Make A To-Don’t List
If you’re a list-maker like me, you’ve got a page (or two) nearby of things to get done today, this week or even this year. And it feels awfully good to see lots of items checked off the list as you go through the day, especially the big or tough tasks.
Lists help us prioritize our schedules, our attention and can truly help us get things done in a timely fashion.
But, and you knew there was going to be a but, are the items you listed really the most important things for you to focus on as a manager?
Businessweek authors G. Michael Maddock and Raphael Louis Viton suggest that you should make a “to-don’t” list , one that forces you to focus on the essential, not just the important.
They recommend that you start your next management meeting by discussing the things you are no longer going to do. For example, you’re not going to raise your own replacement heifers. Or you’re not going to grow small grains any longer, but focus on forages.
Once you have determined what should go on the "stop-doing" list, you've created an opportunity to focus on the five or six core initiatives that really matter.
Their rationale makes a lot of sense to me, and offers a good lesson for dealing with current conditions affecting agriculture and your individual businesses.
“The best leaders have come to understand that the likelihood of market success is closely tied to how well they focus their teams' attentions,” note Maddock and Viton. “You don't want your big brains jumping from little challenge to little challenge. You want them laser-focused on the biggest challenges, the biggest opportunities, the most important company issues.”
We are faced with an almost overwhelming plethora of challenges and issues in agriculture. I submit that the advice of Maddock and Viton makes an awfully good New Year’s resolution, if you’re into that kind of thing, or at least a new direction to try if you’re not a resolution maker.
If you do decide to give it a whirl, let me know how it works for you. I’d really like to hear about your experience.
Meanwhile, let me wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. You see, sending out Christmas cards is still on my to-do list and this may be the way I actually accomplish sending my greetings this year.
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