Do you know what a toleration is? It is a nagging thought that pops up in your head on a regular basis. It could be frequent or infrequent but it is always there.
This time of year is the PERFECT time to remove tolerations from your life and your work so you can start the new year off as toleration-free as possible.
I use Google calendar and I had this daily reminder that I had “no meetings scheduled” for the day but could not figure out how this daily update was happening or how I could stop it. Instead, every day, I would receive the email, and I would delete the email.
Not only did this exercise frustrate me – showing me daily that I could not solve a simple calendar issue, but it took my attention and it took action on my part to make it go away.
Finally, I had enough. I went into Google calendars, looked through all of the options for the calendars I had and I found the source of my irritation! I unchecked a box, and problem solved.
A toleration with my mobile phone similarly caused me grief because the camera slowly became blurrier and blurrier. I figured I’d wait and get a new phone at the end of the year. Finally out of sheer frustration I did a Google search and realized within about a minute that my iPhone (based on a serial number range listed) had a defective camera and immediately went to the Apple store and got it replaced at no cost within about an hour. This was after I had attended big events with people I would have loved photos with. It was ridiculous that I put up with this irritant for so many weeks.
Tolerations cost you time, money (often), and typically energy. Because you are so focused on these little tolerations that pop up they can drain you – consciously or subconsciously of your focus, energy, and enthusiasm. They can cost you a sales opportunity. If you are a sales leader, they can cost you a sales rep.
What are YOUR tolerations?
They may be at home, such as disorganized dress clothes so that you have to wash or iron things at the last minute which impacts some of your work days. They may be at work:
- The conversation you’ve been putting off with a colleague whose work impacts yours
- The “non-sales time” you put in that robs you of your days and weeks
- The “non-sales time” your team is putting in that is robbing a whole team of their days and weeks
- The poor sales process that causes deals to get stuck inside your organization with too many people touching them for no apparent benefit
Maybe it is more serious and impacting your health, like addiction.
We all have tolerations – my advice is to choose one you no longer will put up with anymore, and SOLVE it. Take the power away from it and be done with it.
Strategize on the options you have to solve it. You may need input from others if this is a work issue that affects more than just you. Put a plan in place and make it happen.
You might end up like me with the two tolerations I mentioned – there were very simple remedies I could have found weeks before but I was too frustrated and limited in my thinking to be open to doing it until I was fed up.
Let me know how this goes for you @scoremoresales– and a few less tolerations in the word can only be a great thing!
Lori Richardson helps mid-sized companies grow revenues by solving key issues in their sales department - like recruiting, retention, diversity hiring, process, pipeline and leadership. She speaks at CEO groups on topics of sales growth. Clients include companies in the technology, telecom, manufacturing, distribution, and professional services industries. Subscribe to the award-winning blog, follow her on Twitter
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