Do you think you have the balance right at work?
Can you remember back to the beginning of any new job or ministry and how focused you were on what you were expected to achieve. Would you say you still are? Most us of have allowed our jobs to be overtaken by a mix of modern day issues, like email, through to our inability to say no to people, so as a result we have bolted on more tasks and projects to what we are expected to achieve
Let’s do an exercise to find out.
Take a piece of paper (or a spreadsheet for the tekkies) and draw three columns – two small columns either side of a main column. Now in the main column write a list of the core activities of your job or ministry.
To define core activities, unless you are the receptionist or in telephone sales, answering the phone is only a tool of the job it is not a core activity. Amazingly email is only a tool of the job as well, so they should not be on the list. Make sure you break down major aspects of the job into definable parts
Once your list is complete then in the left column define in an average week or month what percentage of your time you are able to devout to the important or core aspects of your job. Don’t over analyse just go with your gut reaction to the percentage you should put in the column
Unless you have kept very focused, you will probably find that the percentages exceed 100% or that you are just not happy with the times allocated to the important parts of the job. I know many sales people who have completed the list realise they are not even spending 30% of their time face to face with a customer.
Are you happy with the results?
If you aren’t happy with the percentages then it is time to redress this balance and redistribute the time you are allowing for the work you must achieve, and the way you want it to be going forward. This is aspirational as you may not be able to change the percentages instantly, but by doing this exercise it has helped you prioritise your time into what you believe to be the most important part of your work.
Before you do remember you can probably only ever allocate 60-70% to your core activities or you won’t allow time for the other aspects of your work – the phone is still going to ring, and the emails will keep coming. Therefore, it is even more crucial that your precious time is correctly allocated and guarded
If you don’t know how you will make the changes to move percentages into the right place then maybe you need to attend a time management course, let me know and I can let you know when I am doing one in your area, I also do in-house courses for companies.