The Post I Didn’t Want To Write For You . . .

I just deleted a post I was writing for you.It was about something important (not waiting for conditions to be perfect before giving your all), but then I realized that this was more important.

Here we go:

I’m exhausted.I just worked 16 hours on my feet all day after 2 days just like it.I have a sore throat, my sinus is packed, and my head is throbbing.My body aches, it’s hard to focus my vision, and I definitely can’t breathe through my nose

But I’m writing this for you.

I committed!I’m not saying you shouldn’t take care of yourself or ignore your body (I plan on sleeping all day tomorrow).I’m saying that I know how long it usually takes to write a post: as long as I want it to take.And if it truly takes as long as you want it to take, you can make it happen, even when you have great, valid excuses.You are often in control of what “done” means!

2 Minute Action

Whats something you haven’t consistently done but would like to consistently do?What would happen if you committed?What would happen if you HAD to figure it out?You might make the task/scope smaller.You might shorten the deadline.You might increase or decrease the budget.You would hack it together, make sacrifices, and make it happen—because you HAD to!

It’s all up to you.

Take 2 minutes and write down a quick list of excuses about why my you haven’t gotten there.Sort them into valid and invalid ones.Now go through your list and ask yourself, if this excuse never changed, how might you work around it?

Here’s the punchline:

You decide what “done” means.You have more power over yourself than you’re u might think.

How To Know You’re Done

One of the most common problems I see in teams is an unclear definition of “done.”Done means it’s on its way to the customer.Its out the door, out of your hands, and ready to be tampered with.Done does not mean you did all the work and all you have left is to test it.Done does not mean you made a good effort and you’re waiting on something else to happen.Done does not mean you wrote the email and all you have to do is send it.Done is shipped.Done is tested.Done is ready for the store shelf.When we define done in this way, we make give excuses, impediments, and dependencies a run for their money.

2 Minute Action:

Whats something that you finished but isn’t “done” yet?What happened? What would it take to check the box and take it off your worry-list?Right now, describe the difference between what one task would look like as “done.”Some teams even go as far as to define “finished” differently from “done” so as to highlight this difference on a scrum board.What’s a difference between down and finished?Your output will increase, just by defining this.