I'm Too Busy

At various times in our work we find ourselves running at or close to personal capacity. Things are going well but we start to get the speed wobbles. We can either back off or push forward. Pushing forward is counter-intuitive. Our natural reaction is to say NO to more work in the guise of looking after our health, maintaining quality and so forth.

If you're given to growth and development here are a few things you can implement:

• Planning and Scheduling. Take time at the start of every day and every week to plan your time and schedule priority items accordingly.
• Delegate. Whether you're a manager or business owner, have 1000 staff or it's just yourself ask the question "who else can do this?" (Sole traders can effectively outsource numbers of tasks that aren't required to be completed by them).
• Work with a sense of urgency. Increase your speed of completion.
• Let go of perfection. Some things demand 100% e.g. workplace safety, but some things can be completed to 80%+. They might not be perfect but close enough. Know what they are and work accordingly.
• Ascertain what is contributing to your goals and what activities need to go by the wayside. We often do things that account for very little.
• Conduct stand up meetings instead of sit ins where there is a light agenda
• Plan in me time. Set a time in the diary of when you will leave the office daily. Schedule at least a 24 hour block of weekly R&R time and then work all else around it.

Becoming more efficient ourselves always should be completed prior to hiring more staff or outsourcing to others. We can be quite amazing if we allow ourselves to use the push of busyness to pull us into efficiency.