May 23, 2007
I have to admit that I had a tough time deciding on a topic for today’s newsletter. There are so many interesting subjects that I could write about but none of them were really “grabbing” me for some reason. As I spent more and more time trying to decide on a topic, I realized that I had succumbed to a principle in project management that my husband had told me about last week. I had thought it would be a great topic for a newsletter and promptly wrote it on my ideas list and forgot about it. So, after experiencing it myself, I decided it is today’s topic.
The GEMO Principle. Good Enough, Move On.
How many times in our lives do we set out to do a task only to spend way too much time on it because we’re trying to achieve perfection? I had to write a research paper last month and found I had a hard time declaring it complete because there was always more I could do. Points to be added, clarifications to be made, sentences to clean up. I finally submitted it because it had come to the point where I had read it so many times it no longer made sense!
The GEMO Principle states that we spend approximately 50% of our time to complete 98% of the work on a project. We use the remaining 50% of our time on a task working on that last 2%. This is where we’re trying to complete the task in a manner that is “just so.” We’re trying to get everything as perfect as possible. This is the GEMO point. It’s good enough, move on. The next time you’re stressing out over completing a task ask yourself whether you may have reached the GEMO point. You may save yourself a lot of time and anxiety.
Oh, and one other thing….on second thought, forget it. GEMO.
Until the next chapter,Lisa
