At the Expense of Good...

I was recently watching an episode of Shark Tank. Shark Tank is a television show where billionaire entrepreneurs (“sharks”) allow inventors and small business owners pitch their products.  The successful entrepreneurs grill the show’s contestants and if they are interested enough they offer financial backing in return for a stake in their ventures. On a recent episode, I heard Mark Cuban, (self-made billionaire and owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks) say something that struck me as particularly profound. A married couple was presenting their product to the sharks. It was clear that after years of pursuit, their very innovative product had never gotten off the ground.  As the sharks grilled the entrepreneurs, as they usually do, the couple lamented all the various limitations associated with every possible distribution option they had explored. Finally, losing his patience, Mark Cuban said “It seems to me you are chasing perfection at the expense of good.”  I liked the way he put that. It spoke to my current personal agenda. 

As I get older, I have become keenly focused on spending my time wisely and deliberately on things that matter most.  This “return on investment” mindset keeps me thinking about priorities, urgency and a commitment to focusing my effort on my personal strengths and my longer-term goals.

Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence guru describes this focus in a recent Harvard Business Review Article titled the Focused Leader.  He refers to this focused mode of thinking as “cognitive control”. “Cognitive control” is the scientific term for putting one’s attention where one wants it and keeping it there in the face of the temptation to wander. This focus is one aspect of the brain’s executive function, which is located in the prefrontal cortex. A colloquial term for it is “willpower.”

When it comes to business leaders, according to Goleman, cognitive control enables executives to pursue a goal despite distractions and setbacks. The same neural circuitry that allows such a single-minded pursuit of goals also manages unruly emotions. Good cognitive control can be seen in people who stay calm in a crisis, tame their own agitation, and recover from a debacle or defeat.

Here are some questions you can use to keep your focus where it needs to be…

What is the payoff for this time I am spending?

When details slow me down... How important is this particular detail to my end result?  If I move forward and settle for this current level of “perfection” what are the risks or consequences?

When my curiosity pulls me down a rabbit hole…Is there something else I should be doing right now?

When I choose easy feel good tasks for motivation... Should I be doing this right now? Is there another time that might be better for this? Can I limit the amount of time I am devoting to this task?.

Is there someone else who could or should be doing this, with me or for me? Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should be doing it.

Who benefits from this time I am spending?  This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be generous. I am usually blessed to have enough flexibility in my schedule that I can afford to be generous with my time. I like to decide when and how much I can give and it’s a really great reward when time spent wisely frees me up to support the needs of others.

This is really about efficiency, productivity, and achievement.  Meaningful achievement! After all, we are all granted the same 24 hours in a day.  No matter how industrious, creative or sleep-deprived we choose to be, we still only get 24! How we fill those hours is completely up to us.

I used to like to say that my favorite word was “Perfect”.  Recently, I am favoring the word "Progress"!

imagecredit: todaymade.com