I have a hard time to recall, when was the last working day when I could fully focus on just one project and work on it 2 hours without interruption. We are constantly under pressure to deliver results and get everything solved before it becomes a problem. Having so many to-does and deadlines can be really overwhelming.
Sleepless nights and a mind constantly working on something is not the ideal scenario we should aim for. Multinationals are constantly changing strategies, look for people who can handle multiple activities at the same time, keep positive attitude and spread great knowledge around the team. How is it possible to accomplish all these? Be simply always approachable, kind and never show any sings of being stressed or getting even close to burn out. It is easier said than done, but trust me it is possible. There are so many techniques out there you can use, amazing books and podcasts. However, advising someone who already cannot sleep to take a book and start reading sounds rather unrealistic. Let’s try out something else, here are some of my favorite tools that lead you to be productive and spend time on important things:
- Keep to-dos organized: todoist
- Set up a priority to everything you need to accomplish
- Kanban-Board implementation to track easily what your team does
- Making SMART decisions
Decisions are necessary in any work environment, delaying a decision can have major impact on your team or on other department. Remember, there are always ways to fix something, but you need to get started.
I am sure you are already familiar with the term SMART, just as a reminder here is how it is defined by iPEC, the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching:
- Specific: list here the fist step of your idea
- Measurable: make it easily quantifiable
- Achievable: ask yourself whether it is achievable
- Reasonable: how realistic is it
- Time-oriented: by when is can you complete this initial step.
In case you need something even more specific, think about:
- When was the last time you were productive?
- What motivates you to be productive?
- What time of the day do you perform at your best?
Some of us just need to be taken out from their regular environment to be able to see again the big picture and not get lost in the details. It is not easy to avoid distractions; you can however try to set challenging meetings and activities to the part of the day when you know you can handle at your highest performance level.
When you focus on problems, you get more problems. When you focus on possibilities you have more opportunities. – Zig Ziglar
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