Originally published in The Newnan Times-Herald, read here.
Just before I began my workout, I stood in front of the dry board, staring at the list of exercises to be completed over the next hour.
Most of us who attend this midweek workout often refer to it as “Hurricane Wednesday.” I know it as “this is going to be a long hour” and “I am going to feel this tomorrow.”
Nonetheless, as I stood there, I noticed a sentence at the top of the board written in cursive with a red dry-erase marker. It said, “The next hour is only 4% of your day.”
As I have reflected on this, I am reminded of how many times people in leadership positions have attempted to launch big, bold causes, ideas and changes within a company.
As the unfolding occurs, we find ourselves destroying more than we help. Employees, peers or family members are murmuring, “Here we go again.”
There is no question that there are appropriate times for broad and sweeping change, program implementations and the like. My commentary is directed at what can become the endless new-idea regime in many companies, where they just read the latest best-seller and mentally plan a military beach landing to vanquish (fill in the blank at your company).
Instead, I have found that lasting value and improvement in winning hearts and minds for change come when we commit to a specific daily investment of our time, leading to a slight change in direction based on our actions.
Investing 4% of your day (one hour) in modernizing your company brand, sales training, personal relationships or customer retention will create incremental change and help your company reach its vision organically.
When you think about three degrees, it does not sound like much. But in a short period of time and distance, you can change your trajectory to success. Leaders who help others make incremental three-degree changes improve lives, work performance, return on investment, sales, personal and customer relationships, employee morale and families, and the list goes on.
As a manager with responsibility for relationships across the United States, Europe and Asia, I allocate more than 4% of my time to building long-term relationships. My aim for higher-than-competitive results could call for actions that move ideas by more than three degrees. However, if 4% of my day to get three degrees of change is just what it took to help my colleagues and sphere of influence achieve greater success, I love that too.
Perhaps today, you and I can commit just 4% of our time, not to a new initiative or grand plan, but to someone who needs it. A neighbor. A colleague. A struggling friend. A local cause.
Small, intentional investments of time have a way of changing direction, sometimes far more than we expect. And over time, those three-degree shifts can strengthen families, neighborhoods and communities, quietly moving all of us closer to where we were meant to go.
