🎯 Work Smart Wednesday - June 5, 2024
The recentering exercise I complete every June, How I use my calendar, and a quote from the editor of Wired
Work Smart Wednesday
👋 Hey there!
Here is your weekly dose of Work Smart Wednesday
In these emails I will share with you 3 things to help you work smarter in 3 minutes or less. That leaves you with 10,077 more minutes to conquer your goals this week
🆕 Last month I told you that I would be rotating the template you earn for referring someone to subscribe to Work Smart Wednesday. This month’s resource for referrals has been updated - you can now earn my template “45 tasks I have delegated”.
🎁 Receive rewards for referring your friends 🎁
📩 My favourite template to identify areas for improvement in your business. Not sold anywhere, this template is only normally available to those that work with me 1:1. I rotate these templates monthly. This template is only available in May.
1. 🧭 The recentering exercise I complete every June
I don’t know about you, but I (and most people I have ever met) set goals with good intentions in December or January but find that achievement of those goals is waning by June.
Sometimes, it is because at some point I realised the goal was wrong. So I killed it.
Other times, it is because life happens and that goal is no longer realistic for some reason. So I adapt it.
Occasionally it is because of “goal drift”, so I re-anchor my efforts.
But more often than not, it is simply because the excitement of setting the goal was replaced with the reality of accomplishing it. So I complete this exercise.
In order to achieve a goal, I need to know what the goal is, WHY it is, and what I need to do. This is my quick exercise to recentre my focus on achieving my goal:
Write down my 'one big goal' for the next 12 months.
Yes, one big goal. It is okay to have some other small goals, but it is important to know what your priorities are. As I mentioned before, not all tasks are equally important.
Write down WHY I have opted to make that goal my priority.
Why should I care if that thing is accomplished? What does it lead to?
Review the process
Process based goals are better than regular goals. Based on what I now know, is my process likely to lead me to achieve my goal? Does the process need tweaking?
List 3 major projects that I need to work on to achieve my goal.
I like to list 3, but narrow it down to just one. If I could only do one of them, which one would I pick? It helps me to keep focused on the Most Important Thing.
List 3 major tasks I need to do in the next 90 days to advance those projects
Again, I list 3 but narrow it down to one. I complete one thing at a time.
List 3 most important tasks I need to do in the next 30 days to support the advancement of the major task.
Previously, this was 3 most urgent tasks. Now it is the most important tasks. Thanks to my updated understanding of the Eisenhower Matrix.
List constituent parts of those important tasks and schedule time in my calendar for those tasks.
I like to break tasks down into 1 hour chunks. I write out the steps that need to be completed in order to complete a task, and I predict how long it will take to complete each step (I later review performance against my prediction to improve future prediction accuracy). I group things into 1 hour chunks then schedule them into my calendar. I get started on the first chunk within 24 hours.
2. 🗓️ How I use my calendar
Most people prioritise what is on their to-do list. Those people are wrong.
Your calendar is more important than your to do list. A calendar speaks more truth than a to-do list. I focus on getting my calendar right.
As Shreyas Doshi said on his excellent thread about advanced time management principles, “Your to-do list is the ideal Sunday evening theory. Your calendar is the brutal Monday to Friday practice.”
One of my clients totally overhauled his life for the better by applying this one principle after he started working with me.
Since we started working together and switched him to prioritising his calendar he has trained for and competed in an Ironman Triathlon while running his business, improved his relationship with his spouse, restructured his team, taken a month off for a holiday (without his business crashing), and significantly improved his revenue. This one change makes a big impact.
For me, not only has it significantly altered the way I approach life but it has also brought huge efficiency gains, revenue gains, and happiness gains. It is the reason why I get to go abroad on a last minute holiday with friends later today.
The principle is simple: schedule your tasks on your calendar.
Don’t write them on a list, don’t hope you will get things done, don’t guess what you should do each time you sit down to work.
I have written about this principle multiple times in different forms, such as calendar priority alignment, my favourite year end exercise, and quotes on scheduling.
There are three things that will really help you to make the switch from your current system to a scheduled calendar system.
You need to actually believe it is worthwhile and commit to it for a set time
You need to build flexibility into the system
At first you won’t know your true schedule. Chaos exists in life, but it is often more predictable than you think. Over time, you start to spot patterns such as often getting distracted by x things or at x time of the day or x day in the week. When you start with scheduling, you need to build flexibility into your schedule to account for this unknown chaos. For example, if a task should take an hour, schedule for two hours. If shit happens you still hit the goal because you had the needed slack in the schedule, if it doesn’t then you still feel great because you achieved your goal an hour early.
When I start with clients we keep assigned blocks relatively vague, rather than the scheduled block being “complete x task” or “go to the gym”, it will be something more like “1 hour of focused work”, or “exercise for 45 minutes”. This allows flexibility within the scheduled block to allow for unknown or uncontrollable variables.
You need to schedule things “backwards”
Schedule your priority tasks first. Often, this means non-work tasks go into your calendar first. Your priorities are probably your health and/or your family, so you should first schedule things like the gym, social activities, family time, etc. This helps ensure you do the things that really matter to you, while also making you conscious of how much time you have and what you have to look forward to. What are we working for anyway?
Give it a go this week. Schedule your tasks for specific times that you will complete them. Then, tell me how you get on with it.
3. 💡 Quote I'm pondering
"Show me your calendar and I will tell you your priorities." - Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired magazine
What we believe and what is reality is often different. I see this all the time with entrepreneurs who tell me their priorities are one thing, but their time and energy are spent entirely elsewhere.
How I solve this for myself? Firstly, I have someone who keeps me on track and questions why I do the tasks I do. Is that task truly necessary? How does it bring me closer to my goal? Secondly, I “predict” what I believe are my priorities and I review whether the evidence shows that to actually be the case.
External eyes help me to see what I am otherwise blind to, such as things I am too close to.
With my weekly prediction and review I can see through the mirage of my own reality by reviewing hard evidence. Do your actions match your words?
👋 Want to work together?
When you’re ready, here are 2 ways I can help you:
🔍 Clarity Call - We will discuss your situation and create a step-by-step action plan together so you know exactly what you need to do next for maximum impact
🧩 Are we a good fit together? - See whether you and I are a good fit together by answering this short quiz. You will immediately see whether or not we are a good fit, and receive a personalised answer for what the next best step will be for you based on your answers.
That's it! I can't wait to hear what you think. What did you find most useful? What do you want more or less of? Reply to this email now and let me know
Also, if you have anything interesting to share, I want to know about it😊
Have a great week,
John
P.S. Did someone forward this to you? Subscribe here
P.P.S. Thank you for trusting me with your time. If these emails ever turn into a burden, I encourage you to unsubscribe. I strive to provide real value and I am here to help you to make the most of your time
Enjoyed this issue of Work Smart Wednesday?
Refer a friend to sign up and earn valuable rewards