The BOLD (No Tolerance)
Every day, we tolerate irritating situations, broken objects, and clunky systems. Sometimes, these daily items become so familiar that we forget just how much these little islands of dysfunction cost us in peace, function and time.
What are you tolerating? Have you calculated the cost and made a decision to tolerate or is your participation more surrender, avoidance, or distraction?
Address the broken, shut off the hum of distraction and dismiss the battle. Let’s look at the little investments that can have big pay-offs.
The Whisper (All Margin)
The door to my office had developed a strange little idiosyncrasy. In order to engage the lock, I had to pull the doorknob up two times until I heard and felt the click of the closure mechanism catching. It is critical that the door remains closed—I have cats and I have a habit of leaving a glass of water by my workspace. Sometimes there is artwork drying on my art desk. Cat paw prints do not generally enhance art. Water definitely doesn’t enhance the performance of a laptop.
How long had I been tolerating this situation? Far too long. Over the weekend, I did a quick calculation and realized that the extra time and irritation I invested in closing the door EVERY SINGLE TIME far outweighed the time and trouble to retrieve the tool kit and fix the hinges so that the door lined up properly.
What’s Wrong With Now?
It’s this simple. Somewhere in your life, there is something that needs to be repaired, refined or replaced. It is a little something but the drag it is creating is having an impact, whether you are aware of it or not.
Irritation breeds avoidance. If you don’t like the experience, you won’t want to repeat it.
Irritation saps energy. You can feel your enthusiasm wane as you contemplate the broken item and begin to fret over the cost of its replacement.
Irritation impacts your ability to function. Having an unpleasant encounter with a dysfunctional item can sour your mood and, in turn, impair your ability to focus fully on other things.
Our brains are designed in such a way that these little open loops will capture our attention and divide our focus. How are you going to design a clear way forward when you are distracted by the irritations you are tolerating?
The answer to this annoyance that you have taught yourself to tolerate is to fix it. Sooner rather than later. Now. Invest the time now to make the experience better next time and over time.
Here’s a list of potential irritants to help bring to mind the thing that you will address. It might be:
- A squeak, rattle or other irritating noise that happens when you drive. It might be the way your keys bump into each other. It might be that the garage door opener isn’t seated properly on your visor. A screw might need to be screwed.
- The ink-less pen in your bag or on your desk. You know—this is the pen that you’ve tried to use about 761 times and it has never delivered a line of ink to your paper. It is also the pen that you have, in a frustrated rush, jammed back into place every time because the trash can was too far away. (bonus hint—do you need a trash can closer to that location?)
- The untimely email that shows up each week bringing you greetings from the hotel that you visit every December. Greetings from your December destination are not welcome in April, are they? However, it seems like too much of an effort to hit click 4 times to add a rule to automatically file the email before you see it.
- The evaporating printer ink that you shake to get just a few more pages printed because you know there’s no back up in the cabinet.
- The loose brick on the front steps waiting to waylay the next hapless delivery person
- The frayed windshield wiper that needs to be replaced but that you only notice when it is raining.
- The prickly weed next to the mailbox that is threatening to become the man-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors. For that matter, Virginia creeper. Anywhere.
Opportunities Abound
What would happen if you decided that every day for the next week you will address one of these pirates of peace? Fix something. Create a smoother process. Sharpen a kitchen knife, move the trashcan closer or put up a hook for your keys by the door. Set up a today folder for your work. Set up a spreadsheet to track that key business metric. Fix or replace the desk chair that threatens to dump you on the floor if you don’t approach it just so.
A small investment of creative planning and purposeful action now pays big dividends in time.
One way of ensuring that you are making these investments is to schedule a “Process Improvement” appointment with yourself. Open your calendar, scan your commitments and carve out 15, 30 or 90 minutes of time to address the slowly unfolding crisis of a peace pirate.
Invest your attention, time and effort to reduce drag, frustration,
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