How a broom and a triangle will help you keep up with everything

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Eight tricks to keep you from going crazy in the world of multitasking.

1. Be guided by the money-time-quality business triangle

And remember that a triangle is always on two points. This is perhaps the best example of prioritization.

Want to get things done quickly and well? Be prepared to invest in additional resources. Want to save money? Choose what you are ready to sacrifice: time or quality? That is, the task can be completed for a long time, but well. Or do it quickly, but perhaps not in full.

I recommend not only using this business triangle when solving your work issues, but also reminding colleagues or even managers about it.

“Do it well, cheaply and yesterday” is not a working scheme.

2. Delegate all the "cheap" tasks

A rule I learned from my former boss. On small matters, he said: "My time is too expensive to do this."

Use Pareto's Law: Spend 20% of your energy and time on what will bring 80% of the benefits. Don't waste your time on trifles. The main secret of time management: you can't change everything, so immediately accept that irrelevant tasks will never be completed. Delegate if you can. If you can't - give up small tasks.

3. Get to know the broom

Important: if you delegate all the time, then at some point it may turn out that you have a very poor idea of how the processes work at the local level. Therefore, from time to time you need to do the usual routine tasks yourself. For example, to typeset an article in the admin panel or create an advertising slot.

It is believed that the ideal editor-in-chief is the one who, in the event of an emergency, will be able to perform all the work on the site: from writing an article to selecting a photo, processing it and staging it. This may never happen, but understanding the intricacies of the inner kitchen makes you a stronger leader.

The ability to do the dirty work is not micromanagement. Most often, thanks to such "sorties" and spot checks, you will find out what else in the project can be improved. There is no need to select the moment to do manual work. Usually, everything happens by itself when one of the subordinates or colleagues goes on vacation and you temporarily take on their responsibilities.

American entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie, addressing college students in Pittsburgh, said that it is very useful to "get to know the broom" at the beginning of a career. However, remembering about the broom is useful even when you think you have reached the heights.

In the series "Peaky Blinders" there is such a dialogue:

- What are you doing Tommy? (What are you doing Tommy?)

- Shovelling shit, Curly. Just like you. (I'm shoveling the manure, Curly. Just like you.)

- Why’re you doing that Tommy? (Why are you doing this, Tommy?)

- To remind myself, who I’d be, if I wasn’t who I am. (To remind myself of who I would be if I weren't who I am.)

4. Remove Facebook from your phone

Read the tape from your computer over tea, but not often. Don't waste time on endless browsing of other people's pages. While you are doing this, your own life goes by. So be it messengers, just turn off notifications in them. There are no such important things that could not wait even a few hours. If the person really has something urgent, he will call. And you will not be distracted and will be able to focus on the main tasks.

5. Master speed reading

We live in the age of information, and in order to keep up with everything, you need to be able to navigate in it. Fast reading helps you surf / scan information sources faster. Many people worry that after speed reading it will no longer be possible to read books in a relaxed mode, but this is not the case. It is a skill that can be controlled, and only you decide at what point to apply it. Roughly speaking, you can walk five kilometers in an hour, or you can run in 20 minutes. It all depends on your tasks.

Speed reading does not mean understanding everything you read. This method was created primarily in order to grasp the general meaning and isolate the information you really need from the general mass (and sometimes water).

Speed reading can be learned separately. For example, from books or courses. And perhaps you have already formed the so-called intuitive speed reading. Usually people come to him who have read a lot and at some point have developed their own system of rapid absorption of information, often without realizing it themselves. For example, it was only when I took a speed reading course that I found out that I was already doing quite well - 535 words per minute.

6. Use voice dialing

We have mastered ten-finger touch typing on a computer for a long time, but in phones with the same speed it is still impossible to type text. When you are on the road or on the go, use voice recognition. For example, this feature is built into the Gboard keyboard by default. Yes, somewhere you have to fix it, but in general it is very convenient.

Also underestimated the T9 function. Today's AutoCorrect is very smart, remembering popular scripts and suggesting the most likely words and phrases to use.

Save time and effort even in the smallest detail.

7. Don't answer emails right away

I call this the 10 minute rule. Do not reply to an email as soon as it arrives. Let him "lie down". I recommend doing this for three reasons.

• The sooner you answer, the sooner you will receive a new letter in response. That is, you will only speed up the message wheel.
• We often receive not the most pleasant letters, and quick answers are harsh and rude. A pause of at least 10 minutes helps to calm down and answer in a balanced way.
• By not answering letters this minute, you are teaching people to independently solve their questions. Very often we "shoot" messages at each other, although there are questions that can be solved in other ways. Remember, in "Fitil", a Soviet satirical video magazine, there was a story about wagons and a depot? Wait 10 minutes - and during this time the situation may change 10 times or even become irrelevant.

8. Take a day off on the last Friday of the month

On vacation, or even at your own expense, to put things in order. Magic cleaning is needed not only in the house. Dealing with documents, going to the doctor, shopping in an empty mall, or getting some sleep - you will be surprised when you see how many things to do. And at the end of the day, you will feel relief or even a slight euphoria - about the same as after sorting out your wardrobe.