Pages

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Finishing

This article: How to Be a Great Finisher at Harvard Business Review by Heidi Grant Halvorson reminded me of ME!  Especially at work!
Take a good look at the people you work with, and you'll find lots of Good Starters — individuals who want to succeed, and have promising ideas for how to make that happen. They begin each new pursuit with enthusiasm, or at the very least, a commitment to getting the job done.  And then something happens. Somewhere along the way, they lose steam. They get bogged down with other projects. They start procrastinating and miss deadlines. Their projects take forever to finish, if they get finished at all.
This behavior drives me crazy.  I have a terrible habit of working my inbox like a fiend and realizing at the end of the day I got nothing of real value done.  I have been trying to break this habit for the past year by scheduling my time for projects.  David Giese, a life coach and author of this gave a seminar about time management at work.  He explained that you should not start your day until you've planned your day.  Each night before he leaves the office he plans his calendar for the next day.  He alots time for specific tasks to get done, time to answer email, time to each lunch. 

I have been using this with some success.  My problem is that I underestimate the time it takes me to get things done, I don't plan for email, and I cannot stop checking my email.  I am basically LAZY (the horror!).  Rather than do actual work, I do email cause it's easier and usually takes much less energy. 

My husband recently told me that he turns his email OFF and only checks it 3 times a day.  WTF?  I turned off the pop up notification and will now occasionally turn mine off for an hour to focus.  But 3 times a day is INSANITY.  Well, not insanity, but very bold. 

How do you get things done?

No comments: