Filtering the Wheat from the Chaff

How does this proverbial saying apply to Quality? Read on…


In our work, and in our lives, we are bombarded with information and requests for our time. We feel pulled in all directions. Admittedly, I too am bombarded by distractions and, because of my desire to help others, often find myself spread thin.

When I am spread too thin, I even find myself unable to meet all of the commitments that I have previously made. This, is the crux of the problem.

When we have more commitments then we have time, we have a few options:

1. We ignore some of our commitments.
2. We split our attention between our commitments and cut corners to meet them
3. We cut some of our commitments

None of these options are truly palatable to most, though only one of the options is really acceptable in the end. Let’s examine them closely.

If we simply ignore some of our commitments, we have effectively stopped delivering entirely on at least one of the items on our list. Failure to deliver at all is of course the worst quality level.

Those people who were awaiting our delivery will feel as though they were unimportant and may choose not only to leave us as our customers, but also to spread the word about our failure to deliver.

If we split our attention between commitments, we have a chance of delivery, but at what cost? Something’s got to give doesn’t it? Whether it be the quality of the end-product, or our family lives. We cannot possibly successfully deliver our best if we cannot focus our attention on the task at-hand.

That leaves us with the last of our three options. Cutting some of our commitments.

I recently had to fire my first customer. Yes, you heard it right, I had to fire a customer.

It sounds so strange, but the reality was, that it was necessary.

I labored over this decision, but in the end, it was clear. This particular customer had already taken quite a bit of my time (which I gave to him for FREE), and when I examined the amount and quality of business that he was likely to provide, it was clear to me that he would cost me to much time for a reasonably small amount of business.

I had to cut the commitments sooner rather than later. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. In fact, it went against my very nature. Naturally, the customer was upset, and his response further underscored the fact that I had made the right business decision.

As you go through your day, consider where you are spending your time carefully.

Is your time being spent on high-yield wheat or is it being spent on everything else?

You might find that by cutting some of your distractions and low yield commitments, you can be even more effective with the time you’ve got.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 8:14 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.