It’s deadline time again! Time flies and there is still so much to do…
How often do we wish that we had more time to deliver all the things we need to? Or wish that we could cram more things into the little time we have? And then, after a while, we wonder why we are exhausted yet accomplishing so little?
The elasticity of time
Although instruments are available to measure time objectively, our habit is to measure time mentally. When the day is boring, time seems to move very slowly. On the contrary, when the day is exciting, time seems to run very fast. The same when we have a lot to do, 24 hours do not seem enough.
In our mind, time is elastic. That’s why we tend to be optimistic with time, thinking we can stretch it. But in reality, what we are stretching is ourselves, by being busy doing too many things and it could feel as if there is no end to our to-do list.
It’s urgent!
The boss always wants it yesterday. Because it is urgent, of course. But is it urgent or important? Or both? There is a difference between urgent matters and important ones, those who are confused are bound to focus on solving the wrong things.
Something that is important is not necessarily urgent. Therefore, it can wait and we can plan for it. Only those that are important and urgent require immediate action because any delay in solving them will have severe consequences.
Remember that the boss doesn’t always know the details of our work. For them, everything is urgent. Thus, is it our responsibility to inform them of what is truly urgent and what is important but not urgent so that we can act accordingly. We are, after all, the master of our own time.
The myth of multitasking
We live in an era of increasing distractions, hence the feeling that if we multitask, we could accomplish more. After all, doing more tasks means better productivity, isn’t it? Counterintuitively, the answer is usually no.
If we take a look closely at multitasking, it’s nothing more than lining a lot tasks in sequence and continuously switching among them. But what usually escapes from our observation is that this continuous switching has a cost.
We are jumping from one task to another, we are forcing our brains to change gears, working harder to do things with less time and exhausting our mental reserves. The constant mental flexing will impair our productivity because it significantly affects our focus and efficiency. Instead of completing a few tasks fully, we are only completing our tasks partially and with lower quality.
Delivery mindset
Managing time effectively is not only about managing tasks but managing tasks to completion. Delivery is key to this mindset because values are unlocked at delivery. Partially done tasks, while they could be useful, will not deliver values as designed.
Having a delivery mindset means that we manage our time and our activities from the beginning until the end in order to complete the tasks in hand. Keeping in mind that our time is limited, we must manage our priorities, not everything is important, let alone urgent. Once we have prioritized the things we must do, we must work in a sustainable way, avoiding brain overload which leads to productivity losses.
All of this shows that task selection is very critical for delivery. Doing more might lead to being busy but that doesn’t necessarily translate into accomplishing more. So, unless it leads to delivery, being busy is not a badge of honor.
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