Turbo Leadership Systems^™

Today put the toughest task on top of your todo list.

Charlie, project manager for a major construction company, told Session 7B of the Leadership Development Lab:

"When I received my 5X (5 times more enthusiasm) assignment at Session 3 of the Leadership Development Lab, I knew immediately where I needed to apply extra concentrated effort, and energy. I knew where I needed to apply 5 times my normal enthusiasm to accomplish a nagging task that had been pushed to the bottom of the pile far too many times. Truth be told, over the past four weeks I have averaged about 1.5X extra enthusiasm because I continued to push this nagging item to the back burner. This past week when I finally focused 5X more enthusiasm on this needed to be completed project, happily even in the one-week period, I was able to make considerable progress. The nagging item I'm referring to is collecting the remaining $50K or so in retention that had been held by the owner on a long ago completed project. In order to collect the final retention, I had to wrap up some loose ends on the punch list, and get final lien waivers from a few straggler subcontractors. It sounds simple enough, and when I finally got around to addressing the open items, fully focusing on what needed to be done, where to start, it really wasn’t as daunting, complicated or difficult as I had made it seem. The problem was that as time passed, my project grew (in my mind) to something so overwhelming I didn't even want to think about it. I'm happy to report that I've now processed the final lien release form for the owner, obtained the necessary "Consent of Surety" and now just need to verify the amount owed with our accounting department and get the documents over to the owner. We will have full payment within 30 days.

"The lesson I learned from this experience is that the longer I wait to accomplish these tedious, necessary tasks, the larger they loom in my mind. I had constructed a mountain out of a simple mole hill. The action I call you to take is to look at the things you need to do each day, prioritize them in order of those you least want to tackle, and then attack the tough stuff with true enthusiasm. The benefit you'll gain is that you'll accomplish the necessary tasks in a timely manner before they grow into a seemingly insurmountable problem. You'll feel great."

Well, what about you? What are you putting off, what are you conveniently pushing to the bottom of the pile? What have you decided you don’t have time to do? Maybe you just don’t know where to start. What are you kidding yourself about by saying you have projects of greater importance that are pressing in for your time? The starting place for accomplishing these tasks which have been dogging us for weeks, months, or in some cases years, is to admit that their achievement is important. Then generate the courage to take the first step. My experience in listening to hundreds of these reports is that the longer you wait, the more daunting the tasks become, the more difficult it is to take that first step. Once the first step has been taken, the second step is easier, the third step even easier. Before you know it, momentum takes over, and you have accomplished the task in far less time than you’d imagined it would take. The sense of accomplishment and achievement is hard to place a price on, so get started today!

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