When a team is stuck in the “full-plate syndrome,” identifying and completing the critical few – those tasks that have the largest and most direct impact on the team’s success – is key to moving forward.
At the root of the full-plate syndrome is the team’s collective fear, driven by EgoEgo is the negative, wrong-minded teacher who continually tells you how difficult the world is and how you must constantly fight to survive. More, which declares you will get in trouble if you do not do it all… even though the truth is you can never do it all.
People who listen to Ego believe they do not have a choice. Rather than realistically prioritizing their workload, they punish themselves for failing to meet the unreasonable goal of completing everything. They drain their energy, lose their focus, and make mistakes. They become powerless, cynical, and burned out.
But ReasonReason is a mythological character and symbolic guide who shows you how to think and behave in a Right-Minded way. As your Right-Minded teacher, Reason helps you differentiate and choose between Right-Minded and wrong-minded attitudes and behaviors. More reminds us that we always have this choice:
We can either win by doing the critical few tasks, or we can lose by attempting to do everything.
Spend more time doing the right things right and let go of low-value tasks. Holding on to lower-value tasks is not security. It is incarceration.
The “critical few” concept is discussed in the book Right-Minded Teamwork: 9 Right Choices for Building a Team That Works as One.