It’s a great way to start the day. “Today I’m going to be effective.” It’s first thing in the morning, no new emails, no phone calls and you are ready to go. Next thing you know it’s six or seven or eight p.m. and what have you done? Answer, exactly the same as yesterday and the day before. Why? When you started you were so full of good intentions, you were going to be an effectiveness god.
The truth of course is that it doesn’t work like that. I’m writing this at seven a.m. and I could easily say that today, once I have finished this blog then I’m going to run a marathon. I can assure you that no matter how well intentioned I am at the moment then by the end of the day I will not have run that marathon. In fact, if I try to go from zero to hero in one mighty leap then I’m probably going to do more harm than good. It’s the same with effectiveness.
Muscle memory is a fabulous thing. If you want to run a marathon then start by running to the end of the street and then gradually build up, day by day. Effectiveness is the same. Back in March I decided I wanted to adjust the direction of my business. I had a new objective. Part of achieving that objective is that I need to communicate the effectiveness message to more people.
Two of the methods I chose were the blog and a book. In the past I have written both blogs and books but not effectively. Now, six months on, I have got myself into an effective way of doing both. Every morning before I do anything else, I write the blog and then 500 words for the book. Result, there are now over 100 blogs which have been read by several thousand people and the book is approaching completion. Writing the blog and the 500 words are now muscle memory – they get done before everything else. The writing is now effective.
I can now move onto the next stage of effectively moving toward my objective.
Effectiveness is not something you do; it is something you become. I still have a long way to go but a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step not a marathon. Today you will not become effective, and neither will your organisation, but you can take the first step.
Will you join me on the journey?
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