Category Archives: Project Management

Lessons From a Barista

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Last Sunday morning, my boyfriend Greg and I made our usual stop at Starbucks during our 7-mile, round-trip walk into town. It’s always really busy there, but this morning it was super-duper busy.

This particular Starbucks has a couple of seats at the end of the counter and that day, amazingly, they were empty. So we plopped down and got comfortable, watching the barista as she prepared drink after drink after drink.

What struck me was that even though, over the next half hour, there were never less than 10 people waiting for her at any one time, she never broke a sweat. Not only that, she didn’t even seem the tiniest bit rushed or flustered.

She just picked up the next glass, read the tick mark codes from the cashier and began grinding beans, pouring liquids and squeezing whipped cream. When she finished a drink, she called out a name and moved to the next order.

The next day, my client John asked me to tell him where he could get a copy of a webinar that he presented about a year and a half ago. And just like the woman at Starbucks, without missing a beat, I clicked on his folder in Dropbox, scrolled down to the webinar folder, grabbed the file and sent it off to him. 

Suddenly, I thought of the barista and it struck me that the two of us have a lot in common: We both have a system and we both use it faithfully. The result? We move though our days without breaking a sweat (okay, most of the time). And you can too.

Here’s how:

1. Keep it simple. The less complicated the system, the better. Not being able to find my keys, for example, used to drive me crazy (and make me late). So I developed a system: When I leave the house I put them in the inside pocket of my purse. When I walk in the front door, I put them in the little wooden box on the table in the foyer.

I’ve got systems for setting up new clients, systems for remembering birthdays, systems for paying my bills. All simple and easy to use, so while they are helpful, they never become overwhelming in and of themselves.

2. Make sure it works for you. Design a system that will work for YOU – not one that you think SHOULD or WOULD work if you were a smarter/better/younger/older/thinner/more organized person.

When I use my business credit card, for instance, I always put the receipts in my wallet. It gets pretty full in there sometimes, and when I can’t fit anymore, I take them out and sort them into envelopes, by month.

Yes, the pesky voice in my head tries to tell me that a “better” person would clean out her wallet every day, but I’ve made my peace with that and I’m not going to do it. And while my system isn’t always up to date, it’s good enough and it works for me.

3. Keep At It. Even a simple system usually requires forming new habits and getting used to it. So expect that and keep at it.

If you fall off the wagon temporarily, just jump back on. Over time you can pick up any pieces that you may have dropped along the way.

For lots of people, the idea of “systems” feels complex and scary. But it need not be that way. When done well, systems allow you to pay less attention to the minutiae of your daily routine and more attention to the things that really matter in building your business.

Boss of My Floss

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The other day I went to get my teeth cleaned by my favorite dental hygienist, Lauren. I’m not a big fan of the dentist, but I do like having my teeth cleaned (and I love hearing what Lauren’s mischievous cat has been up to!).

Lauren looked around in my mouth for a few minutes and said, “Your gums look great.” I proudly replied, “I’ve been flossing!”

I didn’t used to floss regularly. In fact, like many people, I’d be a champion flosser for about one month after visiting the dentist. As the weeks went on, though, it became less and less frequent, until I stopped entirely.

So what’s changed since then? It’s pretty simple, actually: I started tracking it.

When I wrote out my goals this year, I included taking better care of myself, and flossing regularly was part of that. Now that I track it, I get it done.

As you might imagine, the same approach-tracking, not flossing-can improve the way you run your business.

Here’s how to make it happen:

1. Figure out what’s important. “Taking better care of myself,” is a nice goal, but it’s not specific enough to measure. So I broke it down into things I could track, like flossing, exercising and eating right.

Likewise, if you have a business goal of “Growing my client base by 50 percent,” you might break that down into “publish my newsletter monthly,” “have lunch once a week with someone in my network,” and “schedule one public speaking event per quarter.”

The idea is that, by breaking the big goals into measurable chunks, you can manage your progress over time.

2. Create a tracking system you can live with. I like Excel, and so it’s easy (and fun) for me to create a spreadsheet with one tab for each goal I’m tracking. I keep the spreadsheet open at all times, which allows me to quickly glance at any tab and see how I’m doing as the year unfolds.

But maybe you hate Excel, or find it too complicated. That’s fine, as long as you develop some kind of consistent system for tracking. It can be a whiteboard in your office, a list on your desk or anything else that you dream up.

As with choosing a machine to work out on at the gym, if you don’t like it and understand how it works, you won’t use it. Create a tracking system you like, and use it.

3. Don’t be too hard on yourself. One problem with tracking is that, if you fall off the wagon for a while, the tracking system serves as reminder of how little you’ve done. Try not to get caught in that trap.

The way I look at it, every day is a new day. Even if I fall down on one or two of my items for a while, I give myself permission to start again from where I am and move forward. I’ve come to realize that the purpose of my system is to track progress, not beat myself up about past behavior!

Tracking what you want to accomplish might seem like a lot of work at first, but it works. Thanks to my system, my goals are in front of me every day, along with the action steps that I need to accomplish them. For me, this approach has transformed my goals from chores into fun action items. And I have to admit, it’s also nice to have clean, shiny teeth!