How do you do it? When you have an overwhelming task or a swamped laundry list, how do you organize yourself to get things accomplished? Do you start with those who can more quickly be satisfied because they are done more quickly? Or, do you tackle the biggest list item first because it requires a lot of attention?
With enough hours on the clock, you can probably accomplish anything you set your mind to, so, anyway to want to handle it may be the right way… for you!
How do you do it? It’s almost like asking the question to someone who is overwhelmed with debt – what’s your plan to get it paid off and what’s your plan to not get trapped by debt again? One person says to pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first. Another says to pay off the smallest debt first and rally those freed dollars to attack the next higher debt amount more aggressively until all your dollars are focused on the debt with the highest interest rate or largest balance. Still, others say fold (bankruptcy) or cry uncle (get a debt consolidation loan), or go quietly in the night and create a new identity!
Any way will eventually get the job done if you keep yourself focused on the results. Task, time, talent, money, sticktoitiveness… One may cost you more money, and the other may cost you more time. Regardless, keeping your focus is important!
Pick a label,
peel the backing,
and apply it your style!
This is who you are!
At least, according to you
Only you can say what works best for you in your situation. Recently, I found these two descriptors of
The Beaver: you’ve probably heard the term “busy beaver” because these animals work tirelessly to provide comfort and shelter for themselves and their families. Beavers tend to work on their course in their spare time because they have so much going on, but working all the time can be exhausting, and they never make progress as quickly as they want to.
The Bowerbird: a lesser-known yet equally hard worker, the bowerbird lavishly builds a perfect nest to attract mates – going so far as to stage the nest in such a way that, when viewed from the right angle, the nest makes the bowerbird appear bigger and more perfect in the eyes of others. The Bowerbird type can’t stand the thought of putting out anything less than perfect, so they spend a lot of time getting things “just right”… without actually taking action.
So, are you a beaver or a bowerbird?
Both are working hard, but both will get tripped up on the path to success, for very different reasons. Knowing the needs, along with the personality trait, then it’s easy to help someone see the pitfalls of either style and find a better way of progressing forward.
As I prepare for later stages of life and living, I began to analyze: needs assessment, work style, desire, preparedness, and comfort zones. Then, I compared my list to my bride of nearly 45 years. We work similarly in some ways, but we each have needs that are different than the other, so, we work differently in other ways, and our comfort zones are uniquely us. We’ve been in this team position for a long time and have learned how to allow the other to have their own unique style and still keep pressing forward!
How do you join differences together into a cohesive team for a common goal? Opposite poles of a magnet can only get together when one, or both, are too weak to keep the other one at a distance. Does this mean one must be subservient to the other? That’s one way of looking at it. But if you have a common goal then one may have the greater strength and vision to achieve that future, so the other must relinquish control and authority to allow their future to arrive successfully!
Consider the thoughts from above. You may need to get out of debt, but both see the process differently. Who wins the pole position? You may want to accomplish some major tasks, but each has a viewpoint that one way is better than the other. Who gets to have it their own way? One may be a busy beaver, the other a bowerbird.
How do you work together?
Teachers always strive to get this child to get along with that child, but when a classroom of young people all have different interests, learning styles, and abilities, how do you corral them all together for a common goal?
Parents learn early on that each of their children (born or adopted) has needs that are unique to their own personality. How do you respond to one differently than the other and not offend anyone that that one gets special treatment?
Project teams, departments, governments… all struggle with this same idea. How do we get along together for the common future?
What’s your vision? Can you consolidate everyone to have the same vision?
What’s your goal? Can you put parameters on what that achievement will look like and to know when you’ve arrived?
What are your objectives? Tasks?
Do you even know what these words mean?
Perhaps the biggest hurdle is getting everyone on the same page of knowledge and understanding – I may know the word, but I sure need to understand what it means in light of how we will use it! Taking some needs assessments. Identifying parameters for the future achievement. Cooperation must be key to identify what that looks like – it cannot be “my way or the highway!” Resources? Timeframes? Barriers? Celebrate the wins, and strengthen against the losses that are sure to happen. Focus on the morale and realize everyone needs a morale boost along the way. How can we utilize insights to foster victory?
How do we work together as a team?
This is only the tip of the iceberg, as I think through this. I’ve managed teams, projects, departments and companies, but each time I approach this process I realize that each is different because the players are each unique and special.
We like to say, “There’s no “I” in TEAM” but not every team is cohesive enough to block out all of the “I’s” out there! This is not to say we must be inclusive. That’s become a PC (politically correct) ideology that everyone has a unique place on the team and must be recognized for their unique position. Imagine every sports team on every league…they do not cross over to any other sport unless their position or skills can be identified as part of the new sport.
Not everyone fits any team! When you choose participants for your team, then it's the choice that decides. If it's volunteers, well, you must change your philosophy a bit! Click To TweetMaybe it becomes, “What is it that we can achieve with the participants we are blessed with?” Not every team will become the next roaring success on the national field of play!
Here’s my thought for today. Jesus made a choice of the twelve he called to be his closest followers. Disciples. Chosen to be Students until such time they take on a role of their own to reach the world. Each had a unique personality and place on the team. There was even a failure among them! You know his name, right? Well, if truth be known, they were each a failure in their own way.
…Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled. (Matthew 26:56 NKJV)
Immediately you thought it was Judas, the betrayer! In reality, they each failed their assignment, including Peter. Just earlier in the evening, at the passover celebration, Jesus spoke, and Peter replied.
Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives. On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.” Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same.
(Matthew 26:30-35 NLT)
Every single one of them failed. But Jesus had setup the pathway to recovery. “I will meet you in Galilee after I have been raised from the dead.”
This brings me to my thought. How do you work with someone when they have a failure? You prepare in advance for the eventuality and know where the place and time of recovery will happen! Equally, you hope others see the same value of knowing how to reach the place and time of recovery for you! Why? Just as others will fail, you too are almost certain to be a failure in one way or the other.
The list is endless of failures that precedes the successes we know someone to be, but let me share a famous quote from Michael Jordan.
“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions, I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed,” he said.
Michael Jordan
Failures are only successes in the making! Unless you allow failures to take you out of the game of life. I’m just saying, I know I can make it to my goal as long as I keep getting back up from the failures I continually have in my life, reorienting myself to the future, and stay in play! You can to!