From the course: Time Management Tips

When to fix, and when not to fix, a problem

From the course: Time Management Tips

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When to fix, and when not to fix, a problem

- We're surrounded by little time thieves. One of these time thieves is when we try to solve problems we should not try to solve. What do I mean by that? Let's take a simple example. Imagine you are using your smartphone to type in a text message, and suddenly it freezes and turns itself off. That would be pretty annoying, right? Or what if we see someone on your team say something mildly rude to a customer? It just came out the wrong way. What you should do about these events? The answer depends on how many times they occurred. When something annoying or frustrating happens once, it is an incident. In general, you should ignore incidents. Life is sometimes weird, and random stuff just happens to us. If we stop and try to solve every single one of these random incidents, we're going to waste a lot of time trying to solve a statistical anomaly. Now, of course, the exception to this is if something very serious or life-threatening occurs. In the absence of that, though, ignore incidents. They're not worth your time. As a parent, occasionally I see my children do or say foolish things, but if it's the first time I've seen it, I've learned to just let it go. They're children. They make mistakes, and they'll learn from it, likely. Even grownup people are the same way. However, if something occurs two or more times, then it is a pattern. Patterns are very different. A pattern means that there is a high likelihood that this will repeat over and over and over. Allowing this to repeat over and over is not productive. It will steal our time and focus. This is why we want to process patterns. So, ignore incidents and process patterns. By processing, I mean that we take that item and put it into a gathering point to take action on it. You can do this by sending yourself an email or writing a note for yourself and putting it in your inbox. For instance, you could write a note that says your phone has turned off more than once and you need to resolve it. Stop my phone from turning off constantly. That's enough. Then using the system I outline in Time Management Fundamentals, you will process that note. You'll decide what the next step is, when you will do it, and where the home for that note is after you're done with it. In this way, you reduce the constant annoyances and problems that you experience in life, and you get better and better over time. You make continual improvements. In summary, when something happens, ask yourself, is this an incident, or is it a pattern? And then ignore incidents and process patterns.

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