Some days we are brilliant and can take on the world; other days, not so much.  One key to efficiency is to design your to-do list for those days (or portions of the day) when you are not your most fully-focused and brilliant self.  Many people’s to-do lists are actually catalogs of goals rather than discrete actions, and therefore require thinking prior to implementation.  The less-than-brilliant self isn’t too fond of intellectual activity, particularly if he or she is tired, crabby or overwhelmed.  Consequently, the most effective to-do lists clearly articulate the next step for each endeavor.  An item like “deal with taxes” can translate into “read that scary letter from the IRS” or “call the accountant to schedule an appointment.”  Once you have spelled out the next logical step, those actions flow much more easily and naturally.   This month’s coaching tip is derived from David Allen’s book Getting Things Done, which is reviewed below.  

 

Do you feel like no matter how much you do it’s never enough?  Are you doing the work or two, three or even four people?  Many of us try to accomplish so much that we make ourselves crazy, or sick, or both.  So this article is focused on scheduling – with an emphasis on being realistic and creating breathing room.  

If you already have a system for planning your day, skip part 1 and go directly to part 2, which focuses on how to tweak your schedule for increased sanity and efficiency.   
 
Part 1 – Plan Your Day in Detail. – Do you ever get to the end of the day and realize you forgot to do something important? Most people have a general idea of what they wish to accomplish in a given day, but many don’t calculate a realistic time frame for each task – and thus go through the day feeling behind and like they will never catch up.  My recommendation is to plan out every work day in detail, especially those days that don’t have a lot of meetings or other external factors creating a structure.  Take ten or fifteen minutes at night to plan in detail your agenda for the following day. I advocate doing this in the evening, rather than the morning, because you won’t get caught off guard by an event or obligation scheduled early in the morning.  First decide your priorities and schedule your day accordingly. (For more on priorities, see "Top Six List" from my April newsletter.)   For example:  

8:00 check email
8:30 call to schedule doctors appointment
8:45 prep for meeting
9:00 meeting  
10:15 project #1
11:15 coffee
11:30 project #2
    
And so on… If you have never done this, it may seem excessively detailed.  However, the act of planning helps you to think through things carefully and identify obstacles which otherwise might have led to frustration or even crises. The other big benefit is that you are creating a winnable game.  If you are comparing your accomplishments for the day with some abstract ideal, you will never measure up.  Whereas, if you calculate in advance what is a reasonable amount to complete in one day, it suddenly becomes possible to win.  
 
Part 2 – People are often reluctant to plan their days. Since life rarely goes as planned, we typically fall behind, and decide that the whole scheduling idea is just a recipe for frustration.  Here are a few suggestions for tweaking your daily plan, to maximize the likelihood you will stay on track.
 
a.  Schedule time for EVERYTHING – When you plan your day, are you giving yourself time to chat with colleagues, get a snack, check personal email, etc? What about transportation time? Regardless of whether you see these activities as enjoyable or as a waste of time, they will inevitably occupy some amount of time, and if we don’t account for them, we invariably fall behind schedule.  Then we feel rushed and frustrated and everything seems more difficult.
 
b. Schedule email time – Email is the black hole of modern work life. Where did all that time go? Very few clients or bosses are as impatient or unreasonable as we fear.  Let people know you will only check email a couple times a day, and if they need to reach you urgently, they can call.
 
c. Allow enough time for email and phone calls – If an email or phone call is important enough to make your to-do list, give it at least a fifteen minute time block. Maybe it will take less time, but any remaining time can be used to respond to those miscellaneous emails and phone calls that crop up unexpectedly.
 
d. Arrive fifteen minutes early – Try arriving to meetings and appointments fifteen minutes early.  Most of us find this oddly disconcerting. Notice what concerns get in the way. Some of us worry we will look unimportant.  Others feel so overwhelmed at the thought of everything we need to accomplish that the idea of doing nothing for fifteen minutes seems almost heretical.  Some of us just get bored easily.  Regardless of our reasons, this is one of the most valuable things we can do to increase our sense of serenity and mental clarity.
 
This is just the tip of the time management iceberg.  (Sounds sort of ominous, doesn’t it?)  This kind of structure isn’t a cure-all, but it has made a huge difference for many of my clients’ quality of life. Contact me for more tips or to discuss your specific situation.

 

 

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, by David Allen

Can you quickly and reliably locate materials, resources and other documents in your office?  Do you have a designated place to jot down everything that you want to discuss with your spouse?  Are there things in your in-box that have been there for weeks?  These are the types of issues Allen addresses.  Whether you read it to pick up a few organizational tips, or whether you implement Allen’s entire comprehensive system, this book has value for virtually everyone. The structure he recommends is designed to get the minutia out of your head and into a system that will reliably and systematically capture everything that you need to do.  By eliminating the need to mentally keep track of all your projects, questions, ideas, etc., you will be able to focus on the present, be more productive, more creative and less stressed.  Yay!