Hitting the target

Having a target inview breeds great results. The urinal fly has proved it so. Its sheer presencehas the potential of significantly reducing urine spills in the publicrestrooms where they have been installed.

The urinal fly is thebrainchild of a Dutch economist who worked in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.Unpleasant odors invaded his nostrils as he visited the bathrooms located inhis place of work. Interestingly enough, he did not seek to mitigate the odorswith mere air fresheners. Faithfully applying economics’ specificity rule, theDutch economist identified the root of the problem. Initially he thought poormarksmanship was the issue. But then, in the same breath, he considered thefact that one cannot aim and win in the absence of a target that can be feltand seen.

When the sole purposeof visiting the urinal is emptying the bladder, directing the outflow of urineso as to reduce its spilling out of the vessel is not a high priority to saythe very least. Hence, the economist infused purpose to the urinal experienceby drawing a target at the specific point in the vessel where urine spillagewould be reduced to its minimum expression. And, alas, the proper installationof this target in the form of an inanimate fly or bee has effectively increasedthe accuracy of urinal users by as much as 85% according to studies.

Something to aim atis, therefore, of fundamental importance not only for reducing urine spillageand bad odors, but also to increase our level of success in virtually each andevery aspect of life.

Devoid of the urinalfly the urinal user misses eighty percent of the time. With the urinal fly inplace the misses are reduced to a mere twenty percent while the hits areconcomitantly increased by eighty percent. Analogously, devoid of a specificgoal or target it’s impossible for one to be effective and efficient in thepursuit of excellence. In other words, human beings tend to behave like a flameof fire when we operate without a target in view. We burn energy needlessly;overlook opportunities carelessly; and destroy relationships recklessly when welack a roadmap indicating the what, the when, the why and the how to get to apredetermined final destination.

With clear and well-established goals, on the otherhand, we are able to harness the aforementioned flame of fire into a powerfullaser beam aiming for the best of the best consistently even as we preparediligently to give, to serve and to lead at every step and stage along the way.

Jonathan J. D’Oleo isa management consultant, author and speaker. Visit Jonathan’s website today atwww.jonathandoleo.com and follow him on Twitter @JonathanJDOleo.