I am striving for continuous improvement. Just like almost everybody I know. But I find it hard sometimes, even with so much good advice out there, always available at my fingertips. Recently I was reminded to a very simple fact: I have to know myself first, before I can add improvements. Very, very simple, but easily forgotten.

Let me share this personal example with you.

When I do business development in order to reach out to new potential clients or to develop client relationships, there are just so many things that I can do. My target market is full of opportunities. On the one hand this is really great news, on the other hand it can be overwhelming sometimes. I added so many improvement ideas to be more focused, more efficient, make up more time and so on. But it did not feel satisfying enough.

Then it just occurred to me while I was reading the latest book of Gretchen Rubin: “Better than Before”. The book is about successful habit change. She distinguishes personalities (besides other dimensions) into openers and finishers. And guess what: I am a finisher. I love to cross items off my to-do-list. Now I suddenly understood what was frustrating me: in a market with endless opportunities, there is no finish line. You can go on and work forever.

In my case, the fix was pretty easy. For each day, I dedicate a specific amount of my time to business development. At least one hour. Then I fill this time as effectively as I can, but do not judge it on results yet. After time has run up, I cross this item from my list. Feels great and I get so much more done!

Conclusion: I need to know myself first, to judge which improvement advice works for me. It is all a matter of individual analysis and experimentation.