What To Do vs. What NOT To Do
by Stanley Bronstein on September 7, 2008Deciding What To Do Is Easy
Deciding What Not To Do Is The Hard Part
(Author Unknown)
What Is The Nature of the Problem?
Deciding what NOT to do is a problem I have encountered while working with clients over and over in their personal lives and business careers. Sometimes, I have even encountered this problem in my own life or career.
Working on the wrong things is a problem because it forces us to focus our energies and our time in the wrong areas. By focusing our energies and our time on things that should not be done, we have less energy and time available to focus in the right areas.
A Question For You?
Have you ever started on a project or taken on a job/client who turned out to be a total waste of energy and time?
_____ Yes _____ No
My Answer To That Question
I know I have wasted too much energy and too much time on bad jobs or bad clients on way too many occasions. By their very nature, working on things you should not do often take more energy and time than the things you should do. For example, I would have to spend twice as much energy and time preparing a will for a client than I would have to spend on preparing a real estate contract for that client. That is because I am rarely asked to prepare wills, but I am constantly asked to prepare real estate contracts. Quite simply, I’m better at preparing real estate contracts than I am wills.
Consequently, as I have grown older, wiser and more experienced, I have chosen to not prepare wills for any clients. Instead, I routinely refer these potential clients to one or more competent estate planning attorneys who prepare wills all the time. You must learn to do the same type of thing if you are going to be successful in your life and in your career. If it’s an area in which you’re focused, go ahead and take on the task. if it’s in an area that’s outside of your focus, let it go. Other opportunities will come your way to take its place.
A Homework Assignment For You
PLEASE EITHER PRINT OUT THIS ARTICLE OR TAKE OUT A BLANK SHEET OF PAPER. TAKE A FEW MINUTES AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW
List five things you are good at and that you should focus upon in your life and in your career.
1. __________________________________________
2. __________________________________________
3. __________________________________________
4. __________________________________________
5. __________________________________________
Now, list five things you are currently doing that you are not so good at that you should consider eliminating from your life and from your career in order to free up more energy and time.
1. __________________________________________
2. __________________________________________
3. __________________________________________
4. __________________________________________
5. __________________________________________
I am suggesting that you STRONGLY consider eliminating these energy and time wasters from your life and from your career. I know I have done that to a large extent in my life and I intend to keep narrowing my focus onto the good things more and more as time goes on.
Until next time, take care, my dear friends.Mr. Achievement
Stanley F. Bronstein
Attorney & CPA
September 7th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Thanks for the tips. Stumbled.
September 7th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Wow, does this post resonate! I’ve just spent 4 months working with a new client that was a total energy/time drain. My situation is a bit different, however - the experience was an important updating of my skills in key areas, which I can now leverage with new clients.
At the same time, I would never work with this client again, so the effort spent cultivating future/repeat business [from him] will not pay off. Overall the experience was worthwhile - but it did take a persona and professional toll.
If the bottom line is whether or not it was worthwhile in the long run, it was… but just barely. I suppose my lessons are a.) the importance of good, accurate instincts & foresight and b.) having the openness and personal fortitude to learn and grow in difficult situations - ones which may not pay off financially but do pay off in other ways.
September 7th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Charlie:
I wrote this post based upon business experiences I’ve had. FORTUNATELY, I’ve reach the point in my career where I’ve gotten MUCH MORE selective (but unfortunately not PERFECT selective).
It avoids lot of major hassles.
There are simply some types of work engagements I will no longer take on because I know there is a 50% chance they will turn out to be a LOT more trouble than they were worth.
Stanley Bronstein
MrAchievement