Any pagans amongst you will be gently preparing for the autumn equinox, that midpoint between summer and winter which is a time of gratitude and reflection after the harvest.
Most readers are more likely to be on full speed already. The same old story. Our days are already overstuffed with firefighting, emails, shallow work and an abundance of meetings. It’ll be another mad sprint between now and Christmas, a tug of war between what’s urgent and what’s important.
Hold your horses. Sprinting without purpose just makes us tired. Being busy like everyone else isn’t the same as making real progress. Decide to be different from now on.
How to stand out and save time
Find a meaty project to do this quarter that’s over and above your job description and puts you in the spotlight.
If you aren’t sure what to do, how about building some kind of roadmap to scale AI meaningfully, rather than just dabbling with it? Another win would be to work out how to monetise some data you already have.
Get senior level buy-in if you can. Negotiate low value tasks off your to-do list to make space. Obviously keep them off for good.
These five changes will get you results more easily:
1. Set boundaries. Block out chunks of time when you are available for others. That’s a much better message than doing it the other way round, i.e. trying to block out time when you aren’t available, then feeling guilty about it. Set boundaries about reading and responding to emails too. Check your emails whenever you need to, but actively process them just once or twice a day.
2. Ring-fence planning time. Wrap up each week with some planning time. Even one hour of planning on Friday will keep you on the front foot and help you to relax over the weekend. You need deep work time too – schedule 90 minutes a couple of times a week at least.
3. Fewer meetings are an obvious win. Set shorter, more focused agendas. Put a cap on the hours you spend in meetings each week. How about piloting Focus Fridays, with no meetings, until the end of the year? Here’s my article on how tech firms are cancelling meetings.
4. Put your phone away. Those 15 minutes scrolling could be spent far more productively. Set yourself some learning goals for the time instead, some future-proofing. August’s article was about finding 15 minutes to do one meaningful thing. It’s here.
5. Double up. Try some strategic multi-tasking. Go for a walk and make a call. Do your admin and listen to a podcast. Did I say admin? Do yourself a big favour and delegate or automate it down to the bare minimum. You have far bigger fish to fry.
I’m here to elevate your career above all the crazy busy noise. My websitehas had a zhuzh up over the summer. Here’s my crazy busy, feedbackand career strategy talks (all suitable for keynotes or workshops for all audience levels) and my coaching programmes.