Simplify Your Life, Streamline Your Business
We don’t live in the Information Age; we live in the Information Overload Age.
There is simply too much information: too many interruptions, too many channels, too many emails for us to handle on a daily basis.
Ironically, when we have too many choices in life, our stress level goes up, because now we have the added stress of having to make the “right” choice!
I want you to write the following sentence in big letters, and put it by your desk where you’ll see it every day:
Simplify Your Life, Streamline Your Business
Let’s say you’re driving down the highway and decide you want something to eat. You see the golden arches and pull into a McDonald’s®.
You walk in and say you want a Big Mac®. Does the 17-year-old behind the counter say, “Ooh, how do we make a Big Mac® again?”
Sure, people at fast food chains mess up, but the reason they’re so successful is because they employ Systems that are both simple and streamlined.
How do we know it’s simple and streamlined? Because the result is the same no matter where in the world you go – and because it’s often the first job the people who work there have ever held. While you can argue the quality of food, it’s hard to argue with the success of such a streamlined operation.
The people, teams, departments, and organizations who haven’t streamlined their Systems are not operating at anywhere near their full potential.
You can do this for your life and you can certainly do this in your business.
Exercise: Installing Your Simplify System
1. What tasks am I doing now that would I like to delegate to someone else?
2. Who would I like to delegate those tasks to?
3. What is MY Win in the delegation?
4. What is THEIR Win?
5. What is the LARGER Win?
6. What actions can I take to delegate today more than I did yesterday?
You might say, “But Noah, I don’t have anyone to delegate to!” Yes, I’ve only heard that one a billion times, too.
For a long time, I didn’t have anyone to delegate to, either. For me, just getting through the 2,517 emails I get per day was a huge time-sucking activity, and it was killing my daily productivity.
Once I identified My Win, Their Win, and The Larger Win, I was finally able to delegate that task – and my productivity went through the roof.
I Win, You Win, The World Wins
Using my example of something as simple as email, I knew what task I wanted to delegate (Simplify Question 1). The problem was, I didn’t have anyone to delegate that task to (Simplify Question 2).
I knew that my Win would be that I’d get back many hours of my day that I’d been spending on useless emails (Simplify Question 3). It felt like hours of my day were being taken from me. In addition, I felt exhausted and angry after trying to get through all those emails. I know you understand this, because we’re all faced with tasks that drain our time and energy.
So my Win was obvious and clear. Then, I determined the other person’s Win (Simplify Question 4), even though I didn’t have anyone at the time. I simply realized that, with the task of email, my new assistant’s Win (whoever she was) would be: she’d get paid. Even before I found her, I determined that in receiving a good salary, she’d win.
Second, since I wouldn’t have to read all that junk email, I would genuinely appreciate her. I remembered that most people will do more for appreciation than for money – although in this case, she’d get both.
Finally, I identified the larger Win Simplify Question 5). Because my new assistant would be contributing to helping me be more productive and happier, she would also know that we’re now able to help more people and make a larger difference in the world.
Therefore, when I delegate a task as seemingly innocuous as email, my time is freed up, she gets the feeling of Significance and Contribution, and the world as a whole wins.
While you may think all this sounds rather grandiose, it works nonetheless. As a leader, you must communicate all 3 Wins to yourself and to your team.
It’s not other people’s responsibility to determine Their Win or the Larger Win. The Naturals of Success communicate all 3 Wins, whether they realize it or not. That’s why they have so much of the things that the rest of the world wants.
You don’t have to be a great public speaker or orator; but if you want to enjoy maximum wealth for minimum effort, you must understand and effectively communicate the 3 Wins not just to others, but also to yourself.
True wealth is much more than getting a bigger paycheck. While it’s fine to want and get more money, true wealth means helping more people, touching more lives, and improving the world. That’s why Simplifying Your Life and Streamlining Your Business – and installing all 5 Essential Systems of Support – will enable you to enjoy more wealth and happiness with far less effort.
[Ed. Note: Noah St. John is the inventor of Afformations and bestselling author of The Secret Code of Success: 7 Hidden Steps to More Wealth and Happiness. Stephen Covey says, “Noah’s Secret Code of Success is about discovering within ourselves what we should have known all along – we are truly powerful beings with unlimited potential.” Noah coaches conscious entrepreneurs on how to DO LESS and HAVE MORE. He’s appeared on CNN, ABC, NBC, in The Washington Post and PARADE Magazine. Get the first 3 chapters of Noah’s Secret Code of Success FREE at NoahStJohn.com]