roles vs goals [10/02/2007 22:29:04]
I'm seeing a real payoff from the daily routine and checklist.
Since I started this stuff about 6 weeks ago, I've:
- lost 14 pounds on the scale
- gained quite a bit of muscle
- read an entire book in Spanish (and understood about half of it!)
- learned to sight-read simple music notation
- learned some simple piano chords and how to use the accompaniment feature of my keyboard
- (sort of) been able play several popular songs
- consistently woken up before 8:00
- virtually eliminated sugar cravings
- kept my apartment clean
- kept my books up to date
- wasted a lot less time surfing the web
- not launched any "hot new idea" projects
That last item is perhaps the most significant, and I'll talk more about it in a moment.
Meanwhile, I still don't have all my original test cases passing.
The few remaining tests are all about structuring and breaking down my goals. The more I work on these tests, the more I see that my original vision was subtly broken.
I used to have this habit of overwhelming myself by launching projects more quickly than I could implement them.
I had a project mentality. I wanted to prioritize the project list, and then spend most of my day working on the most important big project - the same project, every day, until I finished - and then moving on to the next one.
This one-at-a-time focus is without question the most effective way to run a department.
It's not a terribly effective way to live your life, nor is it all that great for building a company. People and businesses need balance.
As I started to prioritize my project list, I noticed that about 70% fell into the "someday maybe" category.
Most of my ideas are for websites, applications, games or business ventures. I have so many cool ideas that I want to do, but for now my main role in really needs to be about working on the business I already have.
Once I filed all those bright ideas under "someday maybe", I found myself left with a long list of changes I wanted to make to my company.
Certainly, there are some big projects on my list - like the infamously unimplemented "end of June" goals.
The thing is, no one goal or idea is really all that important. The idea was that if I did all those things, I'd make a dramatic improvement in my business. But really, I could have picked any collection of features.
What I'm trying to say is that it isn't the project per se that matters, but the process of continuous improvement.
Roles, not goals.
When I started practicing piano, I was focusing on one song, and one tool (teaching myself Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca with the turcanator). I ust did the same thing every day. Then I started playing Synthesia, and lately I've been working with piano training books and actual sheet music.
My original goal was to force myself to practice for 20 minutes a day. Now I'm having so much fun, I've actually caught myself spending hours on the keyboard. (Today, just for fun, I printed out the sheet music for the theme from The Office and started learning that.)
I had the goal about Rondo Alla Turca on my wall for a year, and all I really did was write a python script. Then I made the goal about consistent, daily action, and suddenly I'm learning piano.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's time to apply that same effect to my business.
There are basically three - maybe four roles I need to work on:
- support - not just answering email, but being systematic about my answers, maintaining the FAQ, etc.
- marketing - I'm just coasting right now. If I want this company to grow, I need to be doing something on a daily basis to bring in money.
- development - improving the actual service, whether that means adding control panel features or writing admin scripts to keep on top of the servers.
I need to do those things every day.
The fourth role -- and this almost seems like a part of marketing, but it really isn't -- is being my own customer.
I have this hosting company aimed at bloggers, but I'm not a serious blogger. I mean, take this entry. This post is self centered, and all over the map because I just free write and post the rough draft... My self-made blog tool gives me no way to filter spam comments, so I don't have comments... I have no idea what kind of readership I have because I barely look at my logs. This is a perfectly fine journal, but a pretty crappy blog.
I know I don't have the time and energy to create a professional daily blog. But I could certainly spend an hour a day writing and editing and churn out one or two good posts a week - especially if it had to do with self improvement. I could be just like Steve Pavlina, minus all the new age mumbo jumbo.
So yeah. I just made out a daily schedule that adds these four roles to the stuff I was already doing, and still leaves time for fun, errands, and the unexpected.
I'll work up a new set of test cases in the morning.