Denise Landers
Now ev’ry gambler knows that the secret to survivin’
Is knowin’ what to throw away and knowin’ what to keep.
Many times these words of the Kenny Rogers classical song describing “The Gambler” come to mind when working with clients who just can’t find enough time to tackle all the items on their lists. Consider that your “deck”, or time allotment, never changes. It comes with 24 hours. To Do lists can become lengthy and overwhelming, and with the long list comes guilt at not getting it done. People gamble on having enough time to do everything, but reality is that, within those 24 hours, it isn’t possible.
What helps to separate the winners from the losers is the ability to prioritize their work, accomplishing the “important” tasks that need to be done. The important tasks, those aces to keep, are the ones that make a difference in the growth of your company or in moving you closer to your personal goals. Consider the following two scenarios.
Scenario One: You walk into your office in the morning to a cleared desk. You prioritized today’s work the night before, so when you sit down at your desk, you already know what your first chore is. Closing your door for an hour and a half and/or limiting interruptions, you work out all the details on the biggest project. By 11 a.m., it’s wrapped up and ready to deliver. Then you settle down and work on the other scheduled items for the day, in order of priority. When it’s time to go home, you know you had a productive day. You leave feeling accomplished.
Scenario Two: You walk into your office in the morning and look at all the stacks of papers around you, along with an overflowing inbox. Trying to decide what it is that you really need to do today, you have to look through the stacks to see what has become so urgent that it can no longer be put off. Before you begin, you check your email in case there’s something important. After 45 minutes of skimming through accumulated email to decide which ones can be postponed, you take a break. Taking fifteen minutes for a couple of social conversations on the way from the coffee station, you are back at your desk. It’s time to decide what to do. The piles are looming, so you choose several smaller items that don’t take too much effort to get done. At the end of the day, someone asks for your work on the project that is due tomorrow, and you start to panic. How can you get all of that done by the deadline? You are now facing another late night of work, loss of sleep, and stress at the pressure.
So what can you do to change from Scenario Two to Scenario One?
…‘cause ev’ry hand’s a winner and ev’ry hand’s a loser….
If you’re gonna play the game…ya gotta learn to play it right.
You got to know when to hold ‘em (do now), know when to fold ‘em (do later)
Know when to walk away (delegate) and know when to run (discard)
About Denise Landers
Key Organization Systems Inc.
Author of Destination Organization
productivity@keyorganization.com
Have you ever tried to “get organized” only to be frustrated after a day, or a week, or a month? Destination: Organization recognizes that reaching your organizing goals is a journey, not a one-time event, as you develop processes to cope with daily demands that constantly change. For help, call Denise at (281) 397-0015
Denise shares her experience and expertise in developing effective, efficient systems to deal with daily workloads and to cope with periods of rapid growth, helping businesses and individuals accomplish more through effective office organizing systems. Her education background in human services lets her tie in the business aspects with individual personalities to produce a unique model for each situation.
Meeting planners may obtain a OneSheet about KOS’s training and speaking services or view demo videos of training topics.
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Tags: get organized, Productivity, Time management tips
