This week we finished up our free IEP fall webinar series and in two of our sessions we asked the viewers a simple question:
Imagine it’s the night before your wedding, what is essential in ensuring you get hitched tomorrow….without a hitch?
As you can imagine, and as often happens when we ask this question, the answers were flowing.
“Your dress”
“The caterer is ready”
“The groom!”
“The venue is decorated”, and the list went on.
In the end the majority of what folks thought was essential, was in fact not essential at all. Think about it. To truly get married tomorrow all you really need is your partner, an officiant, and a piece of paper to make it legal.
Being an essentialist is not easy. As described in this months recommended IEP read, Essentialism by Greg McKeown, an essential is:
- Someone who discerns the “trivial many from the vital few.”
- Someone who can cut out the trivial many.
- Someone who can remove obstacles and make execution effortless.
- Someone who knows their direction and asks “Is this essential?” before taking on new projects.
In our projects here at IEP we quite often see teams stressed and leaders overwhelmed. This causes us to ask them “Is what you are doing actually essential?” For the stressed out team member, is doing more info-sessions to drum up business for a faculty-led program actually essential? Or is it more essential to read past data and better understand why the program didn’t fill? For the overwhelmed leader, is it essential to go to multiple conferences during the spring term? Is it truly going to make a difference in your workplace and cause your anxiety levels to go down, or at the next conference will you once again be stating how overwhelmed you are.
Our recommended read of the month, Essentialism, is also our recommended first step in becoming an essentialist. Grab the book and read it in between Thanksgiving food coma naps. We promise you won’t regret it and will come out of it asking yourself throughout your day, “Is this essential?”
Curious to know more about our coaching services or want to just chat about this book? Grab a slot in my calendar and let’s connect!
By: Scott Tayloe, Executive Consultant for IEP
