Dear InterNACHI

It takes some of us many years -- some a lifetime -- to learn that most useful rules on doing a better job are so deceptively simple as to escape recognition. We often tend to wave aside the simplest things as lacking in deep and profound significance. Anyone who takes the time to heed the following simple suggestions, however, should have ten fewer obstacles before him/her in pursuit of success on the job. These tips may be hard to follow, but they are easy to understand.

1. Do One Thing at a Time

Remember, no man/woman can do more. Two things at a time or three things at a time are less than one thing at a time. Here, mathematics stands confounded, for here always -- more is less.

2. Know the Problem

Much time is skillfully wasted by people trying to find the answer when they really don't understand the problem. Be sure you have a clear (and agreed upon) description of the problem first.

3. Learn to Listen

No one has a monopoly on good ideas, so listen. Open your ears before you open your mouth--it may open your eyes.

4. Learn to ask Questions

Make a point to ask questions if only to double check your position. Do not approach a problem with a preconceived notion of the answer. This may be quite satisfying to the ego, but seldom to the solution of the problem at hand.

5. Distinguish Sense from Nonsense

If it takes a five-page memo to explain or justify 25 words of text, stop and take a second look.

6. Accept Change as Inevitable

Every job is subject to change. Beware of the pat solution. A rule good enough ten years ago--or even one year ago--may not be good enough for today.

7. Admit Your Mistakes

It is a great temptation to rationalize our mistakes into a towering edifice built on a foundation of words. No matter how glittering the fabrication, there is the inevitable risk that someone else will see through it. Build on a foundation of reality--or you will not be building at all.

8. Be Simple

Five- or six-syllable words depress readers and may not communicate, but serve only to inflate the writer's ego. Use words as if you were charged five cents for every one.

9. Be Calm

Sensible and sound opinions are seldom reached in a frenzy. Judgment and maturity are more likely to thrive in a contemplative atmosphere than a hurricane. Once you depart from calmness, you risk confusion and chaos.

10. Smile

Effective workers are usually serious, but the best try not to show it too much. One of the commonest failures of many persons is loss of perspective. After arduously scaling the molehill, we plant our success flag triumphantly at its crest, proclaiming it to be greater than Mount Everest. We take ourselves too seriously.

About Joe Tedesco