Control, No Control, and What Matters

Every person, team and business has a finite amount of resources.

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Leadership Tools: Control vs No Control vs Focusing on What Matters.

It is how we choose to use those resources that determines the level of our success, the speed we get there and our joy while on the journey.  

  • Spend time developing your strategy and determining what really matters in helping you get there. 
  • Assume your mental model of what really matters is incomplete.  
  • Assume that you have more control than you think.  Stephen Covey gives a great example of expanding your Circle of Influence in this 3 minute video which is expanded upon more in the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  
  • Assume this will take a while but everything worth achieving takes time.  Success is about taking a series of smooth and deliberate steps in the right direction every day.  Remain focused on the objective. Don’t get sidetracked by momentary obstacles or setbacks. Learn from the Marshmallow Experiment.

Assess yourself over the last week:

  • How much time did you spend on things you can control but don’t really matter?  
  • How much time did you spend thinking or complaining about things you can’t control?  
  • How much time did you spend developing a more accurate model - learning what you didn’t even know you needed to learn?
  • How much time did you spend prioritizing around what really matters?
  • How much time did you spend working to build more influence over those areas where you currently have no control that truly matter?



Tasks vs. Key Results
“Life favors the specific ask and punishes the vague wish.” - Tim Ferriss Excellent advice from the book Tribe of Mentors that can be applied to the hiring and management process for contractors.
Time-on-Tools and Minimum Required Installation
Labor productivity IS NOT the biggest problem with field productivity. Under similar conditions the variation in how fast two crafts people actually “turn wrenches” is about 2X but there are far bigger problems to tackle. Focus on these three areas.
Advanced Business Development for General Contractors
Finally, a resource designed specifically for Senior Management in the construction industry. This workshop will help explain the “Art and Science of Business Development” and what you can do to maximize the processes you already have.