By Daniel Bobinski
Many people are good at what they do, yet struggle to find the time or energy for the bigger things they dream about. The biggest obstacle is rarely laziness or lack of ability; it’s being too busy doing good things.
Think of it this way: When your calendar is filled with worthy activities, there’s no room left for extraordinary accomplishments. Breaking free requires abandoning some of the good to achieve the great. Good things aren’t bad things, but if we do only good things, there won’t be time for great things.
Author Jim Collins addresses this in his book, “Good to Great.” He says:
“We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, primarily because it is easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become great precisely because they become quite good – and that is their main problem.”
I saw this firsthand with a friend I’ll call Sarah. She worked in marketing and she served on three nonprofit boards. She also volunteered at her kids’ school and helped organize community events.
Everything Sarah did was worthwhile and everyone loved her contributions, but she had a dream that wasn’t being fulfilled – she wanted to start her own consulting firm. She’d been “planning to get to it” for five years, but every time we spoke, she’d sigh and say, “I’m just too busy right now.”
One day I shared with her an analogy an executive once told me. He said, “Picture yourself holding huge stacks of $20 bills in both hands. Those are good things. Then imagine someone placing stacks of $100 bills on a table and saying you can have as many as you want.”
Sarah understood the analogy right away. To pick up the $100 bills, she first needed to put down the $20s. We talked about how hard it can be to set aside things that have value, even when the things being offered to you have even more value.
Soon Sarah acted on her new understanding. Within two months, she stepped down from two of the three boards she was on, plus she reduced her volunteer hours at the school. A few months later she launched her consulting firm.
Today, Sarah runs a thriving business, and she still serves on the one board she’s most passionate about.
I’ve seen this pattern repeatedly in my consulting work. A client whom I’ll call Tom worked as an IT manager at a mid-sized company. He was excellent at solving problems and mentoring junior staff, and his bosses loved that he kept systems running smoothly. But Tom dreamed of moving into executive leadership. He wanted to shape company strategy, not just implement it. The problem? He spent every spare moment being the go-to person for technical issues. People would bypass the help desk and come straight to Tom because he always said yes.
When we analyzed Tom’s schedule, we found he was spending roughly 15 hours each week on tasks that could be handled by others. Was Tom good at those tasks? Absolutely. But those good things were blocking his path to developing the skills he needed for executive roles.
To make time for classes on executive development, Tom started delegating more. He also scheduled meetings with senior leaders to discuss his goals. Within a year he was promoted to director. A year after that he became a vice president.
The lesson here is that being content with doing good things can easily become a subtle form of procrastination that keeps us from reaching our potential.
In his book, “The Dip,” author Seth Godin says the idea that “winners never quit” is false. He says winners quit all the time – they quit doing good things to make room for great things.
What about you? Do you have great things you want to accomplish but can’t find the drive to say no to all the good things you’re doing? Here are some suggestions that may help:
- Get together with a trusted friend, family member or co-worker and create a list of benefits you’ll get by accomplishing your bigger dreams. This should not be an academic exercise. Dig deep into the positive ripple effects that will come by achieving your dream.
- Once you identify the benefits, get emotionally connected to each one. The stronger your emotional connection to your core values, the more likely you are to act on your dreams.
- Take it to the next level. For each benefit you identified, think of a “benefit of getting that benefit.” Then get deeply connected to those benefits, as well.
In other words, get a deep sense of what resonates within you as you imagine yourself achieving your greater goals and dreams. Once you have identified these things, choose one or two to serve as your main motivators. Then put tasks on your calendar that lead to your greater goals. Set up regular meetings with an accountability partner – or even two. These should be people who want to see you succeed. Ask them to help you stay on track for achieving your goals.
At the same time, know that procrastination can still be a problem, even if you have accountability partners. Here are a few ways to create conditions for better success:
- Divide overwhelming tasks into small ones. For example, if you want to write a 200-page book, write two pages daily and you’ll finish in just over three months.
- Attach a “by when” to every action item. With a clearly identified completion time you have a goal. Without one you have only an idea.
- Choose one task as your day’s priority. Little things accomplished steadily over time create big things.
Bottom line: Be willing to give up good things in your life if you want to achieve greater things. Make the tough decisions and then work with accountability partners to help you succeed. Otherwise, good things might forever be the obstacles to the great things you can do.
Daniel Bobinski, who has a doctorate in theology, is a best-selling author and a popular speaker at conferences and retreats. For more than 30 years he’s been working with teams and individuals (1:1 coaching) to help them achieve excellence. He was also teaching Emotional Intelligence since before it was a thing. Reach him by email at DanielBobinski@protonmail.com or 208-649-6400.
