Most of us spread ourselves thin at the best of times. This is only heightened with year-end deadlines and all of the holiday busyness. It’s enough to turn a calm, cool & collected professional into something akin to dried out turkey dinner … dry, burned out and downright nasty.

The challenge is that we only have control over so much of our time. There are the non-negotiable deadlines, the meetings the emails, and additional holiday gatherings that leave little time to get “our” work done.

And while I love the thought of cloning myself, we really do have to work with what we’ve got.

Here are some key strategies to keep us calm and cheerful right through into the New Year:

1)      Pick your top goal or project
Sure – you want to get through 18 projects.

So do I. But we both know that ain’t gonna happen this year.

Pick your number one goal. Focus on that. If you get it done, pat yourself on the back. And then move on to your next goal. Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek calls this ‘selective ignorance’ (which incidentally was the Webster’s 2010 Word of the Year). Essentially, Ferris recommends that we turn off and tune out the distractions so we can focus on what we really care about. I couldn’t agree more!

Related article: Why can’t we get this prioritizing thing right?

2)      Set short-term deadlines
It is much easier to stay productive in the short-term. Deadlines that are far off in the future are easy to ignore. Break a big goal down into small chunks and set short-term deadlines. Small, consistent wins do a great job of motivating us and add up to big changes rather quickly.

Related article: Does Procrastination Boil Down to Temptation?

3)      Tell someone
We can let ourselves off the hook too easily at times. So it can be pretty powerful to tell someone else. Pick someone who will do a good job of holding you accountable.

4)      Get rid of other jobs
What can you get rid of to lighten your load? The Pareto Principle states that 20% of what we do brings 80% of the impact. What low-value tasks are sucking up a lot of your time?

Once we know what our top priorities are, we need to seriously consider off-loading the other stuff.

There are lots of great approaches for identifying the lower-value activities. Mike Cloutier uses the 3 Balls approach to manage an overwhelming workload. In this article, he talks about glass balls (for the things that must be done), rubber balls (the things that should be done) and lead balls (the things that could be done). Stever Robbins uses the “prune, prune, prune” approach as a means of “coping with too much to do”.

5)      Leave a buffer
If you abide by the above tips, this one should be a breeze. Things come up – they always do. So build in some free time. And get to sleep early. It is amazing how much more productive we are after a good night’s sleep.

Related article: Is it time for a break yet?

Hopefully these five tips will help you from spreading yourself too thin. What are your sanity saving plans? I would love to hear your suggestions and tips.

As I was clearing out some stuff and assessing whether I needed to hold onto other things, it got me thinking about my leadership skills. The more papers I sorted, the more I thought about my skills.

Just like our stuff, which tends to pile up and get a bit outdated, our skills often benefit from a tweak here and there. It occurred to me while I was knee deep into ‘Spring Cleaning’ that I should be looking at my leadership skills at the same time. What should I keep? What can I toss? And what should I fix?

Leadership is a multi-faceted concept, so I broke my personal assessment down based on the Proactive Manager model:

Principles: What are my driving principles? Am I consistently referring to these with all decisions and actions? Do my communications support my principles?

Personal Productivity: Am I focused on the right priorities? Are my systems good enough to help me achieve my goals? Am I allocating my time effectively across my different goals? Am I focused?

Process: Am I effectively enabling and leveraging the talents of my colleagues? Am I providing sufficient support? Am I allowing them to take full responsibility for their work? Am I providing timely, balanced and clear feedback?

People: Am I focused on developing intentional relationships with my colleagues? Am I listening and following-up? Is my team engaged?

After going through this process, I noted several things that I liked and a few things that I wanted to tweak. Most importantly, I walked away feeling more organized and grounded as a leader. It felt a lot like breathing in that good spring air.

The change of season is always a good time to step back and reflect or consider our path. With that said, there are lots of other times that can work for a process like this. Maybe it’s after your busy season. Maybe it’s at the end of the year. Whenever it is, make sure not to miss this important reflection period.

The problem is, once I had those files in my sight, other images started flooding to mind.  My file drawers are begging to be culled and my To Do list is due for an overhaul. (Seriously – did I really think I’d get to those tasks that had been sitting there for months?)

Confession #1: Productivity Consultant and all – my office organizing systems are starting to run amok. (Don’t even get me started about my garage.) This spring weather has opened my eyes to things I chose to “ignore” for a tad too long.

It’s come time to admit it: I need to get organized.

Usually I am organized. Honest. I just slipped a little over the winter.

Now I have always prided myself on being an organizing junkie. (Hey – we all need something to brag about.) It’s just that somehow things started to slip over the winter.

Confession #2: I like organizing. True statement. I like to put things in their place and to have calmness around me.   Judge me if you must, but I think that organizing is fun.

Unfortunately, a few really good excuses enabled me to fall off the wagon.

Fortunately, I am a pro when it comes to busting excuses. Here they are – with the reality check accompanying them. Hopefully my painful journey will help you to avoid plummeting into the same pit.

Excuse #1: I’m too busy working to spend time organizing

Reality Check: I can fit anything into my life, if I deem it to be important enough. And clearly yes, lots of things do not make the cut. (Case in point: I’m not doing too many sit-ups these days.)

So what I needed was a reminder that being organized is important. It saves me time (otherwise wasted looking for things), keeps me thinking more strategically (and less buried in the weeds) and helps me to be more proactive about my deadlines. (There is nothing less productive than always working in crisis mode.)

Excuse #2: I don’t have any spare time to get organized

Reality Check: I need to make the time.

After weeks of denial, my office manager realized that I needed help and took matters into her own hands: “Ann: we’re going to take 10 minutes to clear this credenza.” I tried to protest – I had a workshop that afternoon and countless other urgent things to do. But deep down I knew that any attempt to resist organizing was feeble.  She is one of those people who it’s hard to say no to. You know the kind. Anyhoo, it was the best thing for me.

Excuse #3: I know where everything is. I’m not losing any time by being disorganized!

Reality Check: I was wasting time (and impact) looking, sorting, re-printing …

Yes, there is a chance that I am an exception to the abundance of research out there indicating how much time people lose on a daily basis from being disorganized. But I’d probably have more luck with the lottery.

Excuse #4: It would take too long to set up – who has the time?

Reality Check: Getting organized doesn’t actually take that long.

I have helped countless clients organize their office. In most cases it has taken somewhere between 2-5 hours. And the beauty of this project is that you can break it down, and get a big visual payoff at each stage.

Excuse #5: Getting organized is painful (ok – this wasn’t my excuse, but I hear lots of other people say this)

Reality Check: Getting organized is one of the quickest returns on your investment. And there is nothing better than a good pay-off.

It is a simple activity that reaps immediate benefits. Turn on the music, recruit help, bring in some yummy snacks and make it fun.

Excuse #6: My job is more strategic; I don’t have to worry about the details

Reality Check: When I am not organized I tend to get caught up in the weeds and reactive (versus proactive). I also run the risk of becoming a bottleneck to other people (who are focused on the details).

Being organized is an important part of being able to see the bigger picture, staying proactive and staying focused on our goals.

 
Excuse #7: My job is simply too busy to stay organized

Reality Check: If it isn’t easy to maintain, it isn’t the right system for me.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ model here. There is no shame in trying a new system. (And even the best systems out there need to tweaking occasionally.) Figure out what isn’t working and adjust accordingly. Keep it simple though. When things get too fancy, they become too hard to maintain.

 
Excuse #8: A clear desk will make it look like I have nothing to do

Reality Check: No one seriously uses this excuse anymore, right?

It’s very easy to let the systems slip. So as the sun shines outside, I’m putting the spotlight on my trouble areas. No more excuses, it’s time to get organized. On that note, I am going to update my To Do list. Feel free to ask me to show it off the next time you see me. It will soon be a beauty.

Right alongside all of the ‘big’ things that we want to accomplish, there are the countless little things that are just as important. Despite having three big deadlines, I might also want to ask Mary about her daughter’s surgery and I might want to ask Bob about his big presentation.

I believe that we need a strategy to stay on top of those little things. Here are my top two tips for managing the little things:

 1.       Be clear on your priorities
Managing the little details starts with a clear idea of your priorities. Whatever your system, you need to have a way to rank your priorities. Maybe it is a 1/2/3 or an A/B/C system. Regardless, both your big and your little things need to be prioritized. 

Once I am clear on my priorities, I make a deliberate (and sometimes difficult) effort to stay focused. There are always countless distractions enticing me in other directions, but I continually remind myself on the things that are most important. You are simply not as effective if you are jumping around and waffling on priorities.

2.       Make a plan
I typically plan out each day the night before. I will know when I plan to work on both my big and little tasks. I will know when the gaps are in my schedule and I will actually note when I plan to call Bob, walk down the hall to see Mary and check in with my wife and kids. As silly as it sounds, I will even note when I plan to get something to eat. (The last thing I need is to get the killer ‘I forgot to eat’ headache at 4pm). 

Planning each day allows me to go in with a clear idea about how I will make time for all of the little, important things. And yes, sometimes things take longer than you expect. That is where prioritization and creative application come into play. I might need to leave a voicemail for Mary instead of seeing her in person. But at least I will send the message I wanted to send, even if it is not the exact way I had planned.

I hope you find these two tips inspiring.  I’ll leave you with one final thought. I tend to gauge my current workload based on how well I am able to stay on top of the little things. If I struggle to fit them all in, I know that it is time to scale back. I would rather do a few less things really well than to feel as though I am not living up to my commitments to others. And that is something that I can live with.

Delegating is something that I have become quite comfortable with over the years.  I have been able to distill a few gems that lead to positive delegating experiences.  I would like to share my top three tips for effective delegating with you here.

Clear Communication

Clear communication regarding your expectations is at the very top of the list.

You must be very specific regarding the scope (in other words, what others need to do), productivity, output, quality and timeline.  You need to carefully think through all of these aspects and ensure that you communicate your thoughts clearly.

When I was the Director of Marketing, I needed to do my job as a delegator the best I could to allow my team to do their best work.  At the time, I was overseeing multiple brand managers who were all responsible for developing messages for the sales team. I was personally accountable for ensuring the consistency and impact of these messages. It was absolutely critical for my delegating instructions to be clearly thought out, specific and well communicated in order for me to achieve my goals.  While they were individually responsible to conduct the sessions, management held me accountable to ensure they all delivered.

I also believe that the person receiving the work is equally responsible for understanding my expectations.  The receiver must also ask questions to be clear that they understand what they are responsible for.  They need to prompt an upfront discussion if there are any gaps in their ability to deliver.  And finally, they need to prompt a meeting with me if at any point they cannot deliver on these expectations and offer contingency ideas. 

Understand Your Purpose

There are many reasons for delegating.  You may be focused on relieving your own volume so you can work on things of greater importance.  Or you may be focused on training and developing someone else.

Regardless, it is imperative to be clear about your purpose in delegating.  From this, you can plan accordingly.

Clarity around your purpose also helps the person receiving the work.  It helps them to understand why they are entrusted with the work and how they are creating value for themselves or the organization.

Finally, you want to make sure that your boss is aware of and supports your decision to delegate work that you are ultimately responsible for.

Regular and Formal Follow-up

Delegating does not just stop after the initial assignment of work.  There needs to be a formal mechanism in place to check-in, monitor progress and provide support as needed.

From the start, it helps to make sure that you have the right people to delegate work to.  I also consider the capabilities of the person I am delegating to.  I want to make sure that I have done my due diligence to assess their skills required for the task.  If it is a stretch, I ensure that my follow-up plan reflects that.

There are many cases where it makes sense to give people stretch tasks.  But in these situations, you cannot just walk away.  I strongly advocate having a formal process to monitor their progress, coach them as needed and, in extreme cases, reallocate the work if necessary.

These formal reviews should be scheduled in advance, with a frequency dictated by the specific situation. In addition, I always strive to be highly accessible by phone, email and in person.

Delegating is something that I value and embrace.  Effective delegating requires an investment of my time – time that I am willing to give.  The payoffs are directly proportional to my input.

The more productive our team is, the more productive we are.  And we both benefit from that great sense of accomplishment.  (Isn’t it just divine to be able to cross things off our list?)

Having a productive team isn’t just something that we accidentally stumble upon or wish for.  There are specific things that we can do to improve team productivity. 

1)      Establish a foundation of trust

Being able to influence other people requires a foundation of trust. So above all else, we should begin by establishing a trusting environment.

Trust develops over time when:

• People believe that we are competent.  We walk the talk and lead by example.  In other words, we focus on being productive ourselves.
• People believe that we are vested in their success.  Our intent is pure and we want individual team members to do well.

 We can also help to foster trust within our team by establishing some norms. How do we resolve differences in opinion? How do we nip gossip in the bud? How do maintain a relatively fair distribution of work?

2)      Engage your team

Your team will only function productively if they are fully engaged.  Engaged people are inspired, committed and passionate.  And they bring their best to their job.

• Provide substantial ownership: Give people big pieces of important work. Be available to support them, but don’t try to stay involved with every detail.  Don’t expect them to copy you on every email.  Resist the urge to add your two cents on every small detail.  Let them recommend solutions to obstacles.  The more they feel responsible, the more they will act responsible.
• Give them a voice: Find lots of opportunities to consult and inform your team members.
• Seek their support: Talk to team members about changes before they are launched.  Seek their input and build their support.
• Balance your feedback:  Constructive feedback is important.  Just remember to focus on a couple of key areas and balance it with positive feedback.  Pick your battles and avoid criticizing everything.
• Be interested in them: Spend time with people. Ask questions. Listen to what they have to say. 
• Pointing out their value: Help people realize that what they do makes a difference.

 3)      Establish a deadline-driven culture

Teams function much more productively when they can rely on each other.  Deadlines are the contracts that we make with team members.  Each time we deliver on a contract, we are letting them know that they can depend on us.

Too many teams are lax when it comes to deadlines.  And this impedes productivity in many ways. 

Reinforce a deadline-driven culture by (a) ensuring that deadlines are set for key tasks; (b) increasing visibility around deadlines; and (c) holding team members accountable.

4)      Help your team stay focused on their top priorities

It is easy to get pulled in many directions.  We are all more productive when we are focused on our top priorities.

When team members get spread too thin, it may be helpful to help them review their priorities and re-set their how they are allocating their time.  This can bring them a refreshingly renewed clarity and focus.

5)      Give everyone their 15 minutes (and more) of fame.

Let’s face it – we are all human and need our ego stroked once in awhile.  Find ways to share the spotlight among all team members.  Reward and recognize individual effort

Thank people for a job well done.  And try to do this in person (or at least over the phone).  Email just is simply not as effective for things like this.

While there may be a temptation to coast through to the finish line, there are some things that we can do to wrap up 2010 strong.  Read on for three unique tips – the kind of tips that you probably would not expect a productivity consultant to share.

1)      Put things off until 2011

Yes – you read that correctly.  What can you put off until 2011?

December is an unusually busy month when we consider the urgency to wrap up projects, the extra holiday events and the reduced number of workdays. 

Focus is more important than ever at this time.  Identify your top goals and focus your efforts there. Go with the ‘less is more’ mentality, knowing that you make the biggest impact with your top tasks. 

2)      Sort – don’t do

Productivity is all about getting things done.  Paper-shuffling, updating lists and general organizing does not get things done.

However, investing some time in organizing now can set us up for a very productive 2011.  We save time when we can immediately put our fingers on critical information.  We stay more focused when there are fewer piles.  And we reduce our stress when we have a good system to track all of our outstanding tasks.  (There’s nothing worse than the nagging feeling that I am forgetting something.)

If you are able to block off some time for organizing, you will achieve your biggest impact by:

• Getting your email inbox under one screen
• Establishing one central To Do list
• Organizing your office

Click to view We’re Due for a Simple Productivity Tip  for more tips.

3)      Just say no

You know how the saying goes: “too much of a good thing is a bad thing”.  The holiday season is no exception.  This applies to business (see tip #1 above) and pleasure.

Protect your downtime and you’ll end up enjoying the holidays even more.  You don’t need to go to every holiday gathering.  You don’t have to take advantage of every holiday sale.  And you don’t need to bake everything. 

Take a break and recharge your batteries.  Going for a walk and catching up on your reading is (counter-intuitively) a really productive use of time.  It means that you will be rested and rearing to go for a strong 2011.

All the best over the holiday season!

Ann

While I naturally want to get everything done, sometimes I need to juggle.  Not being a circus star, I need to prioritize all the balls I have in the air.  Otherwise, I may end up dropping the wrong one.

When I consider my range of tasks, there are usually three types: the must dos, the should dos and the could dos. 

Three Balls Approach to Prioritizing

Glass balls refer to the things that I must do.  If I drop one of these balls, they tend to break and damage occurs.  Typically, glass balls need to be handled in the short-term and are directly related to a strategic priority or key opportunity.

Rubber balls refer to the things that I should do.  If I drop one of these balls, they tend to bounce up and I generally get a second chance at them.  But I need to be careful, because eventually they will stop bouncing and the opportunity to act will be gone.

Lead Balls refer to the things that I could do.  If I drop one of these balls, they tend to fall to the ground and sit there.  These lead balls are rarely addressed as they typically get bumped by new glass or rubber balls.  While occasionally one or two lead balls survive, if I’m honest, the impact of lead balls is minimal.

What if there is still too much?

There have been times when I have simply had too many glass balls.  In these situations, I have been honest.  I have lobbied for assistance and/or flexibility with a deadline.  The trick here is to communicate upfront.  There cannot be any surprises.

Delegating goes Hand in Hand with Prioritizing

Delegating is another great opportunity to manage a full plate.  Over the years, I have gotten much better at delegating.  More precisely, I have dedicated a great deal of time to building and coaching teams.  My philosophy is to hire great people who can do the work. 

Prioritizing is no Circus Act

At the end of the day, I strive to make sure that everything that I do lines up with my strategy.  And while I do need to juggle at times, I don’t need to be a circus star.  As long as I stay focused on those glass balls (and to some extent the rubber balls too), I am bound to feel good about what I can get done.

However, with all of the talk around prioritizing, one would think that we would see better results.  So many of us get caught up in urgent tasks and we find ourselves running from one crisis to the next.  Yet these urgent tasks don’t seem to help us to get ahead.

I find that people tend to over-complicate prioritizing.  I prefer a simple solution – like the following Prioritization Formula which is both easy to follow and highly effective. 

The Prioritizing Formula

Step One: Identify Your Work Categories

What are the top four or five things that you do?  Your work categories might include things such as clients, team, sales & marketing, research, special projects, administration, etc.

Step Two: Allocate Your Time

How much time do you want to dedicate to each category of work?  Think about a weekly average.  And make sure to leave some extra time for lunch and miscellaneous tasks like email.

Step Three: Build a Schedule Structure

Build a routine that allocates time for each of your work categories.  If one of your categories perpetually gets pushed to the back burner, consider starting your day with this category.  (Business development is a classic example.  It often gets bumped in favour of more urgent tasks.)  Starting your day with an important (but not urgent) task is a common practice of highly successful people.

Work the Plan

Once you have this plan in place, all you need to do is work the plan.  Focus on your top one or two priorities during the time that you have blocked off for that category.  The other things are (to be blunt) simply not as important.

Resist the urge to continue giving time to one category at the expense of another.  Respecting the boundaries we put in place keeps us focused on our most critical tasks.

Prioritizing is all about doing the right things at the right time. 

Keep things simple and you will be refreshingly pleased with your outcomes.

Last night my head was spinning. I couldn’t wrap my head around all the things I had to do. Clients, workshops, assessment tools, research projects and the list went on. There just didn’t seem to be enough of me to go around. At times like this, we all know that we need to prioritize. But what exactly does this mean?

Wasted Time

In my opinion, most people spend too much time prioritizing. I’d like to share an example of how a client handled his email backlog. He had me a huge stack of emails that he had printed, sorted by sender and alphabetized. He was then planning to flag his top priority emails. All this time and yet not a single email answered.

I would rather see people focus on getting their work done. Perfecting our prioritization is not the goal.

3 Simple Steps

At the same time, we need to have some kind of plan about where to start. I recommend a very simple approach to prioritization:

Step 1: Categorize your work. (See my blog “How to Create the Perfect TO DO List”)

Step 2: Identify your top 1-2 priorities in each category.

Step 3: Block off time for each of your categories. During these times, focus on your top priorities for that category.  I recommend:

• ~75% of your attention goes to your #1 priority.
• ~15% of your attention goes to your #2 priority.
• ~10% of your attention goes to all other work in this category.

When you finish priority #1, the other tasks move up the priority list. And so on, and so on.

Too Busy

Many people complain about being too busy. What they are really saying is that they are not giving enough time to their top priorities. They are spreading themselves too thin.

We can’t get it all done. But we can get some things done really well.

Touch it Once Reminder

Note: These prioritization principles apply to larger chunks of work.

For all tasks that take less than 10 minutes, I still advocate the Touch it Once principle.

How do you manage to balance all of your work?  I’d love to hear more ideas here.