What would it be like to have a perfect system for managing your time and tasks? Though it seems to make sense to want the best, most complete, and completely fool-proof Effectiveness System, it is a big mistake to try. Here are the reasons.
First, the perfect system is elusive. That’s because a) “perfect” is a slippery concept to define, b) the more we refine a system, the more complex it gets, the longer it takes to use the system day-to-day, and c) even if we could create the perfect system, we would almost instantly look and find yet another improvement to make.
Second, time spent tweaking or rebuilding our system is time not spent on our work or play. Trying to use our systems perfectly gets us worked up when the goal should be to have more ease.
Third, the effort we put into perfecting our system or just working harder are often attempts to feel better through action. If we feel bad, say, because we think we have too much to do, action may distract or exhaust us. But it won’t take away the bad feeling. Far better to feel good, then act.
Your Effectiveness Systems need not be perfect. Nor do you need to run your system perfectly. A half-good system run half-well is better than no system at all. And it’s better than diverting your time and energy building the perfect system or making yourself use the system perfectly. Good enough is so much better than perfect here.
In your corner,
Mike
Today’s photo credit: ChaoticMind75 via photopin cc