DEVELOPMENT
What if fast-tracking
your career is a
game of inches?
It’s the small things done consistently well
that make the difference and have the
greatest effect says Nigel Collin.
THE EXPERT
Nigel Collin is a change
and leadership expert
helping people and
organisations make
change happen through
small consistent steps.
He is author of ‘Game of
Inches’, an Internationally
recognised keynote
speaker and executive
coach.
There’s a myth out there that in order to grow
your career quickly and get to the next level, you
somehow have to reinvent everything you do or
change everything at once. But that’s simply not
true. When you look at successful individuals,
they have achieved their goals one step at a time.
I’ve had the opportunity of interviewing
hundreds of successful individuals ranging from
business owners, community leaders, to sports
professionals and one thing stands out again and
again. Success and career development is a game
of inches and not a one-off moment. Ironically
doing things step by step, inch by inch is the
fastest way to achieve them.
Let’s look at two key things successful people
do when building careers and how you as an EA
can apply them.
Find gaps
One of the things successful individuals are good
at is finding gaps. Gaps are simply problems or
opportunities that if addressed have massive
benefits. Most people chase ideas. ‘How can I do
this better?’ or ‘how can I do that better?’ But an
54 Chief of Staff | Issue 3 2019
idea that doesn’t solve a problem isn’t very useful.
Gaps are simply those little things that if you
did them better have great impact. Or those
little things that if you started doing, or perhaps
stopped doing, create better outcomes. And gaps
can appear in what we do and how we do them.
They appear in your professional world in such
things as the processes you have in place like time
management or communication. They also appear
in your own personal life such as your health and
well-being.
An example of a gap in my own world is that I
get easily distracted and as a result my productivity
suffers. Knowing this, I have put simple systems in
place to keep me focused and as a result I get more
done (check out Pomodoro time).
The trick with finding gaps is to make sure
they are small and achievable. This way they
don’t interfere with your day to day work and
they are easy to act on. Most people ignore the
small things because they seem insignificant, but
they add up and more often than not they have
the biggest payoff.
Take my distraction example. If I could save
just 24 minutes a day being more focused (which
is not a hard fix) that’s two hours a week, eight
hours a month or 88 hours a year. Now imagine if
each week I focused on just one small, doable gap
in that time.
All of us, not matter how busy we are, can
find one small gap a week. As an EA, imagine the
impact that would have on your workload, your
boss, your organisation and your career?
Shift your mindset to small consistent steps
If you want to move your career to the next
level changing everything at once just becomes
overwhelming and takes too much time. The
way to take the angst out of change and career
development is to break it down into small steps.
That requires a shift in mindset from ‘big and
instant’ to one of ‘small and consistent’.
It doesn’t mean you dilute your goals or don’t
aim high, it means you understand the way to
make big happen is one step at a time. Otherwise
you’ll just drive yourself crazy.
Start with one thing
Once you finish reading this, think about one
small thing that you can do to address a gap that
if you did it, would move your career forward.
Don’t make it big or outrageous because it will
never get done, just make it doable. Then do that
one thing.
Then once you’ve done that one thing, do the
next one thing. Before you know it, your career
will have moved forward in a way you never could
imagined. One small step at a time. S
www.nigelcollin.com.au