Doing the bare minimum

“How much do I really need to do?”

It’s an interesting question and when applied can lead you to growth or lead you to shrink and decrease. One one side when you ask how much do I really do, you could be asking it because you already have a full plate and may be looking for things to cut out of your life. Looking for the essentials are what will help you be more effective as you focus on what you are uniquely capable of doing.

On the other hand, if you are asking “How much do I really need to do?” because you are trying to do the least amount of work and are avoiding eating that frog, then you are headed down the path of least resistance and an eventual decrease in your capacity.

In some cases, as you look at the task at hand you may realize that you are not the best person to do the task. You may realize that you could delegate it to somebody more able than you. They may either have more time or more ability in that task and so it makes sense to hand it off. In this case you are not avoiding it, but leveraging the abilities of others

When you ask yourself “How much do I really need to do?” be sure you are asking for the right reasons. Nobody is served when you shrink from hard stuff. Yourself included.

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The image is “A Minimal Mac Desktop” by John Dunne. You can find it on flickr.