When you are done with your current task, how do you choose what to do next?
When I was first starting out, I didn't really pay too much attention to what task was next on my list... I would jump right in and do whatever task grabbed my attention next.
As I learned more about time management, this was one of the first bad habits that I eliminated, and my productivity significantly improved.
This is a common productivity killer because the things that grab your attention are not always very important, and they often don’t represent the best way to spend your time.
Things that grab your attention tend to be urgent. It could be the latest crisis, an interruption, a telephone call, or an impending deadline.
Do you remember the old adage “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”? Urgent things are often very squeaky!
The point is that urgent things are not always important, and important things are not always urgent.
When you focus only on the urgent things each day, you won’t leave enough time to deal with the things that are really important but not very urgent. This is what I call the “tyranny of the urgent.”
The Solution is...
The solution is to make a plan and then work your plan. Instead of doing whatever grabs your attention next, use your plan to figure out the best way to use your time based on your top priorities for the week. That way, you’ll spend more of your time on important things, whether or not they are urgent.
Your plan gives you a solid framework to decide moment-by-moment whether that squeaky wheel trying to grab your attention really is important, or whether it is just a distraction that you can postpone to a more appropriate time.
If you eliminate just this one productivity killer, you'll soon notice that you're spending more time on the things that really matter and your productivity will significantly improve.
How to Implement it Using a Simple Yet
Powerful Time Management Technique
Here's one simple yet powerful time management technique you can use to add up to one hour of productive time each day:
# 1 - Start with a list of the tasks that you need to do
# 2 - Group related tasks into projects, which represent your ultimate outcomes rather than just the actions you need to take. Write your projects in a separate Master Project List.
# 3 - At the start of the day, select the most important project from your Master Project List, the one project that if advanced today would make the most difference to your productivity, goals and objectives.
While this may very well be an important and urgent project that you need to do today, see if you can sneak in some of the truly important but not-as-urgent projects that you may have been neglecting.
# 4 - Schedule a one-hour “project block.” This is an appointment with yourself to work exclusively on this very important project and take it as far as you can.
Schedule this project block appointment as early in the day as you can, when you are most likely to be able to work on it without distractions or interruptions. If you can, make it the first thing you work on in the day, even before you start going through and answering your emails.
If necessary, come in a bit early to work to have some extra time to yourself.
# 5 - Get to work on your project. When the time for the project block appointment arrives, start with the most important task for this project and continue working on it until you are done or run out of time in your block.
If you finish the most important task, then move on to the 2nd most important task and so on.
Be sure to give this “project block” the same respect and attention you give your most important appointments and meetings. Don't shortchange yourself.
During the rest of the day, continue working on your projects and tasks normally.
This simple time management technique can significantly enhance your productivity, but only if you truly pick the most important project to work on and only if you focus single-mindedly on it during your project block.
If you like the results you are seeing, consider adding a 2nd project block each day.
It could be a project block for the same project you worked on before, or it could be a block for the next most important project on your list. It's completely up to you.
Obviously, this technique is only as good as your prioritization. If you don't select the “right” projects and tasks to work on, the ones that are most important and will truly make a difference in your results, then your productivity improvements will be limited.
Taking It To the Next Level
While daily planning using project blocks is a big improvement over not planning at all, going from daily planning to weekly planning can take your productivity to a whole new level.
A week is an ideal timeframe for project block planning because it's short enough to do meaningful and realistic planning, but it's long enough to balance your important long-term projects with your more pressing short-term tasks in a meaningful way.
The result is a plan that not only takes into account the important and urgent tasks you need to do this week, but that also allows you to advance some of the more important and less urgent projects on your list.
As you get more comfortable working with project blocks, consider switching from daily to weekly planning.
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