How many meetings do you go to each week because they were in your calendar from the time you moved into your job? How many things do you do because they’ve always been done? It’s very easy to get into routines. Our brains love routine. If we can put things into repeatable patterns, then we can free up our prefrontal cortex to think about more interesting things.
The problem at work is that we’ve embedded a bunch of mind-numbing routines that aren’t adding value and, in fact, are taking time away from us better used to do the type of high-quality thinking work needed to meet the demands of an agile workplace. Doing a periodic audit of where your time is going and what you can defer, delegate, or let die is a great exercise to help you focus on the right things and eliminate routines that have put you in a rut.
What’s a routine you’re in at work that you’d like to get out of?
#LeadershipTruth
