Improve Your Productivity With What I Learned Shoveling Snow

Copyright (c) 2011 Carrie Greene

It snowed overnight and the snow turned into sleet and icy rain. If you know anything about shoveling snow you understand that this is trouble. The snow on the ground gets incredibly heavy, if you leave it on the ground it will freeze solid and there's no way a snow blower is going to be of any help. Shoveling the driveway was now the number one thing on my to-do list for the day.

As I worked shoveling in the sleet, I saw a connection to what many of us in business — tasks that we have to do that we'd rather not. As I shoveled I realized that I was applying the same ten strategies I use in my business every day to get the more difficult projects done. Hope they help you as much as they helped me!

1. Assess the situation. Do you really have to do this? Do you know exactly what you have to do? When I looked out my window I saw about four inches of snow, the top inch was freezing up. The first thing I did was check the weather report. Is there any chance it will be above freezing for the next several days? Answer, no. Okay, I have to do this. How much do I have to do? All of it.

2. Is there another way to accomplish the task? My husband is out of town and despite a 2-hour delayed school opening, my daughter was finishing up some undone homework that was due (that's another story) and my sons had been hired to shovel a neighbor's driveway. Yup, it's still up to me.

3. Set yourself up for success with the tools that you need for the job. I put warm clothes on along with boots and gloves. I got the shovel out.

4. Get going. I went outside and started to shovel.

5. Break the task up. We have a pretty big driveway so I knew I was in for a big job but yet it seemed that every shovel full I picked up the driveway grew. Maybe you're "supposed" to start at the top or bottom or go all the way across or something but that wasn't working for me. Instead I cut the driveway up into random parcels and just addressed each area individually.

6. Don't worry for perfection. The snow was heavy and as I shoveled I missed spots and some snow fell off the shovel. That was okay. I kept my goal in mind to clear the driveway, and didn't worry about the spots that weren't perfect.

7. Keep and eye out for other options BUT don't stop to wait for them. Our neighbor stores his snow blower in our shed. When I was about half way through the job he came to get it. He told me that if it worked he'd finish up mine when he was done. I debated stopping and waiting to see what would happen but instead kept going. As it turned out I was right, it wasn't "snow blower quality" snow. Had I waited for him to come back to finish up my driveway I would have ended up doing it anyway but the snow would have been even heavier and it would have been later.

8. Go after the little pieces you missed. After you've done the bulk of the job the things that you missed stand out and you can easily go after them. Remember how I said don't worry about perfection. Well after I finished clearing the driveway it was really easy to see the places that I had missed and they were really easy to address.

9. Finish the job. The driveway took almost two hours to clear. By the time I was done I was soaking wet and cold and it was just about time to bring the kids to school (remember, they had a 2-hour delay). The only thing left to do was the back where the trash cans are and the back stairs. My initial thought was to do them "later" but I realized that right then was the best time to do it. I was already in the groove, I had the shovel in hand, there wasn't that much more to do and I knew "later" would never come.

10. Celebrate when you're done. I came inside, warmed up the tea that my daughter made me and relaxed.

I use these ten strategies as I work within my own business every day and as I work with my clients on projects or tasks that seem bigger or somehow daunting.

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