What do you do when everything is urgent?

I don’t know if you are having the same issue, but…

Suddenly, my next two weeks are really full!

How did that happen?  I thought I was “off” for the month! I only begin correcting exams at the end of the month. But I have a guest teaching “week” this week with a focus on leadership and team development, plus an important funeral of a good friend, so now this week is much fuller than expected. Next week looks about the same because of birthdays and such.

And that makes me mostly happy.  I get to teach something I love; I will certainly not be bored  - and the funeral will bring closure for many of us who loved Helen.

The How of productivity without overwhelm:

How do I keep from feeling overwhelmed, even if the activities are (mostly) great?

I use a couple of coaching tools on myself.

One is the Eisenhower Matrix (some call it the 4 Ds of time management; you can look up both)

Another is writing everything down- on the family calendar, on my electronic calendar, writing it in my to-do journal…

These two activities help me to separate the important from the urgent, and to keep everything “together” so it gets done in as calm a manner as possible.

The Eisenhower Matrix is great:

First, I look at what is urgent and if it is important– what must be done and NOW and then I ask myself, who has to do it. I have a client who does most things herself, but sometimes someone else can, so the what and the who of the “Urgent” are key to getting it done ASAP.

This is an important step: if the urgent is not important, maybe someone else can do it, or maybe even it isn’t that urgent? 

But something that is both important and urgent gets done immediately.  This means I am working RIGHT NOW on finalizing my presentation for teaching the leadership and teams course this week.

It also means my taxes, although very important, can wait at least till next week and be worked on when I have a free window.

Something that isn’t important and isn’t urgent gets put in the circular file (the trash/recycling). That’s because my time is what I really have as a commodity.

Then I write everything on the important and urgent list down…

I plan and visualize with lots of writing to get things “down” and out of my head.

Every week I look at my week and write a master plan, plus blocks of “creative down time,” if at all possible.

Then, every morning before my day starts, I re-consider my day and consider how it will go, who I will speak with, and I make a positive plan for that day. I may write more – or less –things down, depending.  Often LESS is BETTER.

What about you?

When you are full up, what are your coping and time management mechanisms?

How to you keep space for your creative juices to keep flowing, yet have a balance of busy and not-busy to keep your brain at the ultimate level of “flow”?

I look forward to June, and should you need some, coaching or supervision, I would have time for maximum one new client … (online OR in person in Zurich, Baden, Brugg, Aarau, Olten, Basel, or Zug – or at your workplace) 

Patricia Jehle   patricia@jehle-coaching.com