I pick my seat on an airplane based on the length of the flight. Anything less than 2 hours and I’ll sit in the window seat. If it’s longer than that, I’ll sit in the aisle.
On those occasions where I’m in the aisle seat, I’ll get smacked in the head at least once by a clueless passenger. Picture this. Clueless passenger walks down the center aisle with a backpack double-strapped. He turns to see if his wife is behind him and his backpack smacks me in the head. Happens all the time. He has no idea what he does negatively impacts another person.
Back when I was a dental assistant in the Navy, I remember something a bit similar. We had patients schedule in 45 minute blocks. That was the time allotted to seat, treat, dismiss and then clean the room and instruments for the next patient. It all sounded great on paper. But, factor in a patient showing up late, the dentist deciding to fix additional problems, or something going wrong in the procedure and you rarely kept to the times. Your only hope was to catch up during your lunch hour, which you were lucky if you had. The dentist of course had a full hour. The tech might be lucky to get 10 minutes. Navy dentists had no idea what they did negatively impacted their technicians.
Which brings us to you. And me.
Is it possible we are doing thing that are negatively impacting somebody else? Maybe showing up late for meetings or coming in unprepared? Maybe dragging out a project or failing to communicate details? Results are only one part of success. If we leave a trail of unhappy co-workers or clients, the best results bring only partial happiness.
This week, think about how every step in your daily routine could possibly annoy or inconvenience somebody. I know for a fact that I procrastinate and change things at the last minute. It annoys my assistant and my strategic partners too. I’m going to work on it. I wonder if you might do the same?