Focus on What’s Important, Not What’s Urgent
4 September 2009
The 99% has a good article entitled Reclaim Focus, One Day at a Time, which deals with a dilemma faced by most creatives and Professional Knowledge Workers (PKWs).
“Reacting to each request while setting aside time to proactively research and execute new programs is an unrealistic proposition at best, and flat-out unattainable at worst… A lack of focus is at the root of this problem. Constant shifts mean that no task receives the proper attention.”
The author’s solution was to set aside specific days for specific ares of focus, then adjust her own mindset, as well as that of her co-workers according to these tips:
- Inform those around you that you’ll be switching to this workflow.
- Stop thinking of yourself as “on-call.”
- Do something to get yourself in the day’s mindset.
- Allow a bit of flexibility.
Of course, this means her employer must be more interested in results than procedures.
Managers, how can we allow our employees to be more effective without getting in the way?
11 September, 2009 [11:08 am]
[...] great follow-up to Last Friday’s post, Focus on What’s Important, Not What’s Urgent, is an article which explains a system to do just [...]