Fighting Fires isn’t Sexy
For those of you with more on your to-do list than you have time to do, it could be quite difficult to decide which projects get your time and attention. Getting focused is the top challenge most super busy managers struggle with. I have learned so much about this problem first-hand dealing with it as I balance my roles as mother, wife, friend, daughter, sister, and more with that of being an entrepreneur. I have now created and delivered a highly effective workshop “There’s Too Much on my Plate” to help others manage their work more effectively rather than constantly fighting fires by handling the crises that come there way on a regular basis.
Some highly recommended and very effective techniques I teach about include:
1. Choose the RIGHT priorities
Here I refer to the 80:20 rule and apply it to managing your workload. Don’t be so busy doing lots of the things that will detract you from doing the things that matter most. 80% is trivial but 20% is vital. Focus on your 20% with 80% of your time and energy. Work smarter! Focus the majority of your time and energy on activities that advance your overall goals and purpose. Anything else on your to-do list is likely a distraction!
2. Ask Yourself the RIGHT questions
Rather than asking about how you’ll be able to get everything done, ask what steps will help you achieve your goals, how the activity or project ties into the bigger picture, when critical hand-offs need to occur and other such questions that more closely align with your goals and objectives.
3. Be in Control
Manage your day rather than reacting to other’s needs and priorities and putting your own priorities on the back burner. Don’t be fooled to believe that you’ll be able to get to your stuff once you’ve gotten through everyone else’s because that rarely, if ever really happens. Learn to negotiate and ask better questions, to push back, and to set clear boundaries.
Fighting someone else’s fires places your time and energy with them. When someone needs your help and tries to make their priority your priority, remember that by reacting you are giving up your power. Instead, if reasonable, politely let them know that you will gladly help them out later once you’ve finished your own work. Focus on your priorities first!
Manage self not Time
For years I’ve been hearing about Time Management. However, time is elusive and really can’t be managed. Instead, manage yourself. The real key is that effective self managers define their priorities and schedule activities, they don’t manage the clock as there are only 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week. If you manage it, it will not grow or accumulate, so you really must manage how you use time, manage your work, and control your actions.
The trap that most super busy people fall into is believing that he/she can do it all. You might be able to do it all, but perhaps not at the same time or not with the same focus, tenacity or results. Everything doesn’t deserve equal time or attention. Therefore, you really must make conscious decisions about what’s really most important. Multi-tasking has been proven ineffective in numerous studies, so make choices and focus on the most important tasks first.
Time is a precious commodity. However, many people waste valuable time getting stuck in one or more of the following habits:
Being a Perfectionist: Believing that work or output that is anything less than perfect is unacceptable. This belief is often marked by low productivity as individuals lose time and energy on small irrelevant details of larger projects or mundane daily activities.
Procrastinating: Putting off, avoiding or deferring actions or tasks to a later time.
Crises Management: Reacting to threats, elements of surprise and urgencies but having no time for the routine matters that might be more important.
Being Unfocused: Lack of concentration on a particular task or activity which is evident usually by switching, floundering or multi-tasking.
Allowing Interruptions: Distractions and interruptions are costly to individual performance and the bottom-line. In fact, unnecessary interruptions consume about 28 percent of the knowledge worker’s day, which translates to 28 billion lost hours to companies in the United States alone (“The Cost of Not Paying Attention: How Interruptions Impact Knowledge Worker Productivity,” Jonathan B. Spira and Joshua B. Feintuch, Basex, 2005). At an average cost per hour of $21 (U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics June 2005), that costs U.S. companies $588 billion per annum.
Emotional Blocks: Boredom, daydreaming, stress, guilt, anger and frustration all reduce concentration.
Preferential Treatment?
According to Elizabeth at the Career and Kids blog
http://www.careerandkids.com/do-working-mothers-get-a-pass-on-working-late/
In the workplace, it’s often perceived that parents, especially mothers, get preferential treatment when it comes to working late or overtime. However, a recent survey by Adecco USA Workplace finds that working moms are just as likely as non-parents to work late:
The latest Adecco USA Workplace Insight survey, conducted in recognition of Mother’s Day, found that working moms (71%) are just as likely as non-parents (73%) to work late and respond to e-mails after hours, even though one-third of all workers (32%) would be less inclined to ask a working parent (male or female) to do so. Further, even though they’re willing to burn the midnight oil with the rest of their colleagues, nearly half of moms (49%) think their companies should do more to help them achieve better work/life balance.
For more information, check out this press release!
What are your thoughts? What are your personal experiences?
Working Parents
I visited the Fox Studios in NY earlier today to tape 2 segments for FoxBusiness.com. Although we had an appointment for studio time at 11:15, we were not able to tape until later that afternoon because someone had mis-communicated. (Has anything like this ever happened to you??)
Anyway, I was interviewed about tips for working parents for one segment and how to set better boundaries at work for the other. Anna Gilligan, the host was a pleasure to work with although not personally able understand the issues facing working parents every day, beings she’s not a parent herself. Many of the tips shared in this type of format are general and non-specific because it’s reaching a varied audience. When you read Succeeding as a
Super Busy Parent you can select the tips that apply to you and incorporate them into your life. Sometimes we get so busy that we forget the practical and sometimes simple things you could be doing to beat this challenge. You can check out the show at http://www.foxbusiness.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralPlaylistId=5fd543b8ce7fcb5cee5c4eaecd94e0a73b33a327.
If this doesn’t work, go to the FoxBusiness.com site and scroll down to the gold box on the left-hand side that says Fast Track (Download Podcast/ Watch Now). Click Watch now and scroll down to select the March 10 video on Working Parents.
Unexpected Occurences
My son broke his right wrist on Friday when we went skiing/snow-boarding beings they had the day off for a teacher’s in-service day. So, not unlike any of you who are also Super Busy Parents, I needed to rearrange my schedule so that I could get my son to the doctor on Tuesday.
As working parents we are often faced with the challenge of taking care of our personal/family life when we have commitments at work. Fortunately, I have made the choice 11 years ago to have my own business. This gives me extra flexibility but sacrifices the steady income and benefits I was receiving in the corporate world. I was able to re-arrange my individual coaching clients, participate in a meeting via conference call, and still attend a meeting I was scheduled to attend that evening. I called in my support network!
Building a strong support network is important for any working parents success, especially the Super Busy Parent! Having a support network allows you the option to call upon people and resources as needed. I phoned the Orthopedist’s office from the ski lodge to get their recommendations as to our best course of action for my son’s wrist, I called the Pediatrician to let her know what happened and get whatever referrals I’d need to get him the appropriate care in a timely fashion (here in America President’s weekend is a holiday weekend and most businesses are closed for President’s Day on Monday!), we called my daughter’s friend’s mother to inform her we were on our way home (and she offered to take the girls as soon as we arrived), we called my mother-in-law to have her let out the dog beings we didn’t know how long we’d be detained at the hospital, and over the weekend I called/emailed my clients to reschedule appointments.
Communication and a support network are crucial. So is keeping things organized so that you have what you need when you need it. Anticipating what you think you might need, may also save an extra trip (I got a copy of the xray while I was at the hospital this time and it saved me a trip back!)
How can you be better prepared for the unexpected??
Sleep Deprived??
What an experience!! I met Charles Osgood from CBS Sunday Morning news today when we taped a segment set to air on Sunday March 9th about sleep deprivation. We filmed the segment here in my office and home. They will also interview some sleep experts and a client of mine who certainly lives a very busy life.
The piece centers around the fact that people today are so busy they often fail to take time for adequate sleep. Many of my clients, friends and family survive on too few hours of sleep. This doesn’t normally effect them immediately, but eventually they experience grogginess; may fall asleep driving, at work, or while watching TV at home with their family; find themselves losing patience and becoming less effective in their numerous roles.
If you are one of the millions who don’t get the sleep they need. What are you doing instead? Are you bringing home piles of work, catching up on bills, cleaning the house, surfing the Internet, taking care of a new puppy, or something else? Are these activities really more important than your health and well-being?
Do you have a real sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea, that really needs to be addressed?
Here’s a challenge for you if you frequently get inadequate sleep…
choose 1 night this week to commit to getting a good night’s sleep. On that night, bring no work home, turn off the phone and TV, have someone else take care of the kids or pets, etc. and focus on getting a good night’s sleep.
You can do it! It starts with realizing that your habits are not working for you any longer. Then it takes your conscious effort to change that habit. Start with 1 day, then make it once per week over at least the next month. Once you have a regular pattern, add another day.
Realize there’s always something else you can be doing…but your sleep is of critical importance!
Kathy goes from good to great
Kathy has been dissatisfied with her marriage for quite some time. She and her husband unsuccessfully had counseling last year. Although it’s pretty scary for her, Kathy has filed for a divorce, put the house up for sale, and is looking for a new job. She is going from (not so) good to (hopefully very) great. How about you?
Pat commits from good to great!
Pat is a business coach and professional speaker. She shared that after years of buying books and products to help her market her business better and realizing that she’s now amassed so much information that she could probably write her own book, she will start implementing the tactics and strategies she’s learned about. That’s how Pat is going from good to great…how about you?
From Good to Great in 2008
Wow, I can’t believe my last BLOG was posted back in July! I have been super busy myself and focused on other parts of my business and personal life. But now, it’s a new year. I’ve challenged the readers of my e-newsletter to join me in my journey to go from good to great in 2008. I’m raising the bar. I’ve asked readers and clients to share their stories on how they’ve raised the bar in their super busy lives. So, check back here often to read what others are doing and use it to inspire yourself to go from good to great in 2008!
(I like catchey rhymes because it helps me remember things better)
Drop me an email at natalie@nrgcoaching.com with your commitment and actions you’ve taken. Just let me know how you’d like it posted on this BLOG to share with others.
Dream Jobs for Working Moms
A new survey just realeased from Pew Research Center finds that only about 21 percent of working mothers with children under 18 view fulltime work as the best arrangement, down from 32 percent just 10 years ago. Of the working mothers surveyed, a whopping sixty percent, prefer part-time work, up from 48 percent in 1997. And, about the same amount of women, about 19 percent, say they’d prefer to not work at all.
This survey was conducted by telephone this past February and March to a national sample of 2,020 adults with a margin of error of about 3 percentage points for the full sample.
Based on the latest federal figures in the US, 70.5 percent of American women with children under 18 work outside the home–including 60 percent of mothers with children under 3. Three quarters of the working mothers are currently working full-time jobs, although this survey reflects a preference for part-time work.
What’s your schedule look like in your dream job?
Email Coach Natalie at natalie@nrgcoaching.com to share your views.
Sincerely yours,
Coach Natalie Gahrmann
