Priorities

Batch Instead of Distract

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Recently I spoke to the Ventura Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners about Virtual Assistants, and the topic of “batching” tasks for efficiency came up. I found this article I wrote in September of 2009 back when I was still doing Virtual Assistance work myself.

Last week I had a very rude awakening. I woke up early, got right to work and put in a solid 4 hours before lunch. I then added up the hours I’d billed for actual client work and they totaled just one and a half hours!

WHAT?!? I worked all morning and could bill for less than half of my time? How did that happen?

The answer is distractions. I’ve written about this before, with phone calls and emails being the biggest culprits. But after this recent experience, I realized that I needed to upgrade my skills and start “batching” my tasks.

Batching means grouping together similar tasks and doing them all at once, but on a less frequent basis. For instance, instead of checking email constantly, check it just twice a day. Or instead of paying each bill as it arrives, put them aside and pay them twice a month.

  • What is the true value of batching?
    There is an unavoidable mental lag time that happens when you shift your attention back and forth between different tasks. According to experts*, the cost of distractions is over 25% of your time (in my case, it was over 50%!). When distracted, you may require up to 45 minutes to resume the major task that was interrupted.

I encourage you to make the effort to implement batching in at least one area of your work. Where else can you get a 25% return on your investment?

* The Cost of Not Paying Attention: How Interruptions Impact Knowledge Worker Productivity, Jonathan B. Spira and Joshua B. Feintuch, quoted in The 4-Hour Work Week, Timothy Ferriss

Values in the Small Decisions

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One of the best books I every read was Stephanie Frank’s The Accidental Millionaire. For me, the most impactful part of the book was an exercise that helped me determine my values in life. I won’t try to explain it here, because I won’t do it justice. Suffice it to say that “values” in this context means “what is most important to me in my life”, rather than “virtues”.

What this exercise did for me is set up a kind of internal compass, so that when I’m making decisions in my life, both personal and professional, all I have to do is look at my top three values and see which decision is in alignment with my values. Mine happen to be:

  • Freedom and travel
  • Impact on others
  • Experiencing new things

Why do I bring this up? Because over the past few years, I’ve found this tool invaluable when navigating big decisions. But recently, I’ve noticed some of the small decisions I make on a daily basis are not in alignment with my values.

This occurred to me on a recent Saturday when I was out hiking in Sedona with my husband. We found a beautiful secluded spot by Oak Creek and dangled our feet in the water, basked in the sun, and enjoyed the view. In a word – idyllic.

When we got back to the car, the first thing I did was check my email. A few messages came in, my adrenaline spiked, and the peace I’d just experienced was diminished in an instant. That one small act was TOTALLY out of alignment with my #1 value of freedom – I mean, it was Saturday, for goodness sake! Was someone going to have a coaching emergency, and send me an email about it? How on earth would this add to my freedom?

An absentminded minute, that’s all it was, but these small moments add up to form a lifetime, don’t they?

I’m committing to being more vigilant about how I spend my time. In fact, I’ll work on changing how I think from “spending” to “investing”.  I challenge you to do the same – and feel free to share your experience!

Am I Slacking?

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My company is growing and in order to continue the growth, I have to spend some time on business development. To make sure I follow through, I committed one day a week (Wednesday) to focus on business development, client relations and marketing.

Recently, still a little woozy from my fast-paced vacation, it wasn’t until Tuesday night that I realized that I needed to create my newsletter. Now I had a dilemma – do I spend Wednesday creating articles for my newsletter (forgoing my business development day), or do I stay committed to my new plan?

I got a little creative, pulled information from great resources for my newsletter and found a way to stay committed to my new plan without losing the consistency of the newsletter.

Because of this choice, on Wednesday I was able to create an organizational chart, job descriptions and post a “help wanted” ad on Craigslist. Plus, I did some research into project management software and made an inquiry with a consultant to help me with implementation. All in all, a very satisfying list of business development activities!

The moral of the story? There will always be competing priorities in a business, and in life. A combination of creativity and delegation is my solution this week!

Tell Me What You CAN Do!

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A few years ago, I was listening to a client complain, “I don’t have time to do this, I don’t have time to do that… “.

We’d been having this conversation for months, and in frustration I burst out, “I’m not interested in what you can’t do, tell me what you CAN do!”

Not the most elegant delivery, I’m admit, but my point hit home. From that outburst, my client profoundly shifted the way she managed her business and her life. We identified the inner voice that silently kept her stuck in paralyzing inaction.

Can anyone relate? So what are you focusing on – the problem or the solution?

Now before I am accused of being one of those annoying “just think positive and bury your head in the sand if anything negative comes your way” types, let me clarify. I’m not talking about being happy-happy all the time, I’m talking about learning to direct your thinking so that you are in alignment with what you want out of life.

Now that I’ve given my disclaimer…

The biggest complaint I hear these days has to do with a lack of time, so I’m including one example of how to replace paralyzing thinking with a perspective that is more in line with your goals.

Current Perspective: I’m busy from 8 to 9, 10 to 11:30 and 2:30 to 5

By focusing on the busy time, you’re giving yourself messages that you are busy, there is not enough time, and you’ll get nothing accomplished. This subconscious belief directs your actions and becomes self-fulfilling. You’re likely to get nothing accomplished. With this perspective, you’re convincing yourself that you have no time at all.

Simple Alternative: I have time available from 9 to 10, and 11:30 to 2:30

Now you’re giving yourself the opportunity to see the time that was completely invisible to you before. Without rearranging a single appointment, suddenly four hours just opened up!

This perspective shift can be used on any belief based in “can’t”, “don’t have” and “not enough”. Try it on money issues, doubt about your own abilities or any perceived lack of resources. If you get stuck, email me. I’ll do what I can to help you turn those paralyzing phrases into motivating mantras!