Sequencing

LIFE AND SUCCESS ARE ALL ABOUT SEQUENCE

Everything you do in life is a series of sequences. If done in the correct order, tremendous results can be achieved. But, if done in the incorrect order (sequence) you won’t achieve the desired results.

While many people understand that life is a series of sequences, most don’t realize that “Success” is also a series of sequences.

Every major success is attained through a series of minor successes. The minor successes must be achieved in a certain sequence or your goal, your major success, will not be achieved…certainly not as fast as it could be, if done properly.

When you work on a project, it’s important to write down the sequence in order to maximize the results. This is true in business as well as your personal life.

Let’s say you’re ready to start your project. You’ve already made your observations and now you are sequencing them i.e. putting them in chronological order. Don’t think about it as a list…just put things in the correct order.

The question you must ask yourself is, “What’s the next logical step”?

Just like the car scenario, everything is broken down into logical steps.

Good observation is very important in sequencing. You first make your list of observations about whatever it is you wish to achieve. Then, using knowledge gained during observation, you put things down in a sequential list according to the next logical step.

Don’t worry about how long each step will take…just get things in the order of next logical step.

CREATE SHORTCUTS WHEN POSSIBLE

Let’s say you have a problem with your computer. You try to fix it, but you just don’t know what’s going on, and you have no idea how to fix it. What do you do? You take it to the repair shop or call a knowledgeable friend or family member to fix it.

In either case, they make a few keystrokes and voila, it’s fixed! Why? Because they knew a short cut, a more efficient way to fix it.

You’ve probably experienced a task where it takes you a certain amount of time to complete…and then you see someone else complete the same task in half the time. (I hate it when that happens.) Why can they do it faster? They can do it faster because they know a shortcut!

So, what you need to do is take your already sequenced list of observations and find shortcuts for them.

By definition, in this scenario, this is anything that can be done to complete the list faster. Remember this is an exhaustive list. You’re not talking about two or three items; these are all the observations of what it will take to finish the goal or project. This list could easily have 25, 50 or 100 items on it.

The object is to determine what you can do to help you complete the list faster.

Here are some suggestions.

1. Combining Steps: Your first step is to look at your list and ask yourself, “are all these steps really necessary?” “Can any of these steps be done simultaneously?” Do they all need to be separate steps or can they be combined putting two or more steps together?
2. Outsource To Shorten The Work You Do: Your second step is to decide if any of the steps are good candidates for outsourcing. Do you have to do it or could someone do it faster and maybe even better than you?
   
   NOTE: When you outsource, make sure the task is significant enough to be outsourced. Some steps may be so small that it would take you more time to outsource them than to do them yourself.
3. Automate The Steps: Thirdly, can the step be automated? Is there software to help, or is there a way to automate it so something else can do the step?
4. Remove What’s Not Necessary: The fourth question you need to ask yourself is, can you remove anything from the list? Is everything, on the list, absolutely necessary to reach your goal?

I suggest you make your list then step away from it for a few hours or even a day or two, then come back and look at it. When looking with a fresh mind you may find some steps are not necessary.

Use your best judgement and decide if everything on the list is absolutely necessary to achieve the desired outcome. The question becomes, if you remove something what are the consequences of removing it?

It’s important to remember that every time you remove something from the process there are consequences. The consequence may be good (you shorten the process and the time it takes to finish) or bad (you removed a vital component and it will cause problems in the future).

BELIEVE IN WHAT YOU’RE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH!

When you are creating this list, you are only at the first step of whatever you’re trying to complete. It’s VERY IMPORTANT that you believe in what you are doing.

You may find out that what you’re trying to do has never been done before…BUT… individual elements of it may have been accomplished before and this will allow you to build a level of belief around it.

On Thursday the 6th of May 1954 Roger Bannister ran the mile in under four minutes. Before he accomplished this, medical experts from around the world believed if a man ran the mile in under four minutes his heart could burst. Roger proved them wrong!

At his point in time no one had ever run the mile in under four minutes… but he did it! And…just six weeks later, John Landy broke Roger’s record.

Within three years, 16 others had run the mile in under four minutes. Why? Because the “belief” that it couldn’t be done was blown apart…AND…people could now observe and see how it was done.

To summarize, build the list first. Observe everything there is to know about what it is you are trying to accomplish. After you have compiled your list you want to sequence it using these important five steps.

1. What can be combined?
2. Can any of the steps be outsourced?
3. Can any of the steps be automated?
4. Can anything be removed from the list?
5. Believe you can accomplish it!!!