Proactive Change: “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It” is Bad Advice. Here’s Why

Category: Blog

January 24, 2022 | Mark Altman & Megan Fine 

Pause for a moment and tell me: how do you start your workday?

Do you sit down and open your inbox to 37 new emails…amidst the other 2,347 sitting there unfiled? Do you dig through the piles of paper on your desk to find that to-do list you started a couple days ago? Do you dive into one project, only to jump to another, and then forget where you were when you hear the chime of your Slack notifications?

It’s not so bad though, right? Your disorganization is costing you, what, maybe 10 minutes a day sorting through things to find what you really need or get focused. 

But if you think about it…if you’re working 250 days of the year, you’re actually losing 2,500 minutes. 42 hours. An entire work week of productivity. Ouch.

Most people don’t bother changing until their situation gets bad – until they get the poor performance review, or their spouse says, “We need to talk,” or their doctor sits them down for the test results no one wants to get back. 

This way of being is reactive, but there is a better way. It’s being proactive and acting before the situation escalates out of control and hands you consequences that you’d rather not experience. 

But being proactive is challenging, which is why so many of us don’t bother to do it. Everything’s fine, good enough, right? To work towards being more proactive, you must first be reflective and consider what changes might be worth making. To do that, consider these questions: 

If I don’t bother changing: 

• What opportunities might I miss out on? 
• What kind of problems might arise? 
• What is the ultimate cost of doing nothing? 
• Where will I be in 6 months, 1 year, 10 years? 

If I do bother changing: 

• What good things might become possible? 
• What might I be able to do that I can’t do now? 
• What would be the best part of that? 
• Where could I be in 6 months, 1 year, 10 years? 

As a leader, helping your team move from acting reactively, to being reflective, to acting proactively is an excellent ROI on your time. By walking people through the consequences of inaction and the benefits of making positive changes, you can motivate them to take action they otherwise wouldn’t have to optimize their personal and professional lives. 

10 minutes a day is 42 hours a year. What better things could you do with all that time? If you have a team of 10, what could you do with 10 extra work weeks each year? 

It’s time to retire, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and lean into, “If it ain’t broke yet, it’s a great time to optimize!” 

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