How To Take Control Of Your Calendar
Yesterday I put up a post entitled "Urgency is Allergic to Bureaucracy." The article pointed out that many businesses waste a massive amount of time and money on useless meetings and slow decision-making. The post was extremely popular, and I received several emails from people who felt I was describing their company! One of the folks asked me how he could "stop the insanity" and regain control of his calendar. Here was my advice.
This exercise is a pain in the butt, but it's what I recommend to my coaching clients.
Step One: write down exactly how you should be spending your time in a week. What should your primary focus be, what projects would be at the top of your list, and who would you spend time with? Create an "ideal" schedule for a highly productive week.
Step Two: track everything you do for one week. Just stop each hour and write out what you have been doing for the last hour.
Step Three: compare the two and then start crying.
Step Four: Be ruthless in cutting out anything you're doing now that isn't the highest and best use of your time. Use that exciting word "NO" to create reasonable boundaries. Time is your most precious resource. Treat it as such.
It takes a little time to do this exercise, but it can completely change how you spend your time.
Chief Abundance Officer at Calm Water Lifestyles
2 年John, the issue of time management is crucial as time is one thing we can’t make more of. Firstly people need to recognize that their email inbox is full of everyone else’s priorities. Second as you have mentioned, clarify and write down your priorities for the week, then schedule your priorities vs prioritize your schedule. There is a huge difference between these two. I schedule my priorities into established morning focus blocks. If everyone in an organization takes this approach, the overall productivity goes up. Hope you are well.
Experimenter | Founder & CEO of Agile Mind Lab
2 年Great article John! I am starting to use a "personal filter" to decide what to do and focus on. (Got them from ideas of books that do not remeber now...) 1. If it′s not absolute YES, it′s an absolute NO!!! 2. Rate activities 1-10, without the option of Number 7. Do only things that are 8 or higher!
Architect of breakthrough strategies
2 年John Spence, absolutely the right approach. Early in my career I worked for a manager who loved long meetings. As you’ve pointed out in the past, the mind cannot absorb what the bum cannot endure, and it’s difficult, too, to ensure the endless ramblings of bum managers! Interestingly, that particular bum manager eventually lost his job. To the great joy of employees, his replacement ran far more effective meetings in far less than half the time. A huge amount of productive time was thus released.
Growth & Performance Expert: Sales Strategy Facilitator: eDISC Master Trainer; High Performance Team & Leadership Coach: Mentor: Founder & Curator of The Sales Suitcases for sales leaders & salespeople
2 年So good John…spending time on ‘irrelevant stuff’ that isn’t productive or show returns in the workplace is a habit a lot of crept into I have found
Servant Leader, Scrum Master and Team Coach, CSP, CSM, PSM, Cicerone CBS, Certified Salesforce 2x, Curation/Culture Coach, SPC (expired)
2 年Good stuff!