Being effective is a personal choice
Tanmay Vora
Being effective is a personal choice. You cannot make someone effective by just documenting his/her role and responsibilities. It has a lot to do with personal choice. You can only be effective when you choose to be effective. If spending 8-9 hours in office meant being effective, world would have been a different place – isn’t it?
A few things I have learnt on being effective:
- When you choose to be effective, you steer your priorities. When you just flow along, your priorities steer you. If you are a leader/manager, being effective is not optional.
- Being effective does not mean getting glued to your desk for 8 hours. Being effective means being with your task when you are doing it. This means avoiding all possible distractions when you are with your task.
- A good performance is a series of small tasks done very effectively.
- You can only be effective if you love your work. Work is love made visible. Anyone who treats work as means to an end (getting a paycheck at the end of month) cannot be very effective.
- Being effective means maintaining a fine balance between work and your other interests. You cannot be effective and burning out at the same time.
- Effectiveness means saying no to a few things namely: distractions, people (at times), urge to check emails every 5 minutes, phone calls (at times), Twitter, Facebook, Messengers and stock updates. Do all of this at leisure, but not when on a critical task which demands your full attention.
On a lighter note, effectiveness has something to do with timing. Ever seen someone being ultra-effective when appraisals are near 🙂
So let me ask you this – When you get into the office each morning, what choices do you make about the way you will do your work? Do you choose to be effective?
Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend ahead!
P.S. : “7 Habits of Highly Effective Peoiple” by Stephen Covey is a must read for every worker, manager and leader.
Image Courtesy: IdeaMaps Flickr Photostream
Hi Tanmay, I agree with you on Effectiveness is personal choice. Once’s personal willnesss and willpower can make impossible things possible.
Keep sharing your thoughts.
Hi Niraj, Thanks for your comment. Yes, human efforts cannot be mechanized by static roles and responsibilities. We are complex humans who still do things with lot of discretion. One has to choose to be effective.
Keep writing in.
Hi Tanmay,
Absolutely, being effective or ineffective – is a personal choice.
Regarding the PS: I recommend reading Principle Centric Leadership – a great book from Stephen Covey (after you have read Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) which throws more light on this subject.
Regards,
Utpal
Thanks Utpal, I will check that book out. I really admire Stephen Covey – have read few of his books and that has shaped up a lot of my thinking earlier in my career.
Same here. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Book transformed me 5 years ago and I achieved next level of my thinking after reading it over and over.
Hats off to Stephen Covey for his contribution in our lives.
Thats great Utpal – I have a few more books of Covey which I can share with you, one of them being “Living the 7 Habits”. It is a collection of stories on how 7 Habits impacted lives of people.
Sure, Tanmay. I look forward to it.
Hey Tanmay,
Its Really effective !!
@Amit – Thanks!