Eric

Drowning? Make a list!

Once in a while, I get in a place where there is a lot going on and I almost feel like I’m drowning.

I almost feel like I’m drowning.

There’s too much going on for me to even think about my priorities the way I would prefer to and I spend most of my time putting out fires. When I get in a place like this and I’m feeling completely overwhelmed, I have to stop and take time to make a list.

Making a list of what’s in my mind, almost like a brain dump

 

  • What is overwhelming me?
  • What is in the way?
  • What needs to be done?
  • What are the fires?

to do listWrite it all down even if it takes a whole sheet of paper.

Then take the list and pray over it.

Ask God what is most important. What needs doing now? What can use a band-aid (see my post re: band-aids here)? And what should I just plain ignore to move forward in other areas?

Making the list reduces the internal pressure

Even the act of making the list relieves stress because now it’s not swimming in my head, it’s on paper in front of me and I already feel like I’m making progress.

PS. If you try this and you’re still overwhelmed, sleep on it. And pray more the next morning.

Setting Priorities in Your Schedule

Do you make time for what’s most important in your life? The best tip I ever heard for setting priorities was a technique taught in a Franklin Covey time management seminar I attended. This is included as one of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits, “Put First Things First”, using an object lesson involving rocks.

big rocks are your prioritiesA college professor takes a box of rocks from behind his counter and proceeds to place them into a jar in front of his students. When the jar is full, he asks if there’s room for more. The students say no, because the jar is full. He pulls a box of smaller rocks from behind the counter and proceeds to add them into the jar. Each smaller rock fits into the cracks around the big rocks in the jar. He repeats this question and demonstration pattern with gravel, sand and water until the jar is completely full. What’s the moral of the story? he asks. “You can always fit more,” one student suggests. “No, you have to put the BIG ROCKS in first.” There won’t be room for your priorities if you fill your schedule with little things first.

I heard this lesson and concept nearly 15 years ago but still use it and have found tremendous value in it.

Application

Here’s a way you can try applying this to your own schedule:

  • Step 1 – identify the important roles in your life. For me, that’s husband, father, pastor, employee, manager, mentor, etc. Note that some of these are closely tied together, but I separate them when I’m trying to identify priorities. I prefer to define each unique role in which a person sees me. For me that means, being a pastor (to the congregation I serve) and manager (to the staff I oversee) are distinct.
  • Step 2 – within each role, on a weekly basis, identify the most important thing you should do. What would help you excel in that role for the coming week?
  • Step 3 – once you identify it, block time in your schedule to do that thing for each role. As husband, that may mean date night, or it may mean being home in time for dinner.
  • Step 4 – keep to the schedule that was built around your priorities!

schedule your priorities

Downloadable Resources

I developed worksheets to guide you through Step 1 and Step 2 which you can download here:

Formula for Forward Progress

Ingredients for Forward ProgressI’ve been working through a number of projects lately and I’ve started to see progress in multiple categories. It occurred to me that, in my experience, progress has a very simple formula. To use math lingo, I would contend that Progress is a function of New Ideas, Spare Bandwidth, and Resources. If you hold all of these constant, you will likely maintain the status quo.

Ingredients for Forward Progress

If you can increase at least one of the three, though, I believe progress will result. Here’s why:

  • New Ideas: If you only think about your challenges or operations the way you’ve always thought about them, you’re not likely to see change. New ideas, or innovation, can come from visiting someone else’s organization, going to a training event, or bringing new perspectives into the team. Increase your openness to new ideas and your capacity to think differently. It will pay off.
  • Spare Bandwidth: I’ve written more about margin here, but let me summarize by saying that you can’t build toward progress if you spend all of your time doing the same things. If you can’t break out of your own time routines, it may be time to bring someone in who can contribute spare bandwidth to your efforts. (In the not-for-profit arena, finding a volunteer with some experience in your area of weakness and bandwidth to help you build is a big way to add value.)
  • Resources: Sometimes you have plenty of new ideas and even the bandwidth to execute them, but your limiting factor is resources, financial or otherwise. If you’re a leader with financial decision-making authority, watch for this to be a lid for your team. If new ideas and spare bandwidth are going under-utilized, you may want to look for a way to allocate additional resources.
As in math, you don’t necessarily have to increase every value to achieve a greater result. Adding new ideas can cause progress even if you hold bandwidth and resources constant. And the same is true for each. In fact, sometimes new ideas or spare bandwidth can help you continue to make progress even if you need to decrease resources (cost-savings innovations, e.g.).
Paying attention to these three factors will help you lead your team forward toward your goals and vision.