Time Out!
Lack of capacity continues to be the single greatest challenge facing clients today. Too much to do and not enough time to get it all done. Too many people to lead spread across too many remote locations. Too many appointments and too little white space in the calendar. It seems endless to many. It is maddening to some. It is manageable to far too few. Life spins out of control as schedules become reactionary.
There are no 12 steps recovery plan for Overload Anonymous. Besides people who are beyond sustainable capacity cannot imagine having to remember 12 more things. How about 2? Can you handle two things to do each week if doing them promised high ROI? You will accomplish more each day. Your week will be more efficient. Your find find greater balance. So here we go.
Step 1: Schedule one thirty minute task during your working hours either Wednesday or Thursday. It can be either morning of afternoon. It must be one task that is important but not urgent. In and out in 30 minutes
Step 2: Schedule two fifteen minute tasks, one on Tuesday and one on Friday. Again, during working hours; important, not urgent, in and out in 15 minutes.
These three tasks can be stand alone, one time projects or just the next step in an ongoing project. They can involve others, or you can do them on your own. You decide.
Why three tasks with two fifteen minutes intervals and one thirty minute interval? These represent the average weekly last minute cancellations. Thirty minute conference call cancelled and needs to be rescheduled. BAM! Your thirty minute project just came to the top of the priority list. You must resist the tendency to “just keep working”. You have been given a gift.
Fifteen minute appointment with your boss about project details: cancelled. Don’t fret! Grab that fifteen minute project and cross it off the list.
If one of your projects involves calling a client, vendor, or colleague, make the call. If they are unavailable go to the next task. You will be surprised at what you can accomplish by embracing and celebrating the calendar cancellations.
Because capacity issues face so many, more and more calendared events are cancelled due to lack of time. When you get the cancellation notice your capacity has increased. When your next steps are predetermined you immediately engage a higher productivity gear. That fifteen to thirty minute sprint is like a shot of dopamine as you are rewarded with accomplishment.
Wednesday and Thursday tends to be the day for scratching appointments. The week is well underway and overload is expected. People start jettisoning items. Take it personally – not the cancellation – the time!
There are action items for when “emergency meetings” attack your calendar, but we will look at that in another post.