Ever had a head-scratching problem you absolutely couldn’t solve? I had that happen for me last week…
On Thursday morning, I met with one of my clients. They told me, “We’ve got 5 problems we’d like to solve. We need solutions for them ASAP.”
I had solutions for the first 4 by the end of the day. However, I kept hitting my head against the wall on the 5th.
Here’s my OLD response:
– Freak out
– Work harder
– Muscle through it
– Stay up late
– Stress out
I’ve figured out that my job as a consultant isn’t to meet the client’s deadlines. It’s to give them the best possible outcome given the situation.
And my job as a consultant is to collaboratively figure that out, then help them achieve it.
The NEW response?
– Take off Friday for high-value, strategic work
– Knock off work early on Fri
– Take off Sat & Sun to hang with my wife & kids
– Sleep in Mon (well ok, 6:30am, but still…)
I think you can see what a raging, desperate workaholic I am lol…
The outcome?
– This morning, I fired up my computer, pulled up our meeting transcript, reviewed a few things, and within 10 minutes, knew exactly what needed to happen…
Was the exact timeline the client wanted?
Nope.
Was it the best possible outcome for the client, given the situation?
Yep!
I’ve found that when most folks face a problem, they roll up their sleeves and try to muscle through it. Fine by me if you prefer that approach…
Years ago, one of my mentors told me to use this exact strategy…
– “If you’re stuck on a problem, set it aside. Go play with your kids. Pick it up when you’re ready to.”
Everything inside of me resisted that advice. “You don’t understand…I need to keep pushing this through!”
It’s taken me a while to purge this from my life…
But I’ve found it far more effective to find the exact location of the problem, wind up, and apply maximum force to that exact location…
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