By nature, we overcomplicate.

At a workshop I was conducting yesterday, one attendee asked me “How can we commit the time and resources to categorize all of our members exactly right?”

I replied to her that she needs to add a column in a spreadsheet (or a field in whatever CRM she uses), and quickly add one of three or four categories to her customers.

This requires minutes, not hours.

“But we have thousands of people and lots of stakeholders, board members, others…”

So ask them for help.

“But that’s so many people.”

Start with a few, mail to a few, then categorize more, and include them in the next mailing.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It will never be perfect. And it’s doesn’t have to be ALL done, all at once. Do some; advance your position;  celebrate your progress; use the energy of this success to take further action; then advance the ball some more.

Take small steps regularly, improve consistently, and understand that the simplest path forward is almost always the correct path forward.

What are you overcomplicating that can be simplified and completed quickly and easily?