The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 46 Degrees
I hate to be told what to do. In fact, if there’s one way to get me to do anything, it’s to make a rule that that thing is forbidden. Seeing that line in the sand somehow activates my cosmic energy that makes it impossible for me to do anything but cross that line. “Dear System… I’m sorry, I’m a problem child.”
Because of this “quality,” I’ve spent years doing everything in my power to remove limits imposed on me by others. I won’t work in a job, I won’t be told what to do and when. I’m making up my life, on my own terms. The words “have to” just don’t compute for me.
I’m allergic to constraints.
While this “freedom” might sound like paradise to some people, it does not come without cost. When you make it a point to be able to do anything, how in the world are you supposed to decide what to do?
Eventually, I figured out my mistake. It wasn’t “constraints” that were the problem, it’s that I saw them as an enemy and not an ally.
I have to admit, I chanced upon this whole thing (like most things!) completely by accident. I was getting really annoyed at the quality of my experience throughout my work week. I felt like I was running around like a headless chicken most days. Like I was running a sprint from this to that to something else.
It might make you feel like a hero to do this for like a day or two. But after a while, it gets really, REALLY tiring. The telephone was particularly annoying. It felt like my days were peppered with phone calls to the point that I was interrupting myself so much I couldn’t even get anything done. Sadly, that’s exactly what I was doing.
And so I did something very brain dead simple. I starting doing phone calls only on two days per week, during certain times. I setup a self-service scheduling system that allowed prospects and clients to schedule themselves. No more phone tag, no more constant interruption. I added a constraint and increased my productivity and peace of mind.
And that’s when I started realizing that constraints, the opposite of what my independent thinking mind perceived as the route to freedom, could in fact BE what I was missing.
Constraints boosted my productivity immensely. I started being able to see that by ADDING a constraint, it made it clear what I should be doing and what I shouldn’t be doing.
It became easy to make decisions about what I do and what I don’t do.
Do I take a phone call on Wednesday? The “freedom loving” Jason would have said, “Sure! Any time is fine. Whatever works for you!” The more intelligent Jason says, “I schedule phone calls on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is more convenient?”
It all comes down to decisions about what you do and what you don’t do.