A few weeks ago someone asked me how I managed to juggle so many things and somehow be able to do the right things.
A few thoughts came to mind. First, I don't know that I do that many things, but then again I don't benchmark myself against others. Next, I don't know that I always do the right things, but I do try in general.
Perhaps the question came from a place of not knowing all the things I don't do - which I suppose is an infinite list - but in any case, I thought I'd write down how I go about it.
I have yearly goals and monthly goals, but most of my intentional detailed planning happens at the week level, so that's where I'm starting.
There are a few things I have in hand when I'm going to plan my week.
I typically start by blocking off time for personal things, like dropping off/picking up kids, working out, cooking, spending time with family.
These are marked out-of-office and private on my calendar, so it's very rare someone will try and schedule something over them.
Next, I look at existing commitments on my calendar - meetings other people asked me to attend, etc.
Recurring blocks of time are usually good for predictability, and I try to bunch them together. Recurring meetings are also useful for meta-things, like weekly planning.
I'll take a pass and see whether there are any that I can simply drop, or exchange for a bit of focused work. For example, instead of meeting to review a document, I can just read it online and leave comments if it's a straightforward task.
Now that I have only blocks of commitments that I really need to attend, I'll play with moving things around to try and free up longer blocks of available time.
These longer blocks are important, because I'm going to fill a bunch of these up soon.
Next, I'll block out time to do focused work. Occasionally I will tag specific blocks of time for specific work, but more commonly I'll just work off of my prioritized list.
I try to limit how much focused time I have scheduled to leave myself room to adapt. Usually three to four hours of focused time a day is about all I can have. If they end up split across the day in one-hour blocks, at least I'll have something. If I can clear an afternoon or morning, that's great. I won't allocate half-hour blocks - there's rarely enough time to do truly deep work, instead if I find myself with a free half-hour between meetings I'll typically catch up on email or work on some small item off my to-do list.
Sometimes I end up eating all available time to focus. Sometimes, I won't have more than an hour or two during the day. At this point, I've tried everything I can, and I'll perhaps look at the day more critically, but I can start the week in peace knowing that everything else I've chosed to do is a more important use of my time.
If you're feeling overwhelmed or frustrated that you don't have the time to do everything you'd like, I feel for you.
The thing that has worked for me is to figure out what is the best way to manage things, trust that it's good enough, and then go with that. No good will come from ruminating on how you'd like things to be different.
Instead, embrace the plan you've made - you're making the best use of your time you're able to - and enjoy your week!
Happy weekly planning!
Tags: management