I’m living in a season right now where I’m effectively working two jobs at Rancho….Ministries and Operations. However, the challenge of managing multiple priorities has actually propelled my effectiveness, largely because it has forced me to maintain altitude on how I work with people and projects. A crucial piece to my strategy is a 30 minute morning review I do each day before breakfast. Here are 4 steps I use to kick start my day.
1. Scan my schedule – I use Google Calendar and love it because it automatically updates whether I’ve entered the appointment via Iphone or Macbook. I prefer to use the “week” view even when working with my actual day. This preference is based on the fact that I move toward short term and long term goals with increments of what I’ll accomplish this week. This keeps me thinking of what must move forward today in order to stay on track for this week’s objectives. As I look at my day, I want to understand each transition in my schedule and what it will take to accomplish. I do that with two key strategies:
a. If I’m tight I’m going to put in some “alarms” on my Iphone that will signal its time to cut a meeting and go.
b. I always explain upfront in a meeting what time I must leave so that nobody is caught off guard. People understand if you’ve booked tight when you extend the courtesy of that information at the front of the meeting.
2. Work my time blocks – I block actual times in my day where I have margin to work on my projects. If you don’t schedule time to actually move priorities forward, your schedule will control you. I look at the time blocks I’ve scheduled and enter my “To Do” list (calls, email) and which projects I’ll move forward.
3. Get granular on my tasks – Once I’ve selected which projects need to move forward today, I’ve got to get into the real details. I can’t just put “office move” as something I’m going to work on…..its way too vague. I’ve got to take the time now to see which specific tasks in the project sequence need to be done today to keep me on track. I personally use a “Gant Software” to track my projects and I’ll post on that strategy in the near future. I’ll identify what must be done and “get real” about the time that will be needed in order to do that.
This particular step is the one most people just don’t really think through. Instead they have a big “To Do” list they carry with them all week and on Friday they are frustrated with how little they’ve accomplished. They’ve worked all week, been busy, and yet their projects are not moving forward. This is also why their very important and not urgent (as Steven Covey teaches) tasks never get accomplished.
4. Final review and tweaking – I do a final review of everything I’m going to accomplish and make absolutely sure I’m being realistic – if not – I make some tweaks.
a. Delegate – We tend to want to do everything ourselves so now I’m being forced to think outside that box. I ask myself a crucial question – can I delegate part or all of a task to someone else on my team? This has been a very important part of my success while juggling multiple priorities. We tend to take ourselves way too seriously in mix of what must be done. Many times we need to take risks on other people and let them try new things. Delegate well, provide clear direction of the desired outcome and then let them run with it.
b. Make a cut – Rather than keeping an unrealistic task list, I want to actually accomplish everything I’ve laid out. The only way to do that is cut what I will not have time for. In order to do that I must have a clear perspective on how that will effect my projects. Understand this process is actually very helpful in keeping my stuff moving forward. Because I’m constantly wrestling with what MUST be done and when, I’m forcing myself to remain focused on my goals for each week. Rather than working late, I’ll cut a task and move it to another day. However, I’ve done that with a full understanding of how that will effect the overall project, and who I need to update on that change. With clarity and communication this won’t be a “dropped ball.”
Bonus – Listen to a podcast on the drive in – Once I’ve tweaked my schedule and spent time getting very granular on the day ahead…..I’m dying to get “Big Picture” again. I do this by listening to one of my favorite podcasts on the way to work. You may choose to listen to music to do the same, but I’ve found a “visionary” type podcast helps me to climb back up to 10,000 feet on my day, week and life. I keep a notepad handy so I can scribble thoughts as I listen. I find that when I pull into the office I’m charged and ready to go. I admit that the fact that I live in the wine country of Temecula 
helps make my drive to work nice too! Some of my team have commented that I almost jog from my car to the front door….its because I’m now in charge of my day..not the other way around.
How do you tackle your tough days?
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