Are effective people born or made? From the hand of the artisan consultant Antonio José Masiá we review what the ‘cracks’ of what he calls “efficient effectiveness” have in common, that is, achieving objectives with the resources within reach. Do you also want to be one of them? Well, here is a decalogue of attitudes that you can cultivate in your day-to-day work.
By Antonio José Masiá
@ajmasia
Immersed in a tremendously fluid paradigm, we cannot afford to let anything potentially useful slip away, as what might seem absurd today could be truly valuable tomorrow. How do we achieve this? By noting down anything that catches our attention in a completely reliable system. Efficient people do not trust their own minds, which is why they externalise everything that grabs their attention, considering it truly valuable.
Our current reality means we have to face more workload than we can actually handle. How can we solve this? By choosing the best options at any given moment. This implies that we first have to define our work in order to then choose what is best we can do. Peter Drucker used to say that in knowledge work, the task cannot be presupposed but must be determined.
Everything in the universe tends towards disorder, unless we do something about it. It's no use knowing everything you want or need to do if you don't review it periodically, both to get started and to know how your path to the future is progressing.
Are you sure that what you are doing is taking you closer to the results you are pursuing? Effectiveness has a direct relationship with this aspect. Effective people walk unhurriedly, taking firm steps with their gaze fixed on the horizon. This is only possible with control and perspective.
Separating our personal and professional lives only contributes to an imbalance in our own lives, as, indirectly, we will begin to prioritise, leaving what is strictly personal safely in the background. We only have one mind, and it must be capable of making decisions about what is uniquely best for us.
How? Simply by giving it the importance it deserves, meaning none. We can only decide on what is truly objective and depends on us. The rest is outside our control and should not influence our results, and therefore our effectiveness.
In order to achieve our goals, we must have autonomy. Otherwise, the path becomes complicated and narrows, with fewer options for action, which usually leads to demotivation.
This implies they have control over what they do and experience mastery of their abilities. This fact helps them to steadily increase their effectiveness through the improvement that comes from relentless practice.
It's difficult to reach a destination if you wander aimlessly. Effective people act with purpose, knowing why they do things.
In the 21st century, the concept of productivity no longer makes sense. Now, efficient effectiveness does, that is, achieving the results we aim for by optimising our resources in the best way possible. The main resource to consider is our attention, meaning where we focus our attention at any given moment.
Consultant artisan and coach, Antonio José Masía is the author of the blog Changing Beliefs, in which he talks about how to develop value in people and organisations by improving their effectiveness. His career began as a technical architect, but reinvention came through coaching. Since then, this restless native of Cadiz has been in a constant process of personal and professional development.
