We all know people who are incredibly busy. Ironically, it seems that many of those same people still find time to squeeze in another task. This article from the Advisory Board interviews a few superstars and asks them "How do you do it all?"
There were four recommendations these individuals made that the author picks out to highlight:
Austin: "I don’t drive on my commute. I walk and take the train. Walking (up to 6 miles per day) replaces what would otherwise be time spent at a gym or similar. During my commute, I catch up on news and, yes, some entertainment by podcast (at 2x speed—people speak too slowly). I read and take care of email on the train."
Tyler: "Do the most important things first in the day and don’t let anybody stop you. Estimate 'most important' using a zero discount rate. Don’t make exceptions. The hours from 7 to 12 are your time to build for the future before the world descends on you."
Austin: "I ignore most office and institutional politics, skip every possible meeting, and don’t pay close attention at all times in most of those I attend. (These habits can be potentially dangerous. I have some protective workarounds, which rely on the skills, interests, and good will of others. Gains from trade.)"
Tyler: "Don’t feel you have to finish a book or movie if you don’t want to."
One of the Advisory Board executive directors, Allison Shimooka, gives her top six productivity tips:
1. Know yourself and understand your role—what value do you bring to play? Focus your effort and attention there.
2. When you are asked to do something, before automatically saying yes, ask questions to scope the yes. Determine if the person asking really needs you to do it, and if so, do you need to do an A+ job or if giving 80% effort is sufficient.
3. Determine which of your own projects need to be A+, and which ones where a solid B will be fine.
4. Scope, scope, scope your role.
5. When working in partnership, or when people are asking you do things, establish a relationship of trust. That will allow you to push back, and rescope the project if necessary.
6. Never procrastinate. It never pays off.
What are your best tips?
Here is the link to the full article: 'How do you do it all?' Secrets from super-efficient people | The Advisory Board Daily Briefing
No comments:
Post a Comment