Looking to prevent costly mistakes and boost productivity? Let me tell you a story that might help.
In my first job out of college I worked with a guy named Tim. He was older than me, but we were both into video production and movies and quickly bonded over that.
Tim had a family rule that he was serious about. He had instilled this in his wife and their 17-year-old son from a very young age. The rule was simple, yet profound—never set anything on top of the car.
We’ve all done it. Carrying an armload of stuff, fumbling with the keys to unlock the car or open the door. You set something on the top of the car while you open the door. That was a major no-no in Tim’s book because it was too easy to forget and drive off with the item still on your roof.
I learned Tim’s rule one time when we were out, and I innocently set something on the roof. He wasn’t mean with his reprimand, but he made it clear I shouldn’t do that again. It didn’t matter if it was the coffee you just bought or an expensive laptop. As far as Tim was concerned, you didn’t ever put anything on top of the car.
At first, I thought Tim’s rule was a little crazy and his passion for enforcing it was much ado about nothing. But through the years I’ve thought about it a lot. There’s a deeper principle hidden in that somewhat arbitrary rule.
At the heart of Tim’s rule was the idea that you don’t want to put yourself in the position where something bad can happen. Accidents happen, even to the most vigilant. So don’t create a scenario for an accident to occur.
This principle has applications far beyond putting things on car roofs. There are lots of situations we put ourselves in every day that could lead to mishaps or negative outcomes. Avoiding those situations altogether can eliminate accidents from happening.
When we are kids, especially teenagers, it’s easy to see rules as a limit being imposed arbitrarily—like Tim’s roof rule. When we become parents, we see rules as a layer of protection to keep our kids from experiencing harm.
When our boys were little, we had a family rule. No running in a parking lot. We would say it over and over to our boys because we knew they wouldn’t be as aware of their surroundings if they were running through the parking lot.
It was for their safety more than it was to limit their ability to run.
Rules give you guardrails to keep you from straying off the right path. If you’re really opposed to the term “rules,” use “systems” instead. Systems can provide a framework for success; a way to consistently perform at your peak.
What rules do you have in place to minimize negative outcomes from occurring?
What systems do you have in place to help you succeed?
Part of Wholistic Productivity is being aware of the potential points of failure and finding ways to reduce or eliminate them. In the Wholistic Productivity Planner, there’s a section called Detours, specifically for this purpose.
By tracking the types of tasks or interruptions that take you off course, you can look for patterns. Then you can build rules or systems at address those specific disruptors, so they are no longer issues.
When you see rules or systems to protect you from negative outcomes and give structure to the positive results.