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Surviving 24 x 7 Effective
priority setting
an indispensable to your survival in the competitive market.
Unless you
learn to manage the way you decide to use your time, your priorities
you won't
be unable to manage anything else. Constant
and irreversible
changes in workload, budgets, personnel, technology, and job priorities
can
make impossible demands on your work life. Whether you've changed
supervisors,
switched departments, or had your job caught up! Yet there are vital
practices
to safeguard your sanity during a times of change and transition- you
need to
consider what you do control, have a technique to regroup, reassess,
and decide
not only what to do but what not to do. Think
about the changes in
your work, what percent of those do you control? 50%? 10%? 0%? Whatever
your
answer, you are right. The only thing you have 100% control of is how
you
react. Recent studies have that remaining optimistic and energetic
about the
future and by choosing not to agonize over things that you can't change
is key
to your well-being. There's no better way to waste time in life than to
dwell
on what you don’t control. You should learn what you can control, so
that you
can modify your responses -- and then move on; decide what you will do
and what
you won’t. Sound easier said than done? HOW
DO YOU RESPOND? When
confronted with the
impact of change most adults react in five ways: conscious, habit,
pressure,
impulse, default. When we make our decisions consciously, we accept the
change
and commit make to the future happen in a desirable way. Yet 90’95% of
our
decisions on a daily basis are by habit. By the time we’re four we have
decided
how to survive in life, and those habits or "survival strategies"
carry into our work world. Yes these
very behaviors
that helped us survive our childhood, can also lead us down burnout
blind
alleys if we are not careful. How do you get through impossible
demands,
additional work requirement? Have you ever heard your self say, "I like
the challenge…I can handle this… will be over soon…. It’s not so bad….
If I
could just work harder, faster, longer…. I should be able to handle
this! When you
tell yourself these
things without assess the situation it add to your stress, overwork and
burnout. And you become vulnerable to pressure. And when the pressure
gets
great you do things on impulse, or, if overwhelmed or anxious, you make
decisions by default, you end up not making the decision, which becomes
the
decision. It is not unlike going to the grocery store when you are h
hungry
without a list, you can get a lot of non-nutritive foodstuffs but not
the
enough ingredient for a meal. If you
make your decisions
by default, impulse pressure or habit, you just don’t’ get the results
that you
want. So to make
you decisions
consciously during change and transition here are four vital practices
that can
help: Your
conscious mind is
single dimensional, and when bombarded with information, new tasks, new
directions, it can go on over load, so its time for a mental catharsis. Julie
Morgenstern is an
author, Time Management -From the Inside Out suggests sitting down with
a big
piece of paper and divide all of your demands and tasks by broad
category. A
simple example creating one space for tasks related to a boss or
client,
another for demands from family, another for finances. Under these
umbrella
sections, break tasks down further into specific projects. Make sure
you write
down every "to do," and keep it all in one place -- in your sacred
planner, or close to it. This will help you clear your mind and gain
control,
and it will become a vital reference in times of reprioritizing. The best
thing to do in a
time transition is to make time to regroup. Asses where you are, pull
back,
review what you are doing and what you need to do. As a performance
coach I
teach the technique I learned while navigating planes with my pilot
father.
When we questioned whether we were on course or not, we would circle
the plane
and dead reckon- identify just where we were, instead of using our gas
to fly
further in the wrong direction! The result? A calm perspective, when we
could
have been overwhelmed or anxious. You can
gain the same
benefits at work -an emergency project will monopolize your day, but
it's
dangerous to let other tasks fall by the wayside without considering
what is
most important during a chaotic time. The biggest risk is the tendency
to react
to pressure or impulse and pursue the loudest thing, which is not
necessarily
the most important. The perspective you achieve from a pullback moment
is
indispensable.
Along with
dead
"reckoning" moments must come anchors. We all need to drop anchors to
get us through a time of transition. Anchors are practices done in a
reliable,
consistent manner that ground us. Whatever they are for you: workouts,
regular
meetings, specific times you regroup, assigned tasks that are best done
on
certain days etc- be prepared to shift the time that you are accustomed
to
doing these things, but do not abandon them completely. Our
anchors are also those
things that we are good at, which when relied on carry us and provide
stability
in an unstable time. The top manager of a production line was promoted
to
division head. He deserved it he had turned the company around. The
change was
not without its challenges as the director was a high functioning
autistic
child who had used his developed powers of visualization to develop a
successful career
On of the
biggest mistake
people make in a transition time trying to do it all, by working harder
loner
and faster, without considering that as much as they want to they might
not be
successful this way. Doing that
may lead to
burnout and a lack productivity. Committing to regroup and assess what
you can
do and deciding what not to do will give you the most sense of control.
To
clear your mind and gain control, write down everything on your mind
and then reprioritize
by 4-D’s Ask yourself Why am I
doing this? Can I
delay it without
serious immediate, irreparable damage? Can I
downsize it, do less
of it, and minimize my investment of time without consequence? Can I
delete this? What if I
don’t do it at all? In the new
7 X 24 work
world, you may not control what happens to you, but by making your
decisions
consciously, about what you control and want you don’t really helps you
be
optimistic and energetic about the future! Application
of
Principles: A top
manager at Hewlett-
Packard had been asked to manage by walking around. Having no
extra time
to do anything, he took a time dump his mind, complete a mental
catharsis,
regroups, dead reckon, while he dropped anchor, he looked around and
decided what
to do and what not to do. In
less than six weeks
he had accomplished his goal and was rewarded with a new job overseas
managing
the entire manufacturing plant in He
accepted the change and
committed make to the future happen in a desirable way. By Susan Wehrspann |
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