Checking in with your customers is always a good idea when you’re trying to improve productivity and effectiveness in your work life.

Don’t forget to check in with some of your other important customers, too, the most important ones.

Check in with the people in your personal life.

They want and deserve your time, more, in fact, than anyone.

And you may think you know, but you may have no idea what impact your job is actually having on the people you care most about, and who care the most about you.

Don’t take them, or their good will for granted.

Similarly, make sure they know your needs, and how things are going, too.

You deserve their full attention some of the time, too.

And if there’s some problem you didn’t know about, there’s always something you can do to improve this most important part of your life, too.

Relationships of all types take good intentions, attention, caring, sharing, creativity and time.

If you’re a parent, for example, an extra hour spent perfecting a PowerPoint presentation probably won’t make nearly as much difference in the long run as will that same hour and attention spent at your child’s soccer game, attending their science fair, sharing a laugh, a long walk, or making time for a good talk.

If you’re always focusing on efficiency, and carving up the to-do list to make sure it all gets done on time, by someone, share errands.

Go grocery shopping and cook together, take a long walk or drive.

Sometimes, be inefficient, by design.

Sometimes the highest priority is creating a way to share and catch up. And by definition, that sometimes means you don’t divide up all the tasks.

Change the roles, even for a bit.

If you normally lead (or drive), volunteer to navigate, or take the back seat.

Let someone else decide what or where you’ll eat.

Let someone else decide how to get the work done, and choose the standards you’ll work to.

Or if you’re the one always taking the back seat, take the lead, with all the pluses and minuses it brings. (Sometimes taking the lead isn’t much fun).

In some ways, at some times, seeming inefficiency is perfect for both the short- and long-run.

Check in with the most important people in your life. Ask them, at a minimum, such customer-focusing questions as these:

- How are we doing?

- Where can I, and we, improve?

- What am I, and are we, doing well?

Listen with an open heart, an open mind. Leave space and time for whatever you’re hearing to be there, to be heard, to sink in.

Don’t rush to fill the silence with, “Yes, but…” responses, or “At least I try!” defenses.

Just listen.

And share.