It’s easy to get distracted when working from home. Aside
from calendared meetings that are difficult to change, requests from
housemates, doorbells that demand answering, and the endless emails and texts
that arrive all clamor for your attention, time, and a fraction of your working
day. So how do you stay on course? Consider a daily work plan.
Many years ago, I had occasion to see a video by
productivity legend Steven Covey. In it he demonstrated conclusively why only by planning your work can you
ensure that the most important or complex tasks and deliverables are completed
on time.
I’ve always advised people to create their daily plan the
day before, usually before shutting down for the day. Adding breaks, and plenty
of time for what Covey calls, “the big rocks” (your top priorities for the day)
helps to clear the decks and avoid missed deadlines. Alternatively, some people
like to set aside 10 minutes first thing in the morning to plan – if they can
ignore the phone long enough to get it done.
When planning, even when forced to work away from the
office, it’s important to use a modality that is comfortable and consistent
with your preferred working style. For example, some of us like to use
traditional paper planners (like Franklin Planner) or simple lists, while
others prefer electronic tools. It’s possible to use Outlook as a planning tool
with readily available software overlays, or you could choose to use a more comprehensive planning tool that encompasses
not only work activities, but the activities of daily life .
Whichever solution works best for you, be sure to be on the lookout
for those “time wasters” that can wreck any plan. I have found the “start time
delay” to be the biggest problem for me personally. There is always something
to deal with before starting the workday, and frequently it leads to another
task that just “must” get cleared. Excessive travel between appointments can
also run out the clock, although with the growth of Zoom and Skype meetings, this
time waster is less common.
Finally, don’t overschedule. Allow for downtime during the
day, a reasonable gap between meetings, and a heavy “think” session. Increase
the number of scheduled tasks and meetings to your daily plan only after you’ve
had success with a less aggressive schedule.
By following these simple steps, you will get increasingly
adept at meeting daily objectives and higher lever goals.
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