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Workload Triage
I often write on workload management. But even I occasionally get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of requests and assignments. (I’ll bet David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done, does, too.) I’m in such a state right now.
In the last week I’ve had a quarterly board meeting, quarterly all employee meeting, monthly business review meetings, an all-day session with an outside consultant, a major author meeting, and my usual weekly one-on-one meetings with my direct reports. That doesn’t even account the 997 e-mails (yes, that’s the exact count as of 10 minutes ago) that I have received in the last two weeks or the various ad hoc phone calls, letters, and meetings. No wonder I feel overwhelmed!
But your life is probably no different. The reality is that all of us have more work that we can possibly do. When you add to this the demands of a regular exercise routine, family, church, civic duties, and some semblance of a social life, it becomes impossible.
Here are six things you can do to cope. (Trust me, I am preaching to myself!)
Accept the fact that some things won’t get done at all. This flows from the first item. You have to make peace with the fact that you must leave some things undone—for the sake of your own sanity.
Practice workload triage. On the battlefield, medics have to decide where to apply their limited resources. They can’t help everyone. According to Dictionary.com, “triage†is
Some patients will survive without medical care. Some won’t survive even if they have medical care. Applying triage means ignoring these two groups and focusing on those that will only survive with medical care. Your workload is similar. You must know which things you can safely ignore and which things demand your intervention.
Categorize your tasks by priority. In my view, this is the one thing missing from David Allen’s system. It assumes that all tasks are equal. Or to say it another way, you can only decide a task’s relative priority in the moment.
In my experience, this does not work. I end up with hundreds of tasks I must review every day. My eyes glaze over, and I fall prey to what Charles Ummel calls the Tyranny of the Urgent.
Instead, I like the Franklin-Covey method of assigning a priority tag to each task:
A—urgent and important
B—important but not urgent
C—urgent but not important
D—not urgent or important
I personally categorize each task with one of these tags. At the beginning of each day, I focus on my A’s first. If I get those done, I move to the B’s, then the C’s.
Practice “intentional neglect.†Many people practice the opposite—unintentional neglect. They forget to do something or they are late in meeting their deadlines. They don’t like this behavior and neither do those who are counting on them. But this inevitably happens if you don’t practice intentional neglect. You must decide in advance that you will not do category D tasks. They are neither urgent nor important. They are simply not worthy of your time or attention.
“But,†you may ask, “what about tasks that I don’t think are important but someone else does?†Great question. Let me give you an example. Sometimes my Board (yes, even I have a “bossâ€) asks me to do something that I think is a waste of time. I don’t regard it as important. But, because I serve at their pleasure, I re-categorize it in my mind as important. Why? Because keeping my Board happy is very important. I really like my job and would like to keep it. Sometimes, it is a simple matter of re-framing the task.
On the other hand, I recently received a lunch request from a woman who is an acquaintance. She is looking for a job and wanted to discuss career possibilities at Thomas Nelson. This is no doubt important to her and possibly urgent. For me it is neither, so I redirected her to someone in our Human Resources department.
The bottom line is that you must learn to say “no†to the unimportant tasks, so you can say “yes†to the important tasks and actually get them done.
Do the next most important thing next. Multi-tasking is a myth. You really can’t do more than one thing at a time—at least more than one thing that requires focused attention. So get your list of priorities, do the most important thing first, then move to the next item and work down your list.
For today, I have six things I’d like to accomplish: one of them is an A, four are Bs, and one is a C. I’m starting at the top and working down the list. How about you?
Technorati Tags: gtd, productivity, workflow, your job
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Colleen Coble says:
I'll add one more thing that helps me get everything done: take one day at a time and don't look at the entire list all at once. When I look at the many things that need done--meeting my deadline, reading contest entries I've been asked to judge, doing promotion for upcoming books, answering my two hundred plus emails a day, tending to CEO duties for ACFW--it can feel like there's no way I can manage them all.
But I've found if I do TODAY what I can do, somehow I manage to get the urgent AND important done on time.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 10:22 AM
Susan Martin says:
Your posts are always inspirational!
One might also consider looking at your goals and your strengths, first. By keeping goals and strengths top of mind, you can more easily determine priorities, perform triage and pinpoint what to delegate.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 10:26 AM
Jason Epperson says:
In my experience, perhaps your most important point was listed last: "Multi-tasking is a myth." I always feel like I'm the only person yelling "The emperor has no clothes!" when experts yammer on about accomplishing more than one thing at a time. "Focusing" on multiple items is nonsensical.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 11:45 AM
Rachel Hauck says:
Great post, sir. Thank you for the inspiration.
I try to prioritize by work and values.
For example, meeting a deadline is priority. It's my job and comes with expectations and commitments.
Second, what are my values? Time with the Lord. Time with friends. Serving and ministry.
All else is subject to those things.
A lot of times, a task or issue comes up that seems so important, but if I stop and evaluate it, I realize it can wait.
I'm not perfect at managing my schedule, but in my mind, it's a utopia, of course. :)
Mike Bickle's The Power Of A Focused Life had been a great inspiration to me, too.
No matter what, prioritizing and scheduling is key to achieving any objective. Otherwise, we find ourselves ten years down the road wondering what happened.
Rachel
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 11:56 AM
says:
Great comments, especially on the multitasking. Everyone seems intent on jamming each day with so much stuff that's overloaded. I saw an article in the local paper about teenagers now doing homework while they surf the net and text message their friends--and talk on the cell phone. Yikes! If you have to multitask to fit everything in the day, you have way too much to do. Multi-tasking is not worth burning yourself out over.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 04:15 PM
John Taylor says:
Thanks Michael,
I really needed to read your post today.
This has been a month when more has come my way than I can possibly do, and sometimes its difficult to tell those around you no.
You've reinvigorated my day, and strengthened my commitment to review my priorities.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 05:40 PM
Dave Anthold says:
I usually try and put my tasks for the next day down on my to-do list before I exit for the day, but it doesn't always happen that way. I try and leave some flex time in my schedule to account for the "unexpected" which often times occurs more often than I would like to admit.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 06:31 PM
GordonG says:
I have tried prioritizing by A,B,C,D and found the best way to think about these categories is:
A = Absolutely MUST be done today
B = Best if done today
C = Could well be done today
D = Doesn't have to be today, but must be done soon.
E = Eventually
F = Forget it!
Gordon
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 07:31 PM
Andrea says:
One "techinical" question...
Reading your blog, I see you are using Outlook. So, how do you assign A,B,C,D to tasks?
In addition, considering GTD methodology, when do you assign A,B,CD to tasks? Processing your inbox or doing your weekly review?
Thanks,
Andrea (Andrew) from Italy
Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 01:39 AM
Michael Hyatt says:
Andrea,
Actually, I am using Entourage, which is the Microsoft version of Outlook for the Mac. I use the priority field. It has five settings from "lowest" priority to "highest." I use the top four to correspond to A, B, C, D.
I set these in my daily preparation.
Thanks,
Mike
Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 05:15 AM
Todd O says:
This is a great reminder to prioritize what we are doing with our time. Too many times I find myself doing the things that are neither important nor urgent just because I enjoy doing them.
I also love the priorities that Gordon suggested, easy to remember and very useful!
Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 10:36 AM
Scott Winter says:
To Andrea -
Franklin Covey has an Outlook plug-in called PlanPLus for Outlook. It is invaluable to anyone who uses their methodology, and for prioritizing their tasks like Mike suggests. One of the best features is a "PlanPlus Home" screen that shows you everything in one view - Prioritized Daily Task List, Calendar, and email.
You can download a free trial at www.franklincovey.com.
Hope it helps.
Friday, May 25, 2007 at 10:15 AM
Mary says:
I have just finished reading "The Ultimate Sales Machine" by Chet Holmes, Michael Gerber, and Jay Conrad Levinson (which is strange because I'm a software developer.) The best tip I got from this book is to take your daily to-do list a step further from prioritizing by scheduling (and applying a deadline to) each task. I couldn't believe I have never thought of that - I just work on the first item until it is done and then proceed to the next. Much of my work is open-ended meaning I can devote more and more time trying to make the finished product better and better. Having my tasks scheduled helps me pick up the pace and strike a better balance between working quickly and working well.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008 at 03:57 PM