Does your week ahead look impossible? Read this.

What do you do when you're faced with a crazy task list and a full-on calendar, all in the same week? I'll tell you what I used to do... just keep going.

You know, lean in to that heroic work ethic and muscle on through it.

But, as I've gotten older, I've realised that a) I have less literal time on my hands (hello... young kids, anyone?) making pulling longer hours somewhat impossible, and b) trying to do everything at once, leads to lots of balls falling all over, and c) there has to be a better way.

And so, I've come up with a strategy that I apply in these situations. This is what I do:

1. Do a brain dump. Make that gigantic list of everything you need to do. Categorise this into urgent (must happen first, hopefully today), important (things that must happen this week) and then everything else.
2. Postpone all meetings that can hold over for a week. Wait, before you say no - hear me out. There are definitely meetings in your calendar right now that don't need to happen this week - move them. Send a note to the attendees to explain why you have needed to shift things out if needed, and say no to new meetings unless they are meetings that must happen this week. One exception! 1:1s. Don't cancel these.
3. Create blocks of focus work time in your calendar. If you look at your calendar now, it should only contain the essential meetings for the week. See if you can shift any meetings so that they are closer together, leaving space in your diary for focus work blocks. Block out these times by creating appointments.
4. Assess your list to identify what only you can do. Look at your brain dump. Ask yourself: a. Where am I the bottleneck? Move these tasks to the urgent list if they are not there already. By actioning these you enable your team to get working too. b. What can I delegate? Look closely at the various items and ask yourself what makes sense to delegate, and who could assist you. You are now left with the tasks that only you can do.
5. Assign each task to the focus work blocks you have set out in your calendar. Actually write the task name inside the meeting booking so you know what you need to do when that focus block comes along. Your urgent items should happen in the first one to two work blocks, and then from there you can assign the remaining tasks to the remainder of the work blocks.
6. Get busy. Follow your calendar and get through the work, step-by-step. Once you get to the end of the list and you will, you can go back to business as usual.

Does it work?

I applied this process myself, literally today. After having unexpected time out of the office last week for health reasons, I was faced with some serious catch-up and deadlines for the week ahead. As I looked at the impossible demands of my week, I put my formula to work.

And, guess what happened?

• By midday, I had applied Step 1 - 5, and I was feeling confident that I would get through everything that I need to this week.
• By the end of the day, I had completed everything on my urgent list. Whoohoo! This list always goes much faster than you expect.
• As I sit here sharing this nugget with you, I'm feeling positive that I will get through my important list + more this week!

Give this process a try, and let me know how it goes?

Did you enjoy this newsletter?

Hey friend. I've been contemplating how to approach this newsletter moving forward, since I've had lots of changes in my space. I realised that I apply the leadership lessons I've learnt over the years without even thinking about it, and that these lessons would be useful to leaders like you.

So, I'm going to use this newsletter to share the lessons I have applied in my week, in real time, so that you can learn and apply these in your space, when you need it.

This was my first go at it... what did you think?

Get in Touch

If you would like to get in touch, feel free to send me a DM. I'd love to connect and learn more about you, and your leadership journey.

Follow my page: https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/lead-with-sheree, or follow us on Instagram @lead_withsheree, or on YouTube @LeadwithSheree. You can also visit our website at www.leadwithsheree.com.