Executive coaches often ask their clients, “what are you tolerating?” Clients make lists of little annoyances such as a stapler that doesn’t work right; things that are certainly annoying in the moment, but don’t really seem important in the larger scheme of things. So they’re irritations that hang around, subtly causing stress.
It makes sense to create lists of what you want and don’t want so you can pursue the former and eliminate the latter. But that list of stuff that just bugs you is important too. Like a dripping faucet, each of those items saps some of your energy and productivity.
When you write them down on paper, you bring them to your consciousness, to a level where you’ve decided to do something about them. Then, most of them become easily knocked off items on your to do list. Try it. Sometimes little improvements in your daily work environment can have a great impact.
Everyone of those little things takes a few seconds away from something I might be doing, thinking, working on. For some silly reason, we don't think that we're work the right tools. . . . Once we get though, boy, can our work sing.
Posted by: Liz Strauss | June 5, 2006 12:43 PM | Permalink to Comment