1. Busy Work:
Just because you are busy does not mean that you are productive. Differentiate between
- Effectiveness — doing the right things
- Efficiency — doing the right things correctly
2. Busy v Productive Work:
2.1 Problem No 1: Procrastination
Putting off doing the things that you should be doing at this point!
Solution
- List all tasks that you are currently putting off
- Remove two from the list by doing them now!
- Plan and set a schedule for dealing with the rest
- Reward when tasks are completed
- Punish when tasks are not completed on schedule
2.2 Dealing with Indecision or Delay
When faced with a task – decide to deal with it according to one of the following actions:
- Do it
- Delegate it
- Dump it
- Deadline it
- Dissect it
2.3 Problem No 2: Paralyzing perfectionism
This is a failure to recognize the difference between excellence and perfection
Excellence
- Achievable
- Healthy
- Satisfying
- Realistic
Perfection
- Unattainable
- Frustrating
- Unrealistic
2.4 Problem No 3: Setting unchallenging objectives
Objectives need to be set that challenge you in a realistic manner and take heed of resource availability Otherwise you are busy without any possibility of success
Use SMARTS criteria where the objectives are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Time-bound
- Supported by the organization
3. Overwork:
Overwork can have effects that may be classified as
- Psychological
- Physiological
People are overloaded for two main reasons
- The person or team does too much
- The person or team have too much to do
To deal with over-work, try the following
- Understand your pressures
- Don’t get worked up or panicked
- Don’t blame everything on yourself
- Walk away
- Estimate time as well as possible
- Agree priorities and keep them
- Remind yourself that there is a limited amount of time available to you
4. Urgency Vs Importance
Differentiating between
- Urgent tasks – assume importance as they demand immediate attention
- Important tasks – May become urgent if left undone and usually have a long term effect
- To judge importance v urgency – gauge tasks in terms of Impact of doing them and effect of not doing them
5. Prioritization
The main aim of prioritization is to avoid a crisis
To do this then you must
Schedule your Priorities
as opposed to
Prioritizing your Schedule
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