The Lawn Mower Story

I have an interesting story about my neighbor and his lawn mower. I feel this is a great analogy on personal effective and time management.

Our neighbor's lawn mower hasn't worked correctly for over a year. It sounds like it needs a tune up and constantly stalls. We have about the same size lawn that takes me less than an hour to mow. Because of the problems with his mower for the last year, he spends over 4 hours trying to finish his mowing.

He also spends additional time tinkering with the mower to get it to work. I joked with him, "It sounds like it's time to take the mower for service." He said, "Oh, it's old and I tried to fix it. We need a new mower."

My wife talked to his wife. We found that mowing the lawn and fixing the mower was a great accuse to get out of the performing more important activities around the house.

So how does this apply to our business and our lives?

• How many times to we waste extra time because of ineffective habits or poorly thought out business processes? This is a killer on time. I run my business through checklists and prepared presentations. Since I know exactly what needs to be accomplished and I can do it right away without hesitation, I save tremendous amounts of time. Also, Never let an easily fixed problem create extra work.
• What things are we wasting money on? My neighbor jumped to a conclusion that getting a new mower was the answer with finding out the extent of the problem. This mistake could have cost him an extra few hundred dollars. Get the mower properly tuned up by a professional is very inexpensive. If the professional tell you that you need a new mower then you know it's time.
• How many times do we pick unimportant activities over important activities? This is a killer in business. Most business owners experience the E-myth's "entrepreneur seizure" and work in the business instead of working on the business.
• How many times do we let poor motives undermine our success process? I find this is the number one reason that most people spin their wheels in life. They focus on wrong things. They let their self-limiting beliefs guide them. They defend their right to going nowhere and living poorly.

Don't let you life become like my neighbor and his lawn mower.