A Spelling Lesson

My daughter Kelsey is in kindergarten and has homework each night. Part of her homework involves drawing pictures of words starting with the letter of the day. Yesterday it was T. She was working on that homework and apparently was ready to label a picture. She asked me from a cross the room, "Daddy how do you spell TV?"



I thought for a minute about spelling television rather than TV, but quickly moved past that notion. I replied, "capital T, capital V" with enough pause between the letters for her to stay with me.



After a pause she asked, "Daddy, you just spell TV, TV? Is that all?"



"Yes" I said.



She replied with a smile in her voice, "That was easy."



There are (at least) two lessons in this quick story.



First, practice is a good thing. There is homework every night, but it doesn't take her long. It engages the parents, reinforces the learning and is building a good habit and value around practice and effort.



Second (and the one that really struck me), not all tasks are as hard we thought. Too often as adults we make things too hard. Examples?



- Consultants mystify their work to increase the perception of what they can do.

- People assume a new task will be hard, just because they've never done it before.

- We build processes for things that could be done in less time than it takes to build the process.



I could go on, and perhaps you are in your own mind.



Don't make your work harder than it is. Don't make your training difficult or complex than needed. Don't make your Customers jump through hoops if they don't have to. Don't complicate your messages or tasks as a leader.