Sometimes we are confronted with a pile of work that needs our attention. Each part of the pile cries out to be done first and we know that some of the tasks are more interesting than others. Usually we have scooped up an article or two that we want to read that is in the pile too. And just occasionally we have mislaid something that is buried in its depths.
Well today I had amassed such a pile – and at least I knew that nothing was client focussed and delaying their work. I pulled the pile together as I had a wonderful ‘gift of time’, created by a stalled meeting. So rather than wonder what to do I decided to set about this pile and get on top of things.
As I started to sort things out I was distracted by something I had popped to one side some while ago and so started to read the article, quickly noticing an advert on the side and found myself absorbed in that before I finished reading the article. This is where I had to put on my mental brakes and STOP! What was I doing? I was meant to be sorting the pile out….not reading things on a whim. It did not mean what I was reading was not useful, but, and this was a huge BUT – was I working on the most valuable thing
in the pile?
I didn’t know the answer to that so this made me think about what I should be doing to maximise the use of the precious time, this precious time I had been gifted. I then sorted the pile out into a logical order, and then set too on the most useful thing to do. This is the approach I took:
I did a fast sift to establish if it was either A) need to do or B) like to do – while doing this I was ruthless in binning any stuff that had crept into the pile that had no real value and would waste time.
The ‘B’ pile – ‘like to do’ – was put to one side for another day, perhaps to skim over and bin as I had a coffee.
The ’A’ pile – ‘need to do’ – was then deliberately prioritised into order using the following criterion:
- Important & Urgent
- Important & less urgent
- Urgent – this pile is always rubbish so I forced it into 1, 2 or 4
- Not urgent or important – this pile got moved to the pile ‘B’ or binned as I had missed the opportunity on the first pass. Also when we have context, what may have seemed worthwhile pales when compared with the really good stuff we have unearthed.
This left me with tasks from 1 & 2 which I then prioritised again so I was always working on the most important task. Simple really, but sometimes we forget and get sidetracked by the ‘new shinny object’ that has just arrived.
Having got myself back on track I felt much more focussed and much more genuine – well I do help my clients maximise their potential. This slip was good ‘research’!
Do you work on things in a prioritised way? Or have you ‘slipped’ and become busy but not effective?
My best wishes,
Peter
