On not In
This month I want you to think about areas of your life where working “on not in” will help you to design the life that you desire rather than just making a living and making ends meet.
To explain the principle I want to use a business analogy to get you to think about how you might improve certain aspects of your life. The concept is that we should work “on” our businesses rather than “in” our businesses. I first heard about this on a coaching programme that I was on, being facilitated by the Michael Gerber Institute author of the E-Myth. We started by getting a vision for the company and devising procedures to systemise the main functions of the business. By working diligently over a number of years and sticking to the task even when it was proving difficult, I was able to get to a stage where my business more or less ran itself.
By working on strategy, structure and leadership rather than trying to do everything ourselves as owners eventually we should be able to stop working in the business. This means having a plan, putting in systems, training employees to do things rather than doing them yourself.
The advice to work smarter rather than harder is all too familiar. This is easier said than done if you don’t know what working smarter is all about. Even when we are aware of what it takes to work smarter, unfortunately human nature means that we don’t always do what we know. Well this ON not IN paradigm shift is one that can mean tremendous benefit for us all.
Let me give you an example taken from my home life. We have a vision where our three boys are able to carry out their domestic chores, take care of themselves when they leave home and are able to cook. Only one of them has reached teenage years the other two are not yet 12 but this has not stopped us working up a plan.
So we had the vision, the next step was the plan and then the implementation. Our plan was to get the boys to cook every Monday and to add to that you will find that if I am in kitchen cooking so are the boys (although that is not as often as it could be). In the early days it wasn’t all fun it used to take much longer to get teach them than cooking ourselves and there have been a few burnt pots, messy kitchens and meals that were not that nice. The process of learning takes time but the rewards are worth it. By working ON rather than IN we now see the benefits. In fact there have been times, when mum is not there in particular, that not only have they prepared their own dinner but they have done mine as well and the kitchen is left spotless whilst I have been able to steal a couple of hours in the office.
So can you work ON your marriage rather than IN your marriage? Can you start thinking about other areas of your life where this principle will have far reaching benefits?
Do you have a vision statement for your family for example, core values and a strategic plan that you have all bought into. It may sound a little over the top but if we take the principle through to its logical conclusion why wouldn’t we have.
Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits for Highly Effective Families explains the concept well. Get it. Read it. Implement it.
Until next month.
