Send to a friend
Print this page

Too many balls in the air limit the time to follow through

Advertisement After you’ve delegated what you can, prioritize the tasks that remain — right down to how you respond your e-mail and voice mail. “Anyone who works in the service industry needs to be responsive to clients, but you need to be clear on what’s a distraction and what really needs to be done now,” says Chadnick. Michael Linenberger of Cali-fornia, author of Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook (New Academy Publishers), calls the urge to act immediately on a request the “everything is a fire” approach to work. “Constantly being in a reactive mode, instead of a proactive mode, is inefficient,” he says. “You’ll never get ahead this way.” Technology is a major culprit behind this time-sucking mindset — which can be triggered by something as innocuous as the ping of arriving e-mail. “E-mail management is a huge problem,” says Grall, noting that opening every e-mail immediately is a huge distraction. To combat this temptation, she suggests turning off the sound option of your e-mail and checking your in-box only three times a day. “Very few things in life are so urgent that they need to be answered in less than a three-hour window.” Linenberger has a different tactic for e-mail management, one he claims can help regain up to 25% of your workweek. His system hinges on using the task management tool, which you configure to sort tasks in order of priority, on your e-mail application. Let’s say you receive an e-mail from your assistant requesting your expense receipts from the past month. You are likely to respond in one of two ways: either moving along to the next e-mail while making a mental note to submit your expenses, or completing the expense form immediately before moving on. “You may just have wasted half an hour on your lowest-priority task of the day,” warns Linenberger. Instead, he recommends immediately converting every action-oriented e-mail you receive into an Outlook task. Do this by dragging the e-mail to the task icon (found on the left-hand side of the Microsoft Office Outlook window; some versions may require you to switch on the task icon in your user preferences). Rename the e-mail (“File expenses,” for example), prioritize it (high, medium, low), set a due date and then complete the task as you work through your list in order of priority. “Block out time in your daily schedule to work on your task list, and only label things as ‘high priority’ if they absolutely must get done today,” Linenberger advises. Aside from taking advantage of the task function (available on most e-mail programs), Linenberger also recommends saving e-mail in one folder. “I save all of my e-mails because storage is so cheap,” says Linenberger. “You might waste 30 seconds deciding whether you should throw something out.” Storing mail in one big folder allows for easier searching and saves the hassle of sorting mail into multiple folders. “The No. 1 mistake people make is in filing their e-mail,” says Linenberger, who completely empties his in-box several times a day. Instead, use a search engine (he recommends using X1, Windows Desktop Search, Google Desktop or Outlook 2007’s search function) to retrieve what you’re looking for. “You may have to try a couple of different key words, but you will find it.” OFF THE CLOCK Weekends are when Zavitz regroups, although she admits to attending to the occasional work-related matter. “I try to avoid working at home because it zaps your energy,” she says, “but it happens.” Relaxation takes the form of skiing, reading or a hike with her husband and two dogs, but one thing it doesn’t involve is cleaning the house. “Think of yourself, think of your schedule and hire out whatever you don’t like to do,” says Zavitz. “Your whole attitude will change when you don’t have to go home and do the dishes.” IE << PREVIOUS PAGE | 1 | 2 Read other news from our Team Building Section