Two questions for you:
- What are the most critical 3-4 parts of your job?
- Do you spend the right amount of time on each of them?
For me, my answer to Qn 1 – my 3-4 most critical things - are:
- Time with the family – I fit work around them, not the other way round
- Creating stuff – writing Tuesday Tips, LinkedIn posts, writing books, etc
- Winning work
- Delivering work
And my answer to Qn 2 – how I ensure I spend the right amount of time on each of them – is simple…
… I colour-code my diary
In other words, when I schedule these four things in my diary, I shade each diary entry. I use four different colours – a different one for each of my four critical things. For example, family time diary entries are shaded yellow, creating stuff entries are shaded blue etc.
That way, the four different colours mean I can tell immediately if I am spending the right time on each.
Another benefit: I find it easier to create stuff (#2 above) in the morning. So I make sure my blue-shaded diary entries happen then.
And that’s the end of this Tip! It’s as simple as this…
Action Point
- Identify the critical 3-4 things you should be doing
- Colour-code them in your diary
- Look at the colours, and make sure you’re doing the right amount of the right things at the right time
- (And, if you have things in your diary which you haven’t colour-coded, that means these un-shaded things aren’t your critical things. Can you reduce/remove any of these?!)