Do What You’re Doing
We have a saying around the Britt household, “Do what you’re doing”. When you sit down to eat supper with your family, you are sitting down to eat supper with your family. You aren’t watching television, you aren’t texting, you aren’t reading; by golly, you are sitting down to eat supper with your family! You are present and engaged in your activity, whatever that may be.
I know it seems obvious, I know it seems unavoidable, but when you take a look around, people often aren’t doing what they’re doing. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to see people occupying themselves with their phones while out to dinner, disengaged when family members are speaking to them, texting while driving. It’s everywhere. When we are distracted, when we aren’t engaged in what we are doing, we give others the impression that we don’t care, we make mistakes, and we miss opportunities. To see why, read the blog, The Truth About Multitasking.
This concept can be applied to the implementation of a new ERP system. Every company that has gone through the decision-making process to implement a new application gets an amazing opportunity to throw open the doors and look at how things are really running…or not. Once the decision has been made to move forward, that’s when the “doing” really gets started.
You’ve decided to do it, so do it. Maybe you’ve had bottlenecks that can be resolved by adjusting your processes. Now is the time to fix them. You can blame the new software, go ahead, it doesn’t mind. Take advantage of the fact that you are reviewing your company’s policies and review everything. Be engaged, show others that you are present. They’ll follow suit, and if they don’t, you’ll see it because you are engrossed in doing what you’re doing.
Every day, we have opportunities to make decisions that may have long lasting effects—whether it’s putting down the paper to really listen to your child or taking the extra time to speak with your end users to ensure that they don’t sacrifice capacity or reliability once the new program is rolled out. Take the time to devote your attention to the task at hand. It’ll be worth it in the long run and fulfilling in the now.
Are you doing what you’re doing?