Too
Much To Do in Too Little Time
I created this for those business
leaders and managers who are struggling with their time, their progress in
their business or on getting their work done. Having been a worker-bee all
though way through to leadership positions and multiple Startup business owner,
so I understand the dilemma so let me set aside your argument about time. Been
there, done that, get it. So let us wrap up this part fast and get to the
point. First, now that you have all this responsibility in your profession you
may have noticed that there is an exponential increase in your tasks and an
inverse amount of available time to get them done. In the process, the pressure
increases, the job gets bigger and you find it difficult to keep your arms around
it. This is normal and you are not alone in this struggle. With some simple
time management discipline, you can keep track of what is going on and what you
need to get done without losing track of it all. Moreover, you will see your
own progress documented before you and that makes the pressure go away and adds
motivation as you see your progress develop.
So Now
The Point
Here is
what we do about this. First, get a planner, I mean a really good planner. You
are going to write in this, so bigger is better. In the first couple of weeks I
recommend pencil to get used to it and to make lots of corrections. After that,
I suggest a red pen for really important high priority entries. Green for
completion line-out markings and blue-black for everything else. In my own
personal planner, I use blue for communications entries (emails & phone
calls). Also, the planner itself should have these three components or columns
listed on it. See figure 1.
Figure 1. Planner Columns
In Figure 1 the three columns are;
a half-hour interval column for today, a Week At a Glance column, and a Note/To
Do List column. The idea is simple however; it requires discipline to get
started. Understand that this is intended to serve the most important person in
your career, “you”. I assure you, that the tool will be so useful that it will
become natural to you as you develop the habit of using it daily. This will be
a home base for you, a dashboard, and a historical record of what you did when,
which I find handy.
Now
Let’s Get Things Done
The Notes / To Do List
column should contain the really big and important stuff needing completion
this week. It is where topics like “Widget-Maker #2 Installation” would go.
Since you paid a gazillion dollars for it and it represents 20% of your next
quarters production output, it is a big business project and a career milestone.
That is why it is worth entering here. See Figure #2
Figure 2. Notes/To Do List
Next, you need to set a day
when you want to meet with installers and your people to get an update on their
collective progress. Last week, you were told this Friday they would be done.
Now is the time to check up on their progress. You decide that Tuesday is a
good time to check up on that, so record that in the Week At A Glance
column. See Figure 3.
Figure 3. Week At A Glance
So now you have committed to a day to wrap
this task up.
Now you need to make time to do it.
Figure 4. Daily, Half-hour Interval
In figure 4 you set 9:00 a.m.
to meet with your team and installers to check up on their progress. Keep the
meeting to the 30 minute allocated. Part of controlling your time is, well,
controlling your time. It is important that you do so and we will discuss that
more at another time. For now, you have this scheduled so be as prompt as you
expect your team to be, get to the point, remove any barriers to their progress,
set up a follow-up time if need be and get on to the next task.
As your day progresses and
things are done, you line-out the things you accomplished. You then get a sense
of your progress towards your goals today. Further, if the hourly task you just
lined-out is also in the weekly column, line-out that item as complete also.
Then if that same task was listed in your important projects Notes / To Do
List, check off the box to show it was done too, assuming the project is production ready. You either have a
follow-up meeting coming or an installation confirmation meeting coming. Only
in the latter scenario, when the machine is in production mode are you to check
this project off as complete in the Notes / To Do List. At this point
you are passing through checkpoints, not a major milestone.
What you have here is an
at-a-glance dashboard of what progress you have made today and what you need to
rollover to another day or week in your planner before you go home. You also get the same sense of your weekly
progress. What is not done this week you rollover into next week. You also see
your progress on the really important stuff. We have yet to see how Widget-Maker
#2 Installation plays out so it stays put until completion, which is measured
by its being in production mode. You should have top priority things done by
Friday. If you do have unfinished big projects open, roll them over to next week’s
sheet but write them down in red ink and/or label with an asterisk or write
“LATE” next to it. Just do something that stands out to you to say that this
was a rollover item from the prior week and really needs to be priority #1 and done in the coming week. If
necessary, get help to get this done. Admin assistants and other team members
are resources to help you. Write down their names and set time on your planner to
get with them and solicit their help.
In
Review
Our example for the
Widget-Maker #2 does not imply that it was installed. Only that you followed up
on the installation progress. Implying that your planner will have big projects
listed in small steps. As you work through the days and weeks ahead, you
progressively achieve installation through a series of small steps. In
addition, you see those steps manifest over time toward completion.
This
planner will really begin to show its value as you fill it for the first time.
Just remember to roll things over when needed and to leave space in time to
transition between scheduled events. This is a planner for activities for your
time. It is NOT a checklist! Therefore, allow time for travel across town or
across your business campus. Just do not put things back-to-back unless you are
certain that you do not need space between events to travel, eat, take a
restroom break, make closure notes whatever. I recommend the paper planner
version first before ever thinking about electronic versions. Pencil is
erasable, roll-on white-out is cheap and taking time to “think it through” will
make you the master of your schedule and allow you to see things getting done.
When you have spent a few months making consistent progress you can decide then
whether to continue with paper or to move into electronic planners and deal
with the risks and workarounds associated with using them.
Hazards
The goal
is to achieve, no rollover. Reducing rollovers with achievements means things
are being done and your future days ahead will not be over-run with late
projects. As a visual dashboard of your progress, either of these things will
become apparent rapidly. On the point of electronic, paper planners can travel
and are as current as you are in updating them. You get 100% visual feedback immediately.
With electronic planners like Google calendar, you must have a 24/7 data plan
with reliable connectivity to be 100% current. Later, I will be promoting this.
For now, I want you to be free of technical issues, concentrate on your own
mind, and hand control of your time. You are going to own this completely along
the success you derive from it too. Stay with me in this a while longer.
Have a great day!
Robert Majdak, Co-Founder
Crystal Majdak,
Co-Founder
Management Insights & Team
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