Do you ever look back fondly to the days (sometimes not so long ago) when you were just able to get things done – so easily that you almost felt guilty?

Or do you wonder what happened to your star employee who was the best at what he or she did, but now seems to be continuously bogged down?

Sometimes were our own worst enemy.  Really.

Think back to the time when you were able to get things done, or when your superstar employee was really making it happen.  What changed?  Let me guess.  You either took on more and more work yourself or you gave your superstar a promotion.  In both cases the cause can likely be tracked back to you.

Of course there are other possible reasons, but really think about this.  As you start out in your career you generally have a high ability and aptitude, and in the beginning the demands are relatively low which allows you to take what work you’re given and produce a favorable result for yourself, your client, or your employer.

As you continue on in your career, your abilities continue to grow as does your workload and responsibilities.  But over time the growth of your abilities and skills will naturally decline or stop growing at the same rate as the increase of your workload and responsibilities.  At some point the demands of the work and responsibilities will overtake your ability to produce the same outcome you were so easily able to produce earlier in your career and you become (for lack of a better word) incompetent.

There is a name for this phenomenon.  It is called The Peter Principle.

The Peter Principle

The Peter Principle is the principle that “in a hierarchy every person tends to rise to his level of incompetence”.

It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1969 book The Peter Principle, a humorous treatise which also introduced the “salutary science of hierarchiology”, “inadvertently founded” by Peter. It holds that in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently (or even are given more work so long as they are able to produce a result).  Sooner or later they are promoted to a position or obtain a workload in which they are no longer competent (their “level of incompetence”), and there they remain, being unable to earn further promotions.

Peter’s Corollary states that “in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out his duties” and adds that “work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence”.

Incompetence is a harsh word.  Perhaps it would be better to clarify that by incompetence he isn’t incompetent as a person or an employee, but that he isn’t able to accomplish everything that has been piled on.  Kind of like the straw that breaks the camel’s back.  The camel could have been carrying hundreds of thousands of individual straws – but a single straw more than he could handle is enough to make it all come crashing down.

In real life, the graduation from competence (and being a hero) to incompetence (and being fired) can be as singular and small as the tiny straw, so when it happens it is often difficult to determine what happened.

Sometimes it can look like laziness or burnout.

Just like with the camel, there is a fine line between being able to use your expertise to produce better than expected results easily and being unable to do anything effectively.

It’s always better to operate just this side of that line.  But you have to know where yours is, and sometimes the only way to find the line is to have crossed it once or twice.

You just have to be able to recognize when you’ve crossed the line and be able to pull back until you’ve regained control.  It takes a lot of guts sometimes to say no to a client, a new project, or to be frank with an employer about what your limitations are.

Unfortunately, most people’s ego’s won’t allow them to admit that they have limitations, so they continue on until they reach their level of incompetence.  But if you trust yourself, being frank with a client or employer, establishing boundaries and limitations won’t make you look bad, in fact, it will make you look even better.  You’re paid to be good at what you do.  Being good at what you do isn’t just about what you can do, it’s also about being able to know what you can’t do.

Remember, there is a fine line.  Know where yours is.

Time Management for
Independent Professionals

As independent professionals working with many clients simultaneously, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with everything that has to be done.

I’ve found that overwhelm is usually caused by two things – complexity and lack of clarity.

There are so many time management systems available. I’ve tried everything – literally. I’ve done it on notepads, computers, PDA, assistants, and just about every planner and method available – you name it.

I’ve found that just about every time management solution or system is too complex. And complexity is the enemy. We become confused and overwhelmed with too many possibilities and choices. Simplicity and Clarity is what we need. Clarity is what gives us power to focus on what really matters and say no to what doesn’t. Simplicity lets us stay focused.

For years I bought into the notion that if I could just get everything into one place, plan a little better, and have a great system for tracking, nothing would fall through the cracks and I could do everything.

Wrong.

Organizing a bunch of “junk” only results in organized junk.

The planning systems, programs, tools, etc. all seem to work a little backwards. They take a huge number of things and help you to organize them and prioritize them. The problem is, the majority of that stuff just doesn’t really matter.

It should be just the opposite. Take a few things that must be done all the time and make sure they get your time and energy until they’re done and make sure nothing else gets in the way.

If everything else is put off or forgotten, who cares? Would you really feel bad if you couldn’t do something less important than the few things you’ve identified as the most important?

There really is no distinction between your “personal life” and work – or anything else for that matter. Your life is your life. This is what I do.

1. Write down the five (or six) main categories in your life. These are the key areas that you’ve made strong, meaningful, long-term commitments. These are the critical areas of your life that must get your attention. If one suffers, they will all suffer. Here are mine (in no order of importance).
   

1. Work

2. Family

3. Boy Scouts

4. Church & Spirituality

5. Marriage & Me.

You may think that Boy Scouts perhaps isn’t that important – at least not as important as the others. We’ll this is an example of a “real” long-term commitment. I promised I would be a scoutmaster for five years. It would be easy to say “not this week” and put it off ‘till later, but I won’t. All of these areas have permanent, non-movable places on my calendar. I don’t even have to think about what I’m doing during these times. They are immovable. These are the areas of focus that take precedence over all else. They give me clarity and permission to say no to all else.

2. For each of these categories you need to be clear about the purpose, the goal. The answer to the question “why? What’s the point?”If you don’t have the why, then all the tasks you could do are really meaningless busywork.
   

1) Work – To maintain financial security. (that’s really the only purpose, isn’t it?)

2) Family – To create a warm, secure home atmosphere with well adjusted, and well rounded kids.

3) Boy Scouts – To give Taylor (my son) and the boys valuable, life-changing experiences that they will never forget.

4) Church & spirituality – To have the constant influence and blessings of God.

5) Marriage & Me – To have a fun, loving and deeply personal relationship.

The answers to these questions then give use a basis for the next step.

3. For each of the categories, now write down three things that you have to do regularly in order for the “why” to happen. Example: What do I need to do regularly to achieve financial security?
   

1) Work – Why? To maintain financial security.

1. Marketing, networking & relationship building.

2. Client service – Define clear roles, deliverables & payment terms – then do the work knowing that my “o.k.” is someone else’s “incredible.” Choose in advance which things have to be “perfect” and which can be “good enough.”

3. People/Project Mgmt – Coordination & communication. Follow-up, communicate, follow-through.

4. *Administrative – billing, reporting, accounting. (outsource)

2) Family – Why? To create a warm, secure home atmosphere with well adjusted and well rounded kids.

1. Clean, organized, and repaired home.

2. Fun, memorable activities with my children.

3. Give the kids responsibilities and rewards.

3) Boy Scouts – Why? To give Taylor (my son) and the boys valuable, life-changing experiences that they will never forget.

1. Fun and organized meetings & activities.

2. Monthly camping.

3. Unusual & “cool” things to learn and do.

4) Church & spirituality – Why? To have the constant influence and blessings of God.

1. Church & temple attendance.

2. Personal and family prayers with scripture study.

3. Family home-evening each Monday night.

5) Marriage & Me.

1. Time alone – by myself and together.

2. Physically fit.

3. Support and lighten the load of my wife

4. Make a Time Map. One of the most useful things I have ever done was to map out my ideal day. The kind of day that fits all of the important things and still leaves plenty of room for unexpected delays, fun, or just time to stop and do nothing.

A Weekly planner/calendar in columns is the best way to create a time map.

See example time map.

My Preferred Planner/Calendar Format

I’ve used many planner formats and the one that works the best for me is the weekly calendar on two pages with each day in a column. This lets me see the entire week at once – and how everything relates to each other.

The daily formats provide a lot of space to write things, but it’s hard to see what’s going on easily. This is the same problem with electronic PDA’s.

Franklin Covey has the Compass wire bound planners in weekly format – with 30 minute time slots. If you want 15 minute time slots you’ll have to go with another brand.

You can download a blank worksheet and example below.

- Example Clarity Planning Worksheet – Example Clarity Planning Worksheet

- Blank Clarity Planning Worksheet  – Blank Clarity Planning Worksheet

- PDF version of this article -  clarity-time-life-project-management.pdf

Here’s a simple test you can perform: Ask any business owner, any manager, any entrepreneur or any professional why their prospects or customers should buy from them, and you’ll most likely hear something like, “Because we offer the highest quality products, the best service, the fastest delivery and the lowest prices around.”

But really, what do you learn from that kind of statement? That kind of answer does absolutely nothing to compel you to want to know more, or to nearly force you to get out of your chair, pick up the phone and call, or to get in your car and drive to the place of business, or to fill out and mail in a response card.

In fact, just the opposite. You’ve heard this kind of “ho-hum” statement so many times before by countless other businesses, that you no longer pay any attention to such statements.

Competition in business today is so keen, products and services are so similar, and prices are so cutthroat, that it’s difficult, in fact nearly impossible in almost any industry, business or profession, to maintain for any predictable length of time, a competitive advantage because of the products or services a business offers, or the prices they charge.

The simple truth is, that if you can’t give your prospects and customers clear and compelling reasons to do business with you, you can never expect for your business to be any better than any of your competition. And you’ll just be another “me-too” business – at least in the eyes of your customers. And since they’re the one’s with the money, that’s the only place that matters.

To be competitive in the marketplace today, you must differentiate yourself and your business from any and all other options your prospects and customers have to choose from. In effect, you’ve got to stand out not only as the most logical choice for your customers to buy from, but the only choice they have.

That differentiating factor has to be as clear and compelling as FedEx’s, “When it absolutely, positively has to get there overnight” was for them. There was no question in the minds of the buying public that when something was so important or urgent that it had to be delivered the next day, that the only one who could get it there was FedEx. Not UPS, not the Post Office, not anyone.

Coming up with your own unique differentiating factor – that one thing that no one else can offer, or that preempts anyone else who markets the same products or services as you, is critical. And when you can articulate it in such a way as to capture a unique position in the minds of your prospects and customers, you will gain a very competitive edge, and your competition won’t stand a chance.