Listen:
What if you only had three hours of time to work each day?
I’m working with a client who is facing this reality due to a medical situation. It made me ponder my own workday.
What if I were forced to shrink my day to only three hours? How would I get it all done?
I’ve developed a strategy to deal with the gravity of time and will share it with you here:
First, identify your highest energy time. I’m a morning person, so I would likely start around 7 am. What about you?
Second, determine what the activities are that only you can do. “Only” is the imperative word here. If you’ve shrunk your time, you have to shrink your activities, so only do what only you can do.
Third, prioritize your day. Not everything is urgent, or even important. Be tight with your definitions and stack your day based on what must be completed.
Fourth, set up training for those that will be delegated your other activities. You have smart people in your organization, so allocate time to transfer your smarts. If you’re a solo practitioner or entrepreneur, you will need to set up alliances and contractors that are prepared to pick up the slack.
Fifth and incredibly important – find a “chief of staff.” The chief of staff in political and military terms are the gatekeepers. In other words, they make sure that inessential interruptions are eliminated. They guard your time. And, they are strong enough to tell you to be disciplined to the process.
It’s hard for any of us to abandon tasks and projects, especially those we might enjoy or feel we can do best. However, in dealing with time gravity, it’s essential to stick to a process.
Final thought. This exercise works regardless of a time limitation. In fact, it will enhance your personal performance, improve the efficiency of your teams, improve employee morale, assure business continuity, and increase the value of your company. Do it anyway.
We can all benefit from focusing on what we do best by delegating activities and prioritizing tasks and projects.
By doing this, you will find a more effective organization and more discretionary time for you.
Be unleashed.
Quote of the Day:
“Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject.”
~ Thomas Mann, 20th century German writer
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