How to Get More (Time) with Less (Part 2 of 2)

Welcome back! For starters, you’ll need your notes from the last two days. My goal here is to help you get more out your day. To do this, I need to know what went south for you the last two days. Keep in mind, it doesn’t matter why you fell short; it just matters that you know the reasons. Look at the list for day one. What stopped you from doing more? Here is my list:

• Kept processing (what seemed like) endless emails
• Urgent issue with a manager needed time to resolve
• Had too much to do for one day
• I forgot
• I’m waiting for someone else
• I was too tired and needed to call it a day

I could probably go one with more excuses, but I’m going to stop with the main culprits. Now look at day two. Pick up any trends? Did you maybe get a little more efficient? I noticed I was paying attention to possible excuses on the second day. On the day two, I was distracted by noise in the office. Instead of being a victim, I decided to hold myself accountable. I immediately grabbed my headphones to help me get back on track. I’ve learned you can never go wrong carrying around extra headphones.

Do you notice any excuse themes between day one and two? At first glance, mine look like endless time spent on email and working unplanned demand. If I dig deeper, then I could say I failed to stick with my game plan. Continuously processing email is not a good thing (more to come in a future post). When you find themes, I want you to come up with a personal action plan to not let them hold you back during the next seven days. This is very important. These themes kept you out of the end zone the last two days, so you have to address them. Get a new piece of paper and track your failure points each of the next seven days. To help you remember to do this, schedule a 15 minute appointment with yourself on your calendar each day. This is not magic; it’s going to require work.

Side note: If you found that you missed capturing your items at the end of the work day because you’re not sure when work ended and personal time began, then there are other issues. I’ve got an entire blog post on that topic.

How to Get More (Time) with Less (Part 1 of 2)

Back when I was a production operations manager for the USAF C-17, I worked for a real spunky manager named Dennis. I enjoyed working for him because he would always call it like it was. He was definitely not into sugar coating anything. One day he described me as a great 99 yard player, but my downfall was my inability to put the closing touches on projects (and thus put the ball in the end zone). I was devastated and basically saw myself as a failure. Thankfully I was able to use his criticism to launch myself in a different direction and become more effective at getting things done.

Many years have passed, with new lessons learned since then and I still obsess on how to be more effective. I want to share some of what has worked for me. You’ve probably heard a lot on multi-tasking, making daily/weekly lists, and planning out all of your goals. If you’ve read this blog before, you’ve heard it directly from this horse’s mouth. Well, today I need you to focus on your short falls. We’re all human, so don’t hold back from being honest with yourself. Let’s find out why you aren’t getting everything crossed off your to do list each day.

Between today and tomorrow, I want you to jot down some notes. This will require you to make a list either on paper or your smart phone. If you put it on your phone, set reminders or else it will be out of sight, out of mind. Here is what I want you to capture:

• When your work day ends make a list of what you didn’t finish today.
• Then list why those items didn’t happen today.
• Tonight before you go to sleep, make a list of what personal items you didn’t finish today.
•Once again, determine why it didn’t happen.
•Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 based on your level of satisfaction with what you accomplished (1 is completely disgusted and 10 is very satisfied).
• Repeat this again tomorrow at the end of the work day and before you go to sleep.

This will only work if you are honest with yourself. The image below is my list from yesterday. In the next post (two days from now), I’m going to show you what to do with your list. Share some of your reasons for not getting things done in the comment section.

Back to Basics

Thirty-two years ago today, I came into this world screaming with all my might. I had a lot to learn and have been doing it one step at a time. I think I was on to something then, so I’m going back to those basics (except the screaming will be a little more controlled this time). Run with Rob has not received the attention I had hoped entering this year, but to be fair to myself I did get engaged, planned a destination wedding, have embraced changes at work, etc. Even though I’m a planner, I had to accept that goals and priorities have a way of surprising you.

I recently received a comment from someone who follows my blog which grabbed my attention, so I’m determined to do more blogging before the year is out. I love to write and help others and figured today was a good day for a re-birth of my blog (pun intended). If you got here because I blocked wall posts, then my strategy worked.

So where do we begin? Let’s just go back to the basics. Why this blog? I think I have a way with words and decided to start sharing that gift with others through various blogs more than four years ago. If you haven’t read the original post to this blog and wonder about the title, it’s simple. As much as I turn to writing to organize my thoughts, I use running to clear my mind. So, this blog combines my strengths and passions in a variety of areas to help those around me. If you dig back through previous posts, you’ll see motivational stories from when life was tough, career advice, and other life lessons.

Here we go! Are you ready? If you have any topics that you’d like to hear about, then post a comment or send me an email (robpapandrea@gmail.com). As for my birthday, I’d like just one present. Look to the right of this blog post and you’ll see “subscribe via email.” If you’re more of a twitter person then follow runwithrob. Go ahead and sign up. I promise I can inspire the uninspired.