Learn the ways to make the most of time away instead of fretting over what you’ll not be able to do and what will overwhelm when you get back
Productivity Enterprise Expert
Spring break is coming (or here) for many of you around the country. Those of you fortunate enough to be taking time off may wonder how to avoid the overwhelm before and when you get back. After all women business owners tend to add up a lot of “to do’s” on their get it done lists, and taking a few days off can at times create more anxiety than anything else.
It is somewhat of an art to learn how to manage expectations for any busy professional, entrepreneur or executive so we turned to our Productivity Enterprise Expert Leslie Shreve of Productive Day (a busy and successful business owner herself) to give us some tangible, feasible easy ways to deal with it.
Here’s what she has to say…
Can Simple Be Strong?
Courtesy of Staples.Com
It’s a lot like the Staples® Easy Button™, where you hit the button and it says, “That’s was easy!” I hear this phrase from my clients quite often, after they’ve learned the Taskology® system, which is great, and it reminds me to say to everyone: the path to achieving a total Productive Work Day doesn’t have to be complex.
In a world full of solutions to challenges, road blocks and problems, choices can often be difficult to make. What’s going to work best for you? Who can help? What’s the best path to take? Some solutions are more complex than the original problems! But some are also quite simple.
Recently, one of my clients pointed out the incredible simplicity of a piece of advice I gave him regarding his task management approach. The question he asked was, “How can I keep up with my Task list when I’m on vacation or unavailable for a period of time, such as a leave of absence or time spent helping a family member in need? He said he wasn’t focused on his day-to-day systems, like e-mail or tasks, with any regularity.
My answer was: Don’t plan ANY tasks while on vacation or during a leave of absence. This is true for long absences or short ones, family emergencies or conferences. No matter what, you’re likely to be focused on other things. So don’t leave tasks on your Task list during these times.
What should you do instead? Use your Task list to re-prioritize very quickly – and easily! –and move your tasks to future days – the days after your vacation, after the conference or after your leave of absence. Here are some steps to make it happen:
1. Less is more if you have to do anything at all
If you HAVE to make certain calls or do a particular task while away from your office for just a week, as an example, and you REALLY think you can fit it in (be careful here!), then put those few tasks on your list on ONE day during your week away. It doesn’t matter which day. Just keep them all together and pull from the list throughout the week.
2. Don’t load up your list like you’re a Super Hero
Your tasks should number very few during regular office days, but when you’re out for special circumstances, it should be even fewer, if any at all. This will be a special little list of the FEW things you MIGHT be able to accomplish while you’re away. Err on the side of having too little time or too little focus to get much of anything done during this period and plan your tasks for after you return.
3. Communicate with those who are affected by your absence
If what you postpone or re-prioritize will affect others on your team or people outside of your business, be SURE to communicate with them to adjust time lines, deadlines and projects as necessary.
Once you take these steps, there should be no great effort or energy spent “keeping up” while you’re gone. You should not be trying to do too much during this time anyway! Be selective about what you choose to do and then focus on the reasons your away in the first place.
Leslie Shreve is MyCity4Her’s Productivity Enterprise Expert and the Founder & CEO of Productive Day. She is an author, speaker and consultant that helps people increase their productivity and get more done. You can find out more about Leslie by visiting her web site here.
Leslie also invites you to join her for a very special event with her colleague The Corporate Agent Angelique Rewers coming up in April at National Harbor in DC – by using Leslie’s special promo code – you can save an incredible amount on this amazing, unbelievably informative event to help you get your share of the huge corporate market. See below for details and use the code – leslie297 to get your special pricing.
Click on the image below to get more information.
