Elon Musk may call his latest innovation the Boring Company, but he’s not the only one with a boring goal.
But instead of tunneling under Los Angeles, my goal is to run a literally boring organization.
It’s not that I want my work to be boring and mundane, but I do want to avoid the unnecessary stress of looming deadlines and being frazzled.
Entrepreneur and writer Paul Jarvis had this to say about running a boring business:
“I like having a boring business. I’ve purposefully worked at making it as dull as possible.
There are no all-night hackathons of one or jam-packed days where I sit and work for 16+ hours. There are never, ever just-under-the-wire deadline achievements.
If you watched me go about my day, you’d be bored to tears. You likely won’t see me excited, frantic, or even that energetic. I sit at my computer, get my work done as quickly as possible with the least number of distractions, then I stop working.
This doesn’t mean I don’t work hard or consistently, or even that I don’t really love what I do, it just means I plan my work and schedule in a way that keeps me just busy enough to propel my business forward but not so busy that I’m constantly reacting and overwhelmed. Being non-reactive with work means that my schedule exists to get ahead of it.”
What a lovely idea.
I’m sure each of us would like to stop reacting and feeling overwhelmed.
The wonderful thing is that this goal is achievable if we do a few things that Jarvis mentioned…..
Work with the least number of distractions.
Plan your schedule.
Plan your work.
Many of us do at least one of those things, probably planning our schedules, but we often miss the other two.
Planning how you work is as important as planning what you are working on. As for distractions, they are among a leader’s worst enemies.
This week, be on the look-out for ways that you can get ahead of your schedule. Working on a blog article? Write two of them instead of just one.
Meeting with a donor or potential client in-person? Try to schedule two appointments on the same day.
Posting on social media? Use a post scheduling app like Buffer to queue up enough posts for the whole week.
These things may seem small, but they are little nudges that push us closer to the goal of running a boring organization.
Your health, your sanity, your team, and family and friends will thank you.
Our newsletter will help you grow your Christian business or ministry online:
Disclosure: Some of the links on our website are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, we will receive an affiliate commission. We only recommend products or services that we feel will add value to our followers. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
