Today’s Mandala Message: Be Clear in the First 15%
This week I’m working through Principle #52 “When In Doubt, Check It Out”. I set my intention today to ponder the “15% rule”. Canfield states: “Checking out your assumptions improves your communication, your relationships, your quality of life, and most especially your success and productivity”. He shares what W. Edwards Deming said: “the first 15% of any project is the most important. This is where you need to get clear, gather data, check things out.” It’s in this 15% that you establish things like your core values, your purpose, your objectives, your strategies, and so on.
On a small scale, using my marriage as an example, when we would receive a put-it-together-yourself piece of furniture, we would tend to get into disagreements while assembling it because it turns out we seem to have different approaches that are diametrically opposed to each other.
Then one day I realized that the important thing is that the piece of furniture be put together so that I can use it. Does it matter whether it gets done the way I WOULD do it or the way he would do it? I discovered…no, it doesn’t matter. So now I tell my husband, “you lead the way on putting this together, I’ll be your assistant. You just tell me what you need me to do and/or how I can help and I’ll do it.” Now instead of these things being frustrating, argument-inducing, time-consuming ordeals, they go much more smoothly, a lot more efficiently, and, in the end, our marriage remains on solid ground…and I get a new piece of furniture. 😁
A good mindfulness practice would be to dedicate the first 15% of your next project on establishing how you want it to be managed.
So how about you? When it comes to your projects, do you just dive in without the facts? Do you spend any time in the beginning of a project to determine such things as the project’s purpose, how you will measure your success, and/or establish any of your objectives and strategies?
“Trying to manage a project
— Karen Tate
without project management
is like trying to play a football game
without a game plan.”
Author
Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
All Things Mandalas
An Invitation
I invite you to color along with me this year as part of what I’m calling “The Year of Self-Exploration and Expansion” with all of my “Mandalas of the ___” (day, week, month, year). If you’re interested in more of a self-exploration approach to coloring, check out my “Coloring Mandalas as Meditation”. You can download this mandala at MandalaoftheWeek.com.
Mandala of the Day 