Some of you may have read "Alice in wonderland". Alice is a small girl. In one of the episodes, Alice starts running - running very fast. At some point, she comes to a fork, where a black cat was sleeping. Alice asks the cat, "Mr Cat, Mr Cat, I am in a terrible hurry. Can you please tell me which road I should take". The cat opens one eye and says lazily, "depends upon where you want to go". This irritated Alice. She said, "I told you I am in a hurry. You are trying to waste my time. I don't care where I go. Now tell me which road". The cat goes back to sleep after saying, "Then, it does not matter which road you take". If you do not know where you want to go, all roads lead there.
In management of any activity, you have goals; when you know precisely where you want to go and in what time frame and within what cost budget. Turn the spotlight on to your goal and keep it lighted up all the time. This helps in restoring the focus back o the goal, just in case you get distracted and stray away from it for any reason.
Ralph Evans, the American Consultant calls it "running", when a person moves through life without well defined goals. This person does not know, why he does whatever he is doing. He is willing to settle for anything. It is pointless to undertake any activity without some goals – which relate to (desired) specific results, within given time and cost constraints.
Given unlimited resources of money and time, any one can achieve anything. But in a real world situation, you find that you are always confronted with time and cost constraints. Therefore, it is essential for you to achieve your goals within the given time and cost constraints. Use your resources efficiently and effectively to produce the desired goal or result.
The next thought is about “Vital few and trivial many”
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