Tag: priorities

Counting down to December 31

time wisely quote

We have just one month left!. And December often feels like the busiest month of the year. But there is still time to measure some progress on the goals you set for the year.

Hopefully you wrote some things down in January or at some point earlier this year. You said – “this is what I want this year to be about.”

You could look now and say – “well, I missed it” OR “sure, I got some of that done, but not nearly enough.”

But if you give up, you are missing the fact that there are still more than 30 days left. Maybe twenty or less if you factor in all the parties and holiday activities. That is still something!

Tips for last-minute progress

So here are my tips for a last-minute, last-ditch effort to make progress toward your annual goals:

  1. Look at them! If you don’t look back at them until you’re debriefing in January, you can’t gain any more ground.
  2. Which goal did you set that no longer seems important?  Did your priorities change mid-year?  Did other circumstances dictate that you should write one off? Cross that one off your list and focus on what’s really key to you.
  3. Is there anything that is almost finished, but just needs a little more push? Can you schedule time to finish that out?calendar
  4. Which one isn’t nearly done, but you could accomplish more than you have so far? What two actions would improve you from an F to a C? It may not be an A, but a C is certainly better.
  5. Which one is honestly a loss? There are plenty of goals that you can’t knock out in give or take 20 days. But take a few minutes to think about this. Why did you not make any progress? Is there anything standing in the way of progress in this area? Maybe you can do something to address the obstacles, even if you can’t push toward the goal.
  6. Write down a few things related to your goals that you can do to make progress. Block out time in your calendar to get them done. December 31 will feel better because you did!

Here are a few things on my list:

  1. I haven’t hired a Marketing Director yet, but I have some really good prospects. How can I use the 5 remaining weeks to lock a plan in for starting the new year strong?
  2. One of my goals for the year was a complete overhaul of our Employee Handbook. I already collected a list of things that need to be addressed. I can’t get a final version perfect, but blocking out one day would make it a lot better than it is right now. What about five hours next week, plus an hour a week or a section a week until it’s completely done? I can’t finish by January 1, but I’m pretty sure February 1 would do it.
  3. I have a few areas that I was hoping to make some progress on, but realized during the year that I don’t have the talent to cover this personally. How about if I try to allocate budget resources to hire for this one in the first quarter? I can’t do the job in the next five weeks, but if I wait until the new year to think about it, the budget won’t be there.

What can you do?

The point here is to identify – what can you do? Rome wasn’t built in a day. You eat an elephant one bite at a time. Every journey begins with a single step. I could go on. What can you do today? What can you do with an hour next week? What can you do if you take a minute now and carve out time on your calendar?

Considering Value in Managing Your Schedule

I feel like I can always squeeze one more thing in a trash bag. My wife and I even had a fight about that our first year of marriage. For me, it wasn’t full yet and therefore did not need to go out because I was sure could still squeeze in one more thing. We laugh about this years later! Many people, including me, adopt a similar approach to their personal schedule. But filling a schedule the way you feel a trash bag only makes sense if the items in your schedule have relatively little value. Squeezing one more minor errand in probably makes very little difference.

Things in your schedule may have more value though.

But how would you pack something that includes items of value, like your grandmother’s fine china? Very carefully. With cushion wrapped around it. With sufficient space given for every piece. Because these things are important!

I have learned over time that I can’t be creative in a 15 minute time segment. Creativity needs room to be done well! Sure, the idea may come in a moment. Fleshing that idea out to its fullest is better done like barbecue, low and slow. Low heat, plenty of time.

Next time you’re tempted to squeeze one more thing into your schedule, decide what’s important. What will get squeezed if you make that choice? Take time to decide what should wait and what should not. Treat your activities with a real consideration of what is valuable to you.

Running your schedule around meetings

One area I often attempt to squeeze things in is when I have a few extra minutes on the way to my next meeting with members of my team. Do you ever make this mistake? Instead of doing one more thing which will often make us late, what could we do with extra time if we get to the team meeting early? Here are a few options:

  • Connect relationally with people who are there before we have to jump into the business at hand.
  • Review the documents provided at the meeting to better acquaint ourselves with what is about to be covered.
  • Look over notes from previous meetings to identify any missed items or new insights that should be considered.
  • Look ahead to items later on the agenda to invest thought and prayer into how to do them more effectively.
  • If nothing else is available, we could take time to journal or read a personal development book.

What happens if we run in late because we decided to try to squeeze in one more thing before heading to this meeting?

  • Our team has to to wait on us OR to re-cover items that we missed if they decided to start on time.
  • We miss potentially important discussion.
  • Our mind is cluttered, rather than fresh.

Downloadable Resources

Think about what’s important to you. And then make sure you give appropriate room on your schedule for those things. How does your calendar reflect your values?

Here’s a tool I developed to help you evaluate your activities. Feel free to download and use if it helps you.

Related Posts

  1. Setting Priorities
  2. You Can’t Manage Time
  3. Put it in Park to Refill your Tank

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.