The Price is Not Too High, The Value is Too Low: Part 2

Recently I have been reviewing this post I wrote in September 2009 as I am working on 2011 business plans where I work, and wanted to further elaborate on this topic, at the encouragement of my boss. :-)

In these austere times, "no price too high, but value too low" this mantra is all the more critical as everyone is crying "low and lower price" while not really asking enough about "what is the value?". This lack of asking makes it all the more critical that we who are seeking funding & resources be better than ever at articulating the value we will deliver. I had a great discussion with my boss about this matter and he challenged me about a few things that stick with me:

1. Lead with the deliverables, not the resource request. So often we are preoccupied with what we need to get a job done (the resources) and neglect to clearly define and articulate the outcome we will create (the deliverables). We fail to understand that the investor is most interested in the outcome. For success, we have to learn to think as much like the investor as like the performer who converts resources into outcomes. As we transform our thinking in this way we will improve our proposals with better linkages between deliverables and resources, and as a result, improve the "hit" rate on our requests, whether it be for budgets, jobs, relationships, etc..

2. Focus on value-added activities & drop the non-value-added "busywork". So often we get caught up in the "urgent and efficient" elements of our to-do lists to the neglect of the "important and effective" elements of the same lists. In reflecting on this admonishment, I have to remember the 80/20 rule; that 20 percent of our effort gets us 80 percent of our outcome. Where we invest effort has a lot to do with the outcome we get, for better and or worse. If we are neglecting the investment of that 20 percent in important and effective effort, our outcomes will suffer. Another element of this dilemma is that those things that are most important and effective, are also most challenging to us and thus invite procrastination (see my earlier post on this topic). This tendency toward the urgent & efficient, and avoidance of the challenging is something to watch and to be disciplined against in order to deliver the value that warrants the higher price we all like to charge.

Delaying Gratification: Key To Success & Antidote for Procrastination

This blog post has relocated to a book, The WiseWorking Handbook. Please visit it there.  

Please purchase a copy at Balboa Press (http://bit.ly/1wfqwBU). 

For signed copies, reach me at craig@wiseworking.com. 

Thanks in advance for reading the book and spreading the word about it.

Finally, please rate it at Amazon.com, BN.com, GoodReads.com, and other websites where books are sold and reviewed. 

What readers are saying:

"The WiseWorking Handbook is written in a down to earth, engaging style.” - Bud Bulanich

"Get this book. Read it. Keep it handy for when you need a little inspiration or some solid advice on how to work wisely and increase your value at work.” - Bud Bulanich

Patience & Persistence: 2 Practices Worth More Than The Effort To Develop Them

This blog post has relocated to a book, The WiseWorking Handbook. Please visit it there.  

Please purchase a copy at Balboa Press (http://bit.ly/1wfqwBU). 

For signed copies, reach me at craig@wiseworking.com. 

Thanks in advance for reading the book and spreading the word about it.

Finally, please rate it at Amazon.com, BN.com, GoodReads.com, and other websites where books are sold and reviewed. 

What readers are saying:

"The WiseWorking Handbook is written in a down to earth, engaging style.” - Bud Bulanich

"Get this book. Read it. Keep it handy for when you need a little inspiration or some solid advice on how to work wisely and increase your value at work.” - Bud Bulanich

The Perfect Is the Enemy of the Good

This quote, attributed to the French philosopher Voltaire is more valid today than ever. This is so much so that I have found that those (perfectionists) who ignore this quote rob themselves of a great deal of health, sanity and satisfaction in life. As a born, and further raised "perfectionist", I have spent most of my life beating myself and being beat by others because I did not perfectly execute a task. This inability to achieve (perceived) perfection has, and continues to be, the cause of more tears, lost sleep, anger, guilt, bitterness, worry, doubt, fear and procrastination than any other other in my life.

One of the greatest gift I have been given in life, by a former boss of mine, Stan Woodland, are the insights that:

1) there are 4 levels of performance that are possible in life: perfection, excellence, adequacy and inadequacy
2) perfection, or penultimate performance, is futile to expect because the definition is narrow and ever changing
3) excellence, or above average performance, is a better performance goal than perfection because it can be achieved more consistently. Also more people agree on its definition.

As I have worked to adjust my expectations of myself and others to these insights over the years I have become less anxious, overbearing, vindictive, stressed, angry and procrastinating. This has been replaced by greater patience, calm, balance, perseverance, resilience, ability to forgive (let go) myself and others and satisfaction with what I achieve. This has, indeed, bee one of the greatest transformations of my life. So much so that I teach these insights in all my classes, whether at my church or at the university.

All this said, I work in environments where this is not often convention wisdom and so I have to continually bring myself to a remembrance of the truth and benefit of these insights. I offer these insights hoping you will use them to gain more satisfaction from what you are getting done and be more forgiving of, and educated by, that which have not yet gotten done.