I am back and in the action. I took the last 9 days off (plus the weekends). When I return to work after a break, I realize how hard I work and how much volume I deal with. Need to polish my systems to deal with things better.
The challenge is to understand what my priorities are and to work on them in order.
As I re-enter my work, I think about how I can get on top of things the fastest (and how I could have not let as much stuff pile up while I was away). Although I was email live while I was away, I tended to only deal with the super high priority items and left many others for now.
One trick I always use is a 30 second rule. If I can deal with it in 30 seconds, I deal with it right then. if I am rushed or on holidays, I might cut that to 10 seconds which means many other things get left.
Right now I am doing a second pass on things with a one minute rule. If I can deal with it in one minute, I finish it.
Of course there is a problem with doing more than one pass on anything. It takes more time. One rule of time management is touch everything only once.
Breaks over - back to work.
Awesome idea. I will incorporate that into my planning.
ReplyDeleteWow Jim! In eleven years I don't think I've seen you take 9 days off total :)
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoyed the R&R!
This time allotment criteria assumes that all items are of equal or nearly equal priority.
ReplyDeleteImportance precedes priority. Something can assume importance in itself, whether we prioritize it or not.
I have been fairly successful using a spontaneous, intuitive approach to my prioritizing and action plans.
But lately I've been thinking of using a bit of regimentation: dedicate certain days to task-emphatic parameters.
Like Monday focus on creating and implementing downloadable products for my sites, Tuesday focus on new ecommerce applications, Wednesday focus on a computer book I'm writing, Thursday focus on networking and client referrals, Friday focus on web analyis, Saturday focus on personal reading, Sunday focus on contemplation.