I am up to my neck in work. I have a full-plate of search assignments and a consulting gig. I have a major presentation to deliver in September. I am talking with a client about beginning a C-level search. That is the good news! The bad news is that I am six months behind on some tasks, like completing my expense reports, and three months behind in balancing my accounts. Am I worried? No! I learned a valuable lesson (not sure when) that eliminates the stress of dealing with past due work. Now, don't misunderstand, these tasks are not customer related. They are merely administrative; important, but not urgent. The secret I learned and came to embrace is that a little effort, over time, can support big results. By investing just ten to twenty minutes a day, I will be back on schedule.
You may be wondering why I am completing expense reports given that I own my business. Well, honestly it is a hold-over from my corporate career. It is a useful discipline that I have maintained in my executive search business. Quick Books allows me to print out weekly expense recaps which make it easier to compile my expense report. Of course, those reports do not include cash expenses or mileage.
I have learned that investing a few minutes a day on important but not urgent tasks improves my effectiveness. It might not seem like much, but, I continue to become more productive. It is far better than procrastinating until one is forced to make an investment in time to tackle the issue. When I look back, I am reminded of a habit I developed early in my career. I began each day by reading a chapter of a non-fiction business book, or the Wall Street Journal. That practice helped me steadily advance my career.
Not long ago, I took some advice from Bill O'Reilly, the host of The Factor on the Fox News Network. Mr. O'Reilly caught my attention when he suggested that a glass of water with a lemon wedge before every meal would help prevent overeating. It was not the first time I had heard that, but I was receptive to the idea. I had lost control of my weight and knew I must make some changes. I tried it, and it worked. Creating that habit was a small step. It led to additional dietary changes. Over time I shifted toward more fruit, vegetables, and protein. These adjustments have allowed me to maintain my weight without spending time in the gym or on crash diets. Significant changes begin with a single step.
Last week I met a CMO, who noted that I had recently published my first book. He asked me how long it took to write. Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I told him that it took five years of weekly blog posts. The book did grow out of my Blog, so my response wasn't entirely facetious. My colleague Stan, and I have a running joke about ideas for his book. I ask him why he doesn't start by writing a blog. He tells me that his working style is to sit down and bang it out all at once. I just laugh. We both know he is too busy to block out that amount of time, so I keep poking him.
In my view, productivity improvement is all about replacing less than optimal work habits with more productive behavior. Technology is very helpful. The voice to text service on my landline eliminates the need to check my voice mail box. Using the "rules" option in Outlook helps me organize my email by topic, client, and assignment. It is another valuable time saver. My iPhone has been a major productivity enhancer. Now I need to find an app to integrate my mileage and cash expenses into my Quick Books account. If I can eliminate that irritant, well, you get the idea.
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Jim Weber, President
Author of: Fighting Alligators: Job Search Strategy For The New Normal
New Century Dynamics Executive Search