2020-04-08 — Much Ado About Nothing

So… many years ago, I remember hearing a story (I honestly don’t know if it’s true or not) that went something like this: The CEO of a major company invited a consultant to help him better run his business. A meeting was scheduled, and the deal offered to the consultant was that one third of any increased profits that came from following the guidance the consultant provided would be given to the consultant for a period of three years.

At the time of the appointed meeting, the CEO was well prepared with notebook and pen in hand and additional personnel to help him sort through everything that the consultant was going to share during the meeting.

Such was the situation when the secretary knocked on the door, let in the consultant, and introduced her to the CEO and his colleagues.

But there was something a little bit off, thought the CEO and his colleagues. The woman who had walked in the room, the woman who was supposed to be this great consultant, didn’t bring any lecture materials, no presentation materials any kind. She simply sat down in the chair provided her, graciously thanked her hosts for inviting her to help them, and said the following:

“If you will be diligent in following what I’m about to share with you, you will see significant improvement in the efficiency of your business and your company’s bottom line.

“First, at the end of the work day, look over everything that has been done and everything that needs to be done for the benefit of the business. Then make a list of the top five most important things that need to be accomplished–in order of importance.

Second, when you arrive at work the next morning, go over your list and make any adjustments to your top-5 list that might need to be made for whatever reason.

“Third, start working on the first item on the list (the most important thing that needs to be accomplished), and keep working on it until it is completed. Once it has been completed, move to the next item on the list. Then work on that item until it has been completed. Keep going down the list, one by one, until you have come to the end of a normal work day. Don’t worry about how many of the items you completed. Just wrap up the workday at a reasonable hour.

“At the end of the work day, repeat step number one, and continue this process every day forever.”

The consultant then committed the CEO and his colleagues to follow the counsel, thanked them for the opportunity to be of service to their business, and having done so, concluded their very brief meeting.

Three months later the group met again to evaluate the results of having followed the consultant’s counsel.

The results were staggering.

The business had increased in efficiency by over 300% and in the revenue by more than 380%.

The meeting was again very brief, with the CEO and his colleagues thanking the consultant for her excellent counsel, handing her a check for a very large sum of money, and inviting her to return in another 3 months for a second evaluation.

End story.

I was reminded of that story again this morning as I thought about the items on my to-do list, and I (finally) made out my to-do list accordingly.

I had been significantly struggling to get my 2553 and 7004 IRS forms filled out and mailed to the IRS, but I made out my list today, and those were the first two things on my to-do list, ahead of everything else.

And guess what happened?

Yep, I finally got them done. They’ve been hanging over my head for months!!! but now they are done. (Hopefully, the IRS will be forgiving of the fact that they are late. 😬)

And do you know what? It was really much Ado about nothing. all the stress, all the concern, all the frustration, all the overwhelm… and I got it all done in probably 3 hours or so.

Wow.

Much Ado about nothing indeed.

After that, it was a very relaxing work day. I didn’t personally work on any cars myself. I got things organized for David on the cars he did for me, and I spent some time hanging out with my friend Miguel for his birthday, and do you know what?

As I was sitting in his kitchen at about 10 at night, for the first time in I don’t even know how long, I thought about needing to go home to get something done and realized that I’d finally done it! I had nothing hanging over my head that I absolutely needed to be done tonight. I could just stay there and enjoy being there.

All that, from following the principle in that story.

Is it a perfect principle? No. It’s overly simplistic, for sure. There are certainly other factors that need to be taken into account on occasion, and such rigid sticking to that process would actually be detrimental at times. However, it is also extremely helpful to follow the process knowing that there will be exceptions here and there that need to be made.

Such a blessing.

Anyway, so I didn’t do a whole lot today 😊. David did three jobs for me, and I helped Miguel a tiny bit and mostly just hung out and did the basic things I needed to do to keep the business running smoothly.

After hanging out at Miguel’s shop for a while, we went back to his place where he grilled dinner for us (it was his birthday, and he made food for us 😊).

It’s really cool, things have been going really well for him lately. He’s busted his butt to get the shop started oh, and it’s now starting to do well. He also got his dealer’s license and is starting to buy and sell cars. It’s been really good. I’m happy for him. He’s worked so hard and deserves it. 😊

Well, I’m pretty exhausted right now. It’s almost 2:30 a.m. I got home about 2 1/2 hours ago or so, but I ended of having a really good conversation about life with my nephew for the last two plus hours. Good stuff. One of these days I will write a post about some of the life principles that came up during our conversation.

For now, though… It’s gratitude time 😊.

1. I am so grateful that I was able to get those forms filled out and mailed off to the IRS! So so so grateful!

2. I am grateful that Thomas was home and was willing and able to take care of finalizing the sale of my pathfinder. The people who put the down payment down on it didn’t give me really any warning that they were coming today to finish paying for it and to pick it up. They live about an hour away, and they sent me a message when they were only 20 minutes away, and I had no idea they were even coming today. Fortunately, I had already decided to have all my paperwork signed and ready to go so that they could just come in finish signing the papers and pay for it and leave, but I was still grateful that Thomas was there to handle the transaction.

3. I’m grateful that I made the choice to go visit Miguel on his birthday instead of going home like I thought about doing because it was already late and he was far away. It’s so important to show the people we care about that we’re willing to be inconvenienced in order to spend time with them.

4. I am grateful that I have a worker who is doing jobs for me and earning money for me. It’s nice to be able to make money running the business I did not always having to have my hands covered in grease and oil.

5. I’m grateful to have been able to have the conversation with my nephew. I hope it was as helpful for him as it was for me.

Well, you great people you. Loves and hugs and good night 😊

~ s