The signal-to-noise ratio measures the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. It’s commonly used in science and engineering applications but, of course, it has as much application in our professional and personal worlds, metaphorically speaking anyway.
When someone close to us emotionally recounts a personal situation and demands that we get involved and do something about it – and we do. Or when an irate colleague tells us we need to do this, that, or the other, else the world is going to go to hell in a handbasket. And so we do.
In either case, are we reacting to the signal or the noise?
Making that distinction is the key to us staying focused on the “right” things – the stuff that really makes or breaks us, the stuff that moves us forward.
The problem is, though, that so much of our lives gets caught up in reacting to the noise rather than the signal itself.
We become focused on the language being used. We’re thrown by the tone. Or we’re taken aback by the volume. All of these can tend to obfuscate the actual content of the discussion. They lead to us making emotional decisions, which are almost always the wrong ones.
Signal-to-noise plays out in more than just relationships, though. It impacts whether we move forward with our mission or not.
We get caught up in email and spend all day responding to what’s incoming, rather than sitting back and thinking about how we get there. We focus on our To-Do lists and not on the priority items that actually move the needle. We spend all day in meeting after meeting, but not on doing the work that actually needs to get done.
In all of these situations, you’re too caught up in the noise, and before you know it, you’ve sped through your day, your week, your month, or even your year(s)...
The fact is that there will always be noise. There will always be distractions. The “non-core.”
The trick is paying attention to, listening for, and finding the “core.” Our core: those things that will make us who we are, and who we need to be, not who we become by happenstance.
Omer Abdullah co-founded The Smart Cube, starting with a laptop and a home office, growing it into a global research and analytics firm with more than 500 people. He’s a sales guy, a marketer, a manager, and part-time writer who has worked in both the Corporate and Management Consulting worlds. Sign up for his blog at www.omerisms.com.