Recurrence and avoiding the Treadmill 

Recurrence in nature is a wonderful thing – seasons, sunsets, sunrise, tides: all good, all natural.

Recurrence in business is by its definition un-natural.

Monthly management meetings, quarterly earnings announcements, annual budgets, periodic performance reviews – even the daily ops wrap or weekly beer bust – they’re all un-natural, artificial activities that we thunked up.

There’s not a darn thing we need to do to ensure tomorrow’s sunrise will happen – and tomorrow morning it’ll be as effective as it’s always been, no input required from us.

Same with the tides and the seasons.

Next month’s round of performance reviews? That’s a different matter.

Recurrence in business is a haven for turgidity, a petri dish for bureaucracy; the wellspring of Treadmill.

Look at your schedule: What recurring things are in there? Which can you blow up, reinvent, or turn from recurrence into occurrence? What processes do you have that should really be events?  

Let Me Know In The Comments Below!