Concentrate on the value you are delivering!
Work smarter, not harder. This is an expression that has always puzzled me. I never understood how to do that. My approach to getting better results was to work more, longer hours, produce more. When a mentor or supervisor would suggest that I should work smarter instead, it upset me. What did they mean? That I was not smart? That I was working in a dumb way?
It has taken me many years to find my own way of working smarter. As I became more senior and my responsibilities grew, putting more hours was not enough to accomplish my goals. Not only that, but I started to feel burned-out and inefficient.
It got to a point that I decided to think long and hard about the way I was approaching my work and, frankly, my life. I decided to take a look at my routines. I noticed that I had become accustomed to trying to accomplish everything in my to-do list. Every item that I could cross out gave some relief. However, as I was working such long hours, I noticed a tendency to go for the easy tasks. And the number one task, the one that always got preference, was my email.
I would spend a lot of time cleaning my inbox first thing in the morning. Inbox-cero was my goal. It was numbing. Having only 20 emails in my inbox made me feel good. But at what cost? I would spend a good couple of hours first thing in the morning going through the emails. Some were important, but many were not. I realized that email had become a compulsion. After those initial two hours I would either go to meetings or start doing some dedicated work. However, email alerts would pop-up on my screen and I would invariably open them. Even if I was in a meeting or doing an important task like preparing a plan or reviewing the budget.
What my analysis showed me was that I spent a great amount of time on activities that didn’t produce a lot of value. Indeed, having a small number of emails in my inbox was nice. But it didn’t add much value. I spent much less time in the activities that really mattered. Even worse, I tacked those important activities later in the day, when my energy was low.
I decided to change things around. I developed a method that I use to this day:
- Define the goals for the period (year or quarter) that will be the measure of your success
- Define a plan to accomplish the goals
- Order the goals in order of priority
- Decide which goals are a MUST to declare success at the end of the period. I recommend picking a maximum of 3.
- Block dedicated time in your calendar for activities that will help you reach your 3 MUST goals, preferable first thing in the morning. Turn off all distractions during this time.
- If you must, quickly scan your email first thing in the morning. Don’t read it all. I use colors to mark emails from people that I must respond immediately. I look at those only and take action if necessary. The rest of the inbox will have to wait.
- Turn off email alerts and block a couple of 30-minute blocks in your calendar to process email.
You see, with this method, YOU are in control of your time and your energy. YOU decide what is important and devote time to it.
YOU make sure that you are successful at the end of the period, because you are dedicating your time to the tasks that add the most value.
YOU are designing you days, weeks and months in a way that leads you to accomplish your goals.
When you start your day cleaning your inbox, you are letting others dictate how you spend you time and what is important. You may say that you cannot follow this method because people are used to getting an immediate response for you. Of course, because you have trained them to expect that from you. Their priorities become your priority, even if it doesn’t have anything to do with your MUST goals. By changing your behavior, they will realize that they have to plan if they want to have your help or opinion. And if they have a true emergency, they will find a way to let you know, like calling you on the phone or walking to your desk.
Give it a try an let me know how this works for you.
