Competing Demands: Prioritizing Your Time and Attention

Hi Tony, How do you prioritize competing demands on your time and attention, ensuring both strategic initiatives and daily operations receive adequate focus?

-Competing Demands

Dear Competing Demands,

This is a great question because it deals with not only how to handle a full workload, but also how to manage a full workload that changes over time.??

From a tactical standpoint, below are a few suggestions that have been very helpful to my career:?

1. Make a written list of things that need to get done.? I used to have a spreadsheet I called a MindMap to keep track of things I was working on (both personal and professional, tactical and strategic).? It allowed me to get things out of my head and into a system.? If it was on my MindMap I knew it would get done in due time.? I could sleep better and not try to tax my mind with keeping track of everything.???
2. Every morning I used to print out a calendar with all my appointments. On the right side I would jot down those issues I would work on from my MindMap.? Then I’d take this schedule around with me all day.? I would refer to it often, make notes, cross things off, etc.?
3. Depending on your role, it’s important to delegate work that should be done by others so that you can focus on only the things that you can and should be doing.? Resist the temptation to work 1 or 2 labor grades below your work, and get good at distributing work if you have the opportunity and personnel to do so.?
4. Develop some criteria to help you prioritize.? As things change you will have to adapt your plans accordingly.? A good model is the Eisenhower matrix:? The Eisenhower Matrix: How to Prioritize Your To-Do List [2024] ? Asana.? A pro-tip for me over my career was anytime a personal issue came up for anyone I was working on, I made time for them.? I always found a way to make time for people when they came to me with a pressing personal issue or wanted to talk to me about their career.?

For strategic issues make sure that you have the following in mind:?

1. For any strategy, there is the “intended strategy” and the “adaptive strategy”.? Make sure you allocate time to work on your “intended” strategy as part of your weekly schedule.? Equally important, as your strategy takes hold and things change, allocate time to update your strategy and your workload accordingly.? Your strategy will evolve with new information and it’s important that you give yourself time to evolve as well.?
2. Start with the end in mind, and back into what needs to be done to make sure your strategy is successful.? This may involve working with many other people to get something done, or work with other groups to coordinate the timing of work.? The point is, take the time to think through what needs to happen and when, and then the “work” becomes coordinating with others to get the job done.?
3. Stay close to the organization strategy and the intent behind the strategy.? Engage leaders when you have questions about the strategy or how it is implemented.? By doing this, you will improve the quality of your work, your understanding of how the firm creates value, and your strategic thinking skills will increase.?

My last piece of advice is to block out time for planning your work.? For me, personally, it was at the end of a day that I took 20-30 minutes and looked back at what went well (or didn’t), and then jotted down what I would tee up for my time the next day.? I always spent 10-15 minutes doing the same the next morning to make sure I was using my time as wisely as possible.? Another Pro-Tip is to use your monthly 1:1’s with your boss as a check-in to see how you are executing both tactically and strategically.? Get your bosses thoughts on how well you are doing, where you can improve, and how better you can serve your team and the company.

-Tony

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