That One Act Could Make The Difference

Recently, on an episode of Antiques Roadshow, a man brought a set of five strange looking cups for appraisal. They turned out to be worth over one million dollars!

While most of us don't have such treasures stored in our closets, we do have a thought, plan or idea that could make a major difference in the success of our work, relationships or our personal well being. When we are so busy juggling elephants, however, we don't take the time to make such things a part of our lineup. We bury them under crises, mundane tasks and the mantra of "I'm just trying to keep up." Who knows what might change if we did take the time to grow one of these ideas to reality?

Today make it a priority to bring one of those buried but valuable acts into your lineup. The results might be more than you ever imagined.

Forcing Prioritization

A popular activity with youth and adult leadership programs over the years is to give each participant some amount of "money" and they are to "buy" the virtues or qualities they deem most important for themselves. Then the participants are asked to develop action plans on how they can emulate these virtues or qualities in their leadership roles-or develop them more thoroughly.

What if we took a twist on that activity and focused on priorities? Start by listing all your priorities for today. No ranking... just list them. You now have $100 to spend on accomplishing these priorities. Which ones would get the most "money?" Which ones would get the least?

Once you have this prioritized list in hand, think about your day. Are you setting up your schedule and activities to actually accomplish these most important priorities, or are you wasting much of your "money" (time and energy) on items you said weren't worth as much? The ROI (return on investment) for this activity might be huge.

Purpose Without A Lineup is Useless

I was astounded to read of the innovations made by companies like Nike, Reebok and other gear companies in preparation for the Summer Olympics. They included things like:

• Replacing a shoe's heavy structural materials with support threads (think steel cables on a suspension bridge).
• Swimsuits that compress a swimmer's body at key points to reduce "form drag," making the swimmer smaller and faster.
• Zoned venting in certain athlete's outfits
• Adjustable screw in spurs that can be raised or lowered on an equestrian's boots. (It reduces about 4 pounds of weight per boot)

A call out quote on the last page of the article caught my attention. It read, "Innovation isn't helpful unless it's tied to a powerful company that drives it somewhere." A Juggling Elephants application of that quote might be Purpose isn't helpful unless it's tied to a lineup that drives it somewhere.

We can clearly identify our purpose and create all kinds of value statements or desired outcomes, but if we don't create a disciplined plan of action that carries it out, we are fooling ourselves. Nike, Reebok and other companies know that for the athletes to win using their gear, they have to expend every possible resource to help make it happen. Does your lineup reflect a desire to have some "winning moments" in the coming days?

Read the entire article in Fast Company.