The Coach’s Corner Newsletter #81
The holiday season is in full swing, testing the limits you may have set for yourself on a whole host of levels.
Head out to any store and there’s a good chance you’ll notice a harried glaze over the faces of most shoppers, mine included.
- Have you remembered all those people in your circle that you want to honor, gift or celebrate?
- What about those holiday cards or emails you intended to send?
- Is there enough wrapping paper?
- Who’s hosting this year?
- And let’s not forget work – which is seriously cramping my style!
I got a fresh reminder of this sense of overwhelm from a client this week – whose effort to follow through on his to-do list is crashing and burning. In our conversation he decided to add a strategy that involves time blocks, for everything.
THIS WEEK’S INSIGHT
Finding a better way to get things done
Full disclosure, the reason Jeff wants a better way to get through his tasks is because he keeps forgetting important meetings.
Lois, I’m sorry I’m late. You’re on my list here, I even got the notification. But when I get buried in an email I lose touch with everything else and then it hits me, I have a session!
Once we got underway, Jeff talked about the critical areas he’s missed this week alone. When we explored how he keeps tabs on his priorities, he held up his list of the 6 most important things.
See, I write them down every day. But then they somehow get lost in a pile. Literally. And yours isn’t the only meeting I’m late for. There’s got to be a better way.
Since Jeff does get notifications, we talked about those times when he has successfully gotten things done. He recalls it was when he used to block out time on his calendar.
Yeah, but that seems so rigid. I like to freelance, you know? Move from one thing to the other.
About that freelancing…?
Point made. We have reviews that are due in a few weeks, and I haven’t made any progress for my team.
What do you want to do about that?
I have to decide what’s most important. See, I intend to do something, then I veer off course and keep going farther because I’m doing busy-work. But I’m missing the critical work.
We talked about how to make that critical work more visible.
I’ve got to get back to blocking off time. Maybe even send myself a reminder.
Jeff decided he wants to use this coming week to time block every day to see if he notices a shift in what he accomplishes. He’s not ready to let go of his to-do list, so we explored how to do both.
THIS WEEK’S TOOL
Using time blocks to tackle your to-do lists
Gwen Moran’s informative piece in Fast Company, Could time blocking replace your to-do list? is seriously so timely. Moran shares how she struggled with frustration over her own to-do lists and not getting everything done.
So, in an effort to understand what was going on, I began to track how I was spending my time and saw some interesting patterns emerge. As I learned more, I started applying a productivity-changing principle to my daily “get it done” list: time-blocking.
Moran cites time management expert Kevin Kruse who noticed that high-performers he interviewed never talked about their to-do lists – they talked about their calendars and how they were organized. I’ve taken the liberty to paraphrase Moran’s time blocking strategy:
- Pay attention to cycles
Consider your energy and work flow. What times of the day do you have the most energy to do the tasks you need to do?
- Allot enough time
Time block with buffer zones, so if you run over you can bump another meeting into the buffer zone. If you’re chronically running late, revisit the amount of time you’re devoting to your tasks.
- Offload distractions
Do your best to eliminate interruptions by turning off notifications and silencing your phone. Keep a stack of Post-it notes nearby so if you do think of something – write it down as you keep working.
- Make it flexible
Time-blocking doesn’t have to feel rigid. You can rework your time blocks throughout the day as circumstances change. The goal is to make sure you have a plan for the time that remains throughout each day.
My takeaway
I know what it feels like when you get behind, miss tasks or are late for appointments.
When I notice that I’m falling into patterns with the above result – it’s time to examine a few things: how I start my day, a list of the 6 most important things I have to do that day, and making sure I’ve blocked the time to get those things done.
As I stood in the department store line feeling a bit harried, I observed a toddler tearing an entire roll of gift wrap in a shopping cart. That’s when I remembered I did need more holiday wrapping paper. I ran back to get it, laughing at myself that this was something I neglected to put on my list or time block.
You can’t remember everything!
Happy Holiday preparations 🙂
Either run the day or the day runs you.
Jim Rohn
