Enabler – Enemy To Completing A Task

We talk about people being enablers, those who encourage us to do things, mostly things that go against our better judgment or values. However, things can be enablers too.

Just recently, I came to the conclusion that the laundry basket is an enabler. The basket is helpful at bringing dirty and clean laundry in and out of the laundry room, it is even good for storing folded laundry. But, this is where it becomes the enabler.

Since everything is folded neatly in the basket we make the bad choice of just leaving it there, in the basket. No sense putting it away, we just move it to a place in the bedroom and leave it.

The tool designed to help improve efficiency in doing laundry, at the same time prevents you from actually finishing the task.

We need to look at the things around us and evaluate if they are actually holding us back from achieving our goal.  Continuing to fall short at a task alters how people view you. Like a race horse, you start off strong, but by the first turn you’re in last place.  That is not an image you want in business.   If a jockey felt a particular  saddle was preventing the horse from winning the race, he would toss it in the garbage can  immediately.  Why have an object stand in your way of achieving a goal.

Never can keep your office clean? Remove that extra furniture that collects miscellaneous stuff that never gets filed or needs to be discarded. Get a smaller pen holder and toss out the crappie pens that are bad. Why waste time searching through pens that don’t work. Your time is valuable, so toss those old pens out.

After folding the clothes, hand carry them to the drawer. Remove the enabler from the equation, completing the task, be perceived as somebody who completes tasks. That is how a productive image is created.