#1 TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGY:
Drive your schedule, drive your career!
by Sherri Thomas
Do you feel undervalued, or bored with
your assignments or projects? Then
maybe there’s a way you can juggle your
calendar to work on more meaningful
projects. No, I don’t mean taking on
MORE work in addition to your current
assignments. I mean juggling your
calendar and learning how to negotiate
your time so that you’re able to work on
more meaningful, exciting, and
challenging projects, and taking off
some of those insignificant and “less
filling” projects.
Take a look at your calendar. Is it
filled with meetings and projects driven
by other people that are their
priorities? Or is it filled with
projects and initiatives that are
your priorities?
Is your schedule filled with meetings that are YOUR
priorities,
or someone else's priorities?
The key to having an enriching and
satisfying career is to work on projects
that excite, challenge and motivate you.
And the first step in doing that is
taking ownership of your calendar. You
own your schedule - not your manager,
nor your clients, nor your partner, nor
your kids. It is your schedule,
and yours alone to manage, juggle, and
prioritize.
Your schedule is yours alone to
manage, juggle, and prioritize.
One of the best career strategies I ever
learned was from a teacher who taught me
to prioritize my rocks. Let me
explain. I was sitting in a
training class thinking, “I don’t have
TIME to take a class on time
management.” I was leading global
teams and managing high budget projects
so what could I possibly learn? I was
feeling overstressed, overwhelmed, and
extremely frustrated that I had to waste
an hour of my time to attend a training
class on such a silly little topic.
But something happened in that class
that had a permanent effect on the way I
manage both my time (and my career!),
and I’ve been on the fast track ever
since!
The instructor sat a large glass jar out
on the table and started filling it with
large rocks that he pulled out of a box
underneath the table. After
several minutes, the jar was piled high
with these big rocks. Then he
asked the class, “Can any more fit into
the jar?” A few people said the
obvious, “No”.
The teacher then pulled out a second box
filled with little pebbles that he
started dropping into the jar which
filled up all the gaps between the
larger rocks. Kur plunk, kur
plunk, kur plunk. After a few
minutes, he looked up and asked the
class again, “Can any more fit into the
jar?” Someone responded again with
an obvious, “No.” He then reached
under the table and pulled out a vase
filled with sand and started pouring it
into the jar filling up all of the tiny
little holes.
By this time, I was really getting
irritated with his 2nd grade
analogy that you can always cram more
into your schedule. But, that
wasn’t his point at all. “The
point is,” he said, “that you have to
take care of the BIG rocks first."
"A secret to having an enriching and
meaningful career is that
you must take care of your BIG rocks
first."
If you don’t take care of your big
rocks, or big initiatives FIRST, then
your day will fill up with a bunch of
tiny insignificant tasks. And when
that happens, you simply won’t have any
time to fit in your biggest priorities,
and you’ll be left working on less
meaningful projects that leave you
feeling bored and
unfulfilled.
Make a commitment today, right now,
to put your big rocks first.
Pull out your calendar and start looking
ahead to next week. Ask yourself,
“What do I need to accomplish in the
next 7 days?” Begin by scheduling
1-3 hour chunks of uninterrupted time
you need to work on a client
presentation, proposal, report,
campaign, etc. Then, take a second
pass and fill in those smaller yet still
important tasks that will take you an
hour to complete such as meeting with a
customer, making progress on a project,
or preparation time for an important
meeting. Finally, block off time
to complete the smaller initiatives such
as doing some on-line research, filling
out an expense report, sending out an
update memo to your team or senior
managers, etc.
Now, I'm not suggesting that you just
stop showing up for meetings and working
on assignments given to you by someone
else, but perhaps you can start
negotiating your time and projects.
Maybe you can say to someone, "I'm sorry
that I can't give you an hour tomorrow,
but how about if we meet for 15-minutes,
and then if you still need more time
we'll carve out 30-minutes next week."
You’re setting the tone that your time
is important and that you have your own
set of priorities, but that you're still
a team player.
You’re setting the tone that your
time is important, you have your own set
of priorities, but that you’re still a
team player.
Be protective of your precious time and
energy. Negotiate your time so that you
can work on those highly valued, highly
visible projects that you actually enjoy
doing. This doesn't mean taking on
MORE projects and responsibilities while
KEEPING the same projects and
responsibilities that you already have.
Negotiate with managers or clients so
that you can get off those lower valued
projects, and instead devote your time
to projects that allow you to flex your
professional muscles, stretch yourself
in a new direction, or work on those
projects that excite you!
You will find that by implementing this
simple strategy of owning your schedule,
establishing your priorities, and
putting your big rocks FIRST, you’ll be
more in control of your career, feel
more energized, and able to drive your
career on the fast track!
