Tips to Stop the Insanity

Whether you believe the genius spoke those words or not, it is without doubt, a genius thing to say.  Luckily it does not take a genius to follow his advice.  In fact, we have some helpful tips to recognize the insanity and put a stop to it.

You are working incredibly hard, investing a tremendous amount of energy, and sacrificing a lot to be successful.  This focus and determination is absolutely necessary to be successful.   While necessary, this focus and determination can create opportunities.  Perhaps we make something harder than it has to be or spending too much time getting something just right.  No matter what it is, we have all been there.  This is why it is important to keep this quote somewhere in the workplace.  Let’s make that the first tip:

1. Put Einstein’s Genius to work for you:  Put this quote somewhere you can see it regularly.  I set an appointment up in my calendar to notify me every few days with the picture above.  Every time you get the reminder just stop and ask yourself, “Is there a better way to do this?”.
2. Know the Result:  In our previous article, 3-tips-to-get-organized, we outlined the importance of results, but with the speed of business today it is more important than ever to measure what you are getting out of your investment.  Part of the insanity of being a business owner is that you do a lot that is very hard to measure.  This means you may be doing the same thing over and over and without ever knowing the result, that sounds like insanity too.
3. Measure your results in TIME:  We can generate many resources, but time is not one of them.  This is the first step to stopping the crazy train.  Measure all the intangibles against how much time it takes you to do it.  You know what you’re time is worth.   If the focus of your attention is not giving you that return it would be the very definition of insanity to continue doing it.   Automate or Delegate.  Those are your only options.

Let me give you an example from my life.  I have reminder set on my phone that alerts me during the week with the picture above.   Earlier this week, I got the message as I was leaving for the grocery store.  I was in a rush and I almost dismissed it, but I’ve trained myself pretty good by now.  So instead, of flicking it away from the screen, I asked myself the question, “Is there a better way to go to the grocery store?”.

For me, “better” is often the same as “faster”, so I used Google Maps to check for the fastest route to the grocery store.  Imagine my surprise to see the fastest route saved me a little over 2 minutes each way.   Of course, I was halfway there before I realized I’ve been going to this grocery store twice a week for 3 years.  I was passed the produce and was halfway to the deli before it dawned on me this meant I had wasted almost 20+ hours  taking the long way to the grocery store.   Not the best return on investment.  Some might even call it insanity.  If you’re one of them, then try out these tips and stop your own insanity.  Let me know what you discovered in the comments below.  I guarantee someone out there could learn from your experiences.