There are many ways to live life. Some people aim to be selective to be effective. They focus their efforts on doing specific things, being fully present and doing their best to get positive results.
Some people do this in their professional lives. They build on their strengths and choose to be selective when setting specific goals. They then aim to do stimulating work and achieve success.
Some people do this in their personal lives. They aim to encourage others and spend time with positive people. They build enriching relationships with kindred spirits and people who share similar values.
Imagine that you want to follow this approach in your own way. Let’s explore how you can translate this into action in your professional and personal life.
Professional Life
Some people build on their strengths and specialise in a niche activity. They then aim to perform superb work, provide great service and deliver success. The challenge can be to get paid for doing what they do best. Let’s explore some ways this can be possible.
The Professional
Freelancer Approach
Great workers recognise that there are few predictable career paths anymore but there will always be projects. This calls for playing to their strengths and having a professional freelancer approach. They then aim to find or create satisfying projects and deliver positive results.
Some people take this approach even if they are a full-time employee. They maintain the freelance mentality and operate as if they are on a rolling contract. They aim to behave in a professional way and help their stakeholders to succeed.
People who take this approach build on their strengths and have a strong service ethic. They also aim to find or create satisfying projects where they can deliver success.
Such people are proactive and agile. They keep scanning their chosen field to focus on: a) the specific challenges that their potential customers are facing; b) the specific challenges they may face in the future.
Different people then clarify their offering to potential customers in different ways. One approach is for them to explore the following themes.
Strengths
What are my strengths? What are the specific activities where I can deliver As rather than Bs or Cs? What are the kinds of work I find most satisfying to do? What are the specific things I can deliver to help people to tackle challenges or achieve their goals?
Specific Customers
Who are my perfect customers? Who are the kinds of people, customers or organisations with whom I work best? What may be some of the challenges these people face? What may be the specific goals they want to achieve?
Success
How can I use my strengths to help some of these people achieve success? What are the specific things I can deliver to help them to improve their profits, products or people? What would be the benefits of delivering these things – for them, their organisation or their customers?
Imagine that you want to follow this approach. If appropriate, you can define your professional offering. The key is to describe the specific things you can deliver to help others achieve success.
The Find A Need
And Fill It Approach
There are many ways to do satisfying work that earns a salary. One approach is to follow the old advice of ‘Find a need and fill it.’ This involves exploring the following questions about the present and future needs of potential customers.
Are there any organisational strategies that need to be implemented more successfully? Are there any potential future organisational strategies that need to be piloted successfully?
Are there any present customer needs that need to be met more successfully? Are there any potential future customer needs that need to be anticipated and met successfully?
Are there any potential people issues that need to be tackled successfully? Are there any professional skills or other qualities that people need to develop to deliver success? Are there any other things that can be done to help people to achieve peak performance?
Are there any processes that need to be improved to help the organisation achieve success? Are there any prototypes that need to be built to help the organisation achieve future success? Are there any other challenges to address to help the organisation achieve ongoing success?
Looking at these needs, are there any where I could use my strengths to help the organisation to achieve present or future success? If so, how can I position this in a way that makes it attractive to the organisation.
The Sweet Spot Approach
This is an approach that can be used by individuals, teams and organisations. It encourages people to build on their strengths, do satisfying work and make their best contributions towards achieving the picture of success.
The sweet spot concept stems from sport. Since then it has been applied to many other areas of life. Here are some definitions.
The point or area on a bat, club, or racket where it makes most effective contact with the ball.
The particular situation or combination of things that is the best and most effective possible.
The spot where you do something that may appear effortless but sometimes produces the most effective results.
Some elements of this approach have been used in career development workshops since the 1960s. It encourages individuals to do what they do best and make their best contributions to a team or organisation.
The approach is obviously related to the Japanese concept of Ikigai. But it does not necessarily cover their purpose, vocation or mission on the planet. But sometimes these themes can emerge when following this approach.
The Sweet Spot approach involves focusing on the following themes.
Strengths. The specific activities where you do superb work.
Satisfying Work. The specific activities where you do satisfying work.
Specific Contribution. The specific contribution you can make towards helping people, a team or an organisation to achieve success.
There are many ways to apply the sweet spot approach. You can use it:
To clarify how you can continue to do satisfying work;
To help other people – such as your children, friends or customers – to do satisfying work;
To help people in your team or organisation to do satisfying work and make their best contributions towards achieving the picture of success.
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to describe how you may want to use elements of the sweet spot approach. It invites you to complete the following sentences.
The Drive It, Delegate It
And Ditch It Approach
Good leaders aim to drive the key strategies for helping the team to achieve success. They manage their energy properly and aim to be selective to be effective.
Sounds simple in theory, but sometimes the leader’s diary gets crowded as they take on more things to do. One leader described this in the following way.
“My ‘To Do’ list is full and there are only so many jobs I can tackle. My days should be spent driving strategy, but they get consumed by catching up on tasks.
“I only have so much energy, so it is important to channel this into the activities that will make a real difference. Sometimes at the end of a day it is hard to know what I have achieved.”
Imagine that you lead your team. How can you be effective? Start by listing the things that must be done to deliver the picture of success.
Divide these into three headings: Drive It, Delegate It, Ditch It. Then work through the following steps.
Drive It
Looking at the ‘To Do’ list, start by describing the things that you personally want to drive. The leader mentioned above explained their approach to doing this in the following way.
“I am clear on our team’s goals. I am also clear on the three key strategies we can follow to achieve that goal. I plan to take responsibility for the top two strategies.
“The first strategy is to continually manage and reassure our key stakeholders – my bosses and the banks – by delivering the required profitability.
“The second strategy is to build and maintain a culture in which people can deliver peak performance.
“I will take a hands-on approach to making these two strategies happen. This will also involve working with the right people to ensure we deliver the required results.”
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. Bearing in mind your ‘To Do’ list, this invites you to do the following. Describe the specific things you want to take responsibility for driving and how you can make these happen.
Delegate It
Looking at your ‘To Do’ list, move on to the things you want to delegate. Delegation sounds easy in theory, but it is vital to do the following things.
To describe the specific outcomes that are required – the picture of success;
To delegate to people who are capable of delivering these outcomes – otherwise you will be spending your time micromanaging them;
To check they have understood the required outcomes – by asking them to play back their understanding – and ensure they want to do the job;
To give them the support required and how they will proactively keep you informed of their progress towards achieving the goals.
The leader mentioned above explained their approach in the following way.
“Looking at our key strategies, I decide to delegate our approach to developing a successful digital arm. Certainly I was still accountable for the results, but my Chief Technology Officer was more than capable of making it happen.
“We made clear contracts about the desired outcome, the support required and how they would proactively keep me informed about the progress toward achieving the goal.
“This meant I could sleep more easily at night.”
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. Bearing in mind your ‘To Do’ list, this invites you to do the following. Describe the specific things you want to delegate and how you can delegate these properly.
Ditch It
Looking at your ‘To Do’ list, describe the things you want to ditch. It will also be important to describe how to manage the consequences of ditching these. The leader mentioned earlier described their approach in the following way.
“I find it easy to ditch things in theory, but it is more difficult in practise.
I start out with good intentions, but then get guilty about neglecting certain activities. So I often end up doing these things anyway.
“Bearing this in mind, I gathered my leadership team and we focused on the following things.
“The key strategies we could follow and how we could deliver these successfully.
“The specific things we wanted to ditch – the tasks, projects and other activities – because these were time consuming and did not contribute greatly to achieving the goals.
“The specific things we could do to manage the consequences of ditching these things.
“The discussion became heated at times because it sometimes involved pet projects, but we got there in the end.
“Ditching some activities also had implications for some of our stakeholders.
“Bearing this in mind, I spent quite a lot of time meeting these people and, where appropriate, provided alternative solutions.
“The ditching process eventually went well. It freed up more time for implementing the key strategies and achieving success.”
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. Bearing in mind the ‘To Do’ list, this invites you to complete the following sentences.
Personal Life
Some people may also aim to be more selective in their personal life. They may choose to be more focused when taking care of their wellbeing, managing their energy and spending time with certain people.
Different people follow this approach in different ways. Let’s explore how they may translate it into action.
The Positive Things Approach
Some people aim to focus on doing positive things in the future. One person took this approach when looking ahead to the next year. They explained this in the following way.
“I like to set specific goals in my professional life. I take a similar approach in my personal life by continuing to work towards my life goals.
“Last year I kept this approach in mind but also did something different. Looking ahead, I wrote ten positive things that I wanted to do in the next year.
“These were around activities that would be enjoyable – and also give me positive energy – rather than specific goals that were set in stone. This was actually quite liberating.
“I kept returning to this list and devoted time to doing some of these stimulating activities. I enjoyed the journey and, paradoxically, these sometimes led to me working towards achieving specific goals.”
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you: a) to choose your own time frame; b) to describe the positive things you want to do during this time. Here is the exercise.
The Positive People Approach
Some people choose to spend time with certain kinds of people as they get older. They may be more selective and aim to be with people who are positive rather than negative, stimulating rather than sapping.
Such people may continue to be generous and give to others. But they may also recognise the warning signs when this can be counter-productive for both themselves and other people.
Imagine that you want to follow elements of this approach. Who are the people that you want to spend time with in the future? How can take steps to encourage these people and also maybe encouragement?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
There are many ways to live life. Some people aim to be selective to be effective. Some people do this in their professional lives, some in their personal lives.
Such people then focus their efforts. They aim to fully present, enjoy the journey and do their best to get positive results. Sometimes this can give people positive memories for life.
Let’s return to your own life and work. Looking ahead, can you think of a specific situation where you want to be selective to be effective? How can you follow this approach in your own way?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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