Everyone gets comfortable with how they do things. We develop routines so we don’t have to think. And the 5th mantra helps us embrace a certain kind of destruction.
“Work will take exactly as much time as you give it.”
That’s the way I used to teach this mantra. Another way was this:
“People will rise to the level of expectation set before them.”
When you read these statements, they don’t feel the same. One is talking about reinvention and speed, another is talking about effort and timelines, and the third is talking about expectations and performance.
And yet I’m telling you they’re all the same.
Why? Well, here’s my version of this truth.
You will do things the way you always do it. Therefore, it will take the time you assume it will take.
So when I ask you how long it will take, you will give me an answer that is based on how you always do things.
How do I make things go faster?
Well, they can’t. Not if I allow or encourage you to do them the way you’ve always done them. But if I give you less time, what will happen?
If I constrain you, there’s no doubt you’ll consider me inconsiderate. But guess what? You’ll likely hit the new mark.
And when you rise to the level of expectation I had for you, I’ll ask you how you did it. And you’ll tell me you came up with a different approach – because the old way would have taken as much time as you had predicted it would take.
Only when I leverage constraints and raise the expectations I have, will it cause you to step out of your comfort zone and find a new alternative to business as usual.
Only when you destroy the old way you’ve always done something and embrace constant reinvention, only then will you speed up.
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