significantly affected my income over the period of time and has cost me a few opportunities that I have regrettably had to turn down because of the limited time I have left myself after slaving away on what sometimes has been an administrative nightmare.

 

Have I tackled this project work the right way?  Probably not! However the projects and the journey along the way have had a huge impact on me personally and now is important to me not only on a business level but more so on an emotional spiritual level. Which are words that I have never used to describe anything in my life before? So,… yes… it has had an effect on me!

 

It would certainly not be the way I would recommend and set guidelines and projections to a client if I was to offer my Consultation Services for a situation that mirrors what I am doing with my projects. I am like a Builder with the worst house in the street at the moment. I have spent so much time on items that are not important. So much time on low priority tasks and procrastinated with tasks that are labelled high to urgent priority.  There have been many times throughout these couple of years that I have had to shake myself and re-focus.

 

I have been known to spend a number of hours on selecting a font and font style for a document. Absolute waste of time!  I shudder every time I think about it. Why do I do this? Is it because of my determination to make sure whatever I am working on is the best I can do at the time, or because I get obsessed with consistency of products, services, materials, and processes? While I am confessing my sins, another ridiculous exercise that I can tell you that I have been guilty of is changing a template. You are probably thinking that updating a template is not a bad thing to do from time to time?? But I have done it not once or twice, but every single time I open it to send it to a client!  What is a Template for? To save us time, to provide consistency of policies and documentation, to create awareness about the content that we send out to our clients, etc etc etc…  It is not to be changed all the time, if it was it would not be a template it would be a letter!!!!! 

 

One of the most important recommendations that I include in most of my business consulting services is suggestions on how time could be utilised in a more efficient way. After I have spent time with an organisation, generally there will be certain tasks that someone in the team is responsible to complete that are costing the business time, money and efficiency. It could be a task that takes John from accounts 4 hours to complete when Jane at reception could complete it in 1 hour because she knows the system better!!  I have to constantly remind myself of this advice I share with my clients. Before taking on a project I always ask myself if I am the best person in my organisation to complete this work or will someone else be faster or have a better skill set then I do with this type of project?

 

Life is precious. We should always be conscious of our time, so we can devote more of us to the people we love doing the things that make us happy.  Make it a golden rule to ask yourself if the new task you are about to start, is a good use of your time? Or, is there someone else much more suitable to complete this task? Ask yourself if the tasks need doing at all!!!!  And the time saver that I have implemented in every job I have had is not to touch things twice! Touch it, do it, complete it, file it! This is a procedure that I still do today with almost every task I attend to.  You will be surprised of how much time you will save to spend on more important tasks, and remember there is a difference between striving for excellence and striving for perfection. The first is attainable, gratifying, and healthy.

 

Striving for perfection that is unattainable is frustrating.