rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_0fee3d88-eba1-51c6-b2d8-12adda4f2119">part 2), you’ll have the mental bandwidth to apply the necessary tactics to cut inefficiency from your day.
Nancy learned that rushing and diving into action without a plan were not helpful tactics. She needed to map out her plan of attack. She had to take her time in order to save time.
She learned that she must understand both scheduling and modification…routines and flexibility, structure and flow.
She learned the I in CIA: Implement Structure and Flow.
Say what? Aren’t those opposites?
Yes, it sounds crazy, but we need to Implement Structure and Flow. We need to have processes for how we handle documents and communication. We need to set up our go-bags, mobile offices, and work spaces based on what we need to accomplish. We need to have structured routines and time blocks for completing work; yet we need to be able to adjust those routines and time blocks, and morph — move them around as needed — and still get everything done that we need to.
On the one hand, if we have only structure in our day, any little variance or hiccup might throw us into a tornado of overwhelm. Take for example a detective named Monk, played by Tony Shalhoub in the television series Monk. Monk had such a precise routine for every part of his work and life that if there was any deviation from it, that sent him into a panic attack. I’m a big proponent of having routines and a foundational structure, but we also need to be able to go with the flow when “stuff happens.”
Martial arts legend Bruce Lee espoused a philosophy that we need to “be water.” We need to adapt, depending on the situation. He said, “Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water in a cup, and it becomes the cup. You put water in a bottle, and it becomes the bottle. In a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or drip or creep or crash. Be water.”
In order to be an agent of change in your Time Management Revolution, you must have a form, a structure, yet be willing to modify, adapt, and flow whenever necessary.
Implement Structure and Flow.
In a January 20, 2013, article by Michael Ordoña in the San Francisco Chronicle, actor Jeremy Renner, who has starred in such films as The Bourne Legacy and Avengers, revealed that he works on a multitude of projects throughout the year:
Acting in films
Producing movies
Writing music
Renovating houses
Those aren’t little 10-minute tasks. They are big-time, long-term projects that require many steps and components to complete.
When Ordoña asked how all this was possible, Renner replied, “Fluidity.”
At first I was worried that he would say something like, “I just wake up and go with the flow. There’s no plan. I just do whatever.”
I was pleasantly surprised by the answer he gave when he described what “fluid” meant to him: “Being prepared as you can be, but willing to let it all go because it’s not working. To be fluid and to allow change, move around the obstacles.”
Today, Nancy still procrastinates, but only a few minutes a day instead of hours each day. She does her blah tasks first thing in the morning to help avoid most of the procrastination. To help with her ADD, she sets a timer for 15 minutes of concentration. She plans her action list at the end of each day for the following day, and this list keeps her focused on what she needs to do. She’s become her own agent of change. She recognizes when one of the AGENT components — the five areas of the workday to control, explained below and throughout part 2 — is getting out of whack and stops to make adjustments.
To reiterate (hint: I’m brainwashing you at this moment), we need to have structured systems, routines, and time blocks for completing work; yet we need to be able to adjust those systems, routines, and time blocks, and morph — move them around as needed — and still get everything done that we need to.
In order to be an agent of change in our Time Management Revolution, we must Implement Structure and Flow. We must be able to control, yet also modify, these five key components of our workday:
Assignment and Task Completion
Go-Bag and Work-Space Layout
Electronic Communication
Notes, Document, and File Management
Time Protection
By understanding that everything you must do during a workday corresponds to one of these five components, your brain is able to zero in on the areas that are not currently under your control. By implementing the strategies and tactics in part 2, you’ll be able to build the infrastructure you need each day to manage these five different components. By being in control of these areas and understanding how they need to operate, you’ll also be able to apply flexibility when technology or your fellow humans throw a wrench into your plans.
We’re not robots, but we do need enough structure and systems so that there is time for spontaneity, putting out fires, and…fun!
When you achieve the first part of the mission, Create Clarity (part 1), it makes completing this portion of your Time Management Revolution that much easier.
Ready? It’s time to head out on Operation: Implement Structure and Flow!
Assignment and Task Completion
8 Manage Long-Term Projects with Mega-efficiency
Susan is a top-notch consultant in her field. She is sought after by companies and agencies all over the world to bring in her expertise. She is always calm and collected, and her feathers never appear to be ruffled. Her advice is spot-on, whether she delivers it through individual consulting or trainings or workshops.
Behind the scenes, however, she is a hot mess. She struggles to balance work tasks with personal time. She is constantly working. She says yes to every project and every proposed date that is put in front of her. She’ll book anywhere from one week to one year out, yet she’ll work until 2 AM the night before a presentation or client meeting to prepare.
She says there’s not enough time to do everything she needs to get done.
GOAL
Schedule time for every step of a project into your calendar as soon as you know this project has become yours to complete.
TACTICS
1. Get out a piece of paper and pencil or open up a fresh digital document.
2. At the bottom
