Productivity to Win: Deliberate and Planned vs Fast and Furious
There are countless words written in the world about planning. I have contributed heavily to that over the past four plus years of writing this blog. I say it nearly every time: we still do not emphasis the importance of planning nearly enough. And in reality, it is just so easy to try to skip the planning phase and jump right in. We are already working and running at breakneck speeds, staying fast and furious as our list of things to do grows feels like the best way to catch up. It is not. Planning is about being deliberate in what you need to accomplish, balanced with what you want to accomplish, and how you will achieve the desired outcomes. See if the story below rings a bell, and then how the ideas below can help you be more deliberate in your planning process.
Tom was a good leader who never felt like he had enough time to do everything he wanted. He worked hard, even had studied some time management principles to help improve in that area, so he could get more done. He just always had so much to do. Tom would move from thing to thing as quickly as possible, yet the list never seemed to get shorter.
Finally, Tom asked someone he had known for a long time about how they managed their time and ensured everything that needed to be done actually got done. His colleague looked at him and said, “Stop trying to worry about time, and instead plan for what you want to get done that makes the most sense for the situation.” He also asked Tom how he planned for the week and what projects would get done when. Tom, somewhat confused, said he didn’t plan out his time, rather created lists of things to do, applied some basic level of prioritization, and then began to work on the list. He tried to account for known meetings, travel, time in stores, and even some interruptions he knew he would have.
His colleague, after listening to him, nodded and said, “I used to have the same problem. It was my fast and furious problem. Everything changed when I started to determine when the best time to get certain things done were. It took practice, and I still have to be very deliberate about what I do and when. Occasionally, I still do not get everything done.”
Tom seemed perplexed, he though that his colleague had it all figured out. He realized that this is something even seasoned veterans deal with regularly.
Tom is a perfect example of what many leaders face and feel. They think they need to cram more stuff into every day. They wish they had more time. Yet, none of us have any more time than another. It comes down to planning what needs to get done, and when.
I, too, have been in Tom’s shoes. Here are a few things you can consider that will help you work towards being more deliberate in what you do and when, versus the fast and furious method that is common for so many leaders.
Plan WHEN you will do the work relative to what will work best for you. For example, I know I cannot write articles at night. It has to be one of the first things I do on days that I write. I typically exercise and then sit down to write. I know what article I am working on beforehand, so I can begin to think about what I want to say, cover, research etc. I also know that if I let the writing linger and the day get later, that it will either take much longer, or it won’t get done at all that day. Further, I even try to segregate the time I will do research from the writing time to ensure that I do not get sidetracked while writing. If I am bouncing back and forth from a lot of online searching to writing the final article, I will end up down a rabbit hole and the writing will not end up being what I want to deliver.
Let’s look at this thought process a little closer.
Manage energy vs time
Not all minutes of the day are created equal for people. Just like not all projects are created equally. You know that some projects will require more concentration, more time, and ultimately more energy. Defining your projects in terms of energy requirements can be an excellent way to align scheduling of work and time blocking projects. I have read many people ‘tag’ their projects in their task management system based on energy requirements. Using a combination of priority flags and energy levels will be helpful for your planning routine.
Understanding the balance between your energy and the impact on the time it will take becomes critical to enabling your best work. A mismatch between the two can mean a project will end up taking much longer than necessary or anticipated.
Knowing your ‘WHEN’
Daniel Pink wrote a wonderful book on understanding and mastering your ‘When’. The book is aptly titled, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. In his book, he covers how important it is to know when you are physiologically designed to do your best work. You may be a night owl who works best in the late portions or the day, or you may be a larkwho is ready to go first thing in the morning. Knowing when you will be most productive is an indispensable element of how you schedule your work and match it to your energy levels.
If you are a morning person, schedule your heaviest tasks during that time to ensure you will have the mental and physical energy to push through the challenges those tasks demand. It doesn’t mean your entire morning has to be dedicated to that, but block a majority of your time for those high-energy activities.
As the day moves on and your energy levels drop, that is the time to work through lighter duty tasks. Following up on notes from the week, making calls to your team to touch base on open items, or responding to emails. Any of those could be activities for your lower energy time frames. One great use of ‘tags’ in any task manager is to mark things based on the energy level required. Then you can easily sort your tasks by energy and prioritize and schedule accordingly.
Know what you want to accomplish first
Nowhere is planning more important than in identifying and prioritizing your work. My most productive mornings are fueled by a short list of items that I can accomplish either quickly, or one thing I can dive deep into. The knowing ahead of time is the key to success. Going through the planning steps to determine what you will working on helps to jump start the thought process. It gets your brain working on how you will accomplish what you are working towards.
In my daily planner, I have the big three objectives I need to accomplish for the day, and then I have slots for the first three things I will do for the day. This is how I set up my morning (the day before) to have my list ready. When I sit at my desk, I know exactly where to start, and I had already been thinking about what those would look like since I set it up the night before.
Planning time is an investment. It will pay dividends. But like many other great investments, it takes time for the full benefits to become evident. Along the way, you will have multiple pressure points pushing you away from the planning path. This is where the discipline of staying with your planning process is so critical. If you commit to sticking with planning, refine and hone your skills for utilizing your planning time, and the actions that follow, you will be rewarded. The fruits planning bears will come in many forms, but they will allow for personal growth, more margin overall in your life, and the ability to feel in control of what you are working towards.
How will you be more deliberate in your planing processes?
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Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash