Being a retired old dude, I sometimes think about whether or not I did it all right during my career, and will I do it right in my retirement. Recently I found this advise from Penelope Trunk , The Brazen Careerist. So I decide to review how I actually handled these priciples in my work and how I might handle them in my retirement.
Five Steps to Being More Productive
by Penelope Trunk
1. Do the most important thing first.
Gina Trapani, the editor of Lifehacker.com, calls this a "morning dash." She sits down at her desk and does the No. 1 item on her to-do list so that she knows it's finished.
This requires a lot of prior planning. You need to write an accurate, prioritized list and you need to block out a portion of your morning to accomplish your No. 1 task uninterrupted.
Past: I did very well in this category.
My system was a little different however. I simply looked at the the memo or e-mail and organized them according the size of the a-hole that sent them to me. The biggest was handled first . My secondary level was to see which had a deadline closest to today's date. Sometimes then a number 2 or 3 level a-hole's project would temporarily be in front on a number 1 level.
Retirement: Easy, easy, criteria here. What ever She says is priority goes first.
2. Keep your inbox empty.
Your inbox is not your to-do list; your to-do list is something you compile and prioritize. If your inbox is your to-do list, then you have no control over.
Past: I was an expert at this one. The a-hole criteria applied here. Then the delegation procedure was applied. Then anything still in the in-box by 10 a.m. was deposited in the waste basket.
Retirement: What's an inbox?
3. Become a realist about time.
You can schedule and schedule and schedule, but it won't do any good unless you get more realistic about time. Develop a sense of who in your life is good at estimating time and who isn't, because you need to be able to compensate for the people who mess up your schedule with poor time estimates.
Past: I simply let my office assistant schedule anything and everything. She use the a-hole criteria for scheduling priorities. My time was their time, and so they told me, so they could take as much of it as they saw fit.
Retired: What month is this?
4. Focus on what you're doing so you can do it faster and better.
Most of the time, multitasking doesn't help you. It works for short, repetitive tasks that you're very familiar with. But you don't want to develop good work habits for boring work. You'd probably prefer to stretch your brain and try new things, and that kind of work requires focus.
A wide range of research has shown that even if you can talk on the phone and use email and IM at the same time, multitasking decreases your productivity.
Past: Multitasking meant that I had delegated my tasks to multiple others. Focus was what I did when I was in the present of the boss.
Retired: Multitasking means saying yes to Her about more than one task in the same day.
5. Delegate.
Once you know what's most important to you in all aspects of your life, you'll know what to delegate. And the answer will be almost everything. The hardest part of productivity is admitting that you can't do everything.
In fact, it's the core of what being an adult is -- as a child, everything looks possible. Adults are hit quickly with the cold reality that they can only do what's most important. So be very clear on what that is, and delegate as much of the other stuff as you can.
Past: I had an excellent record at delegation. I knew I didn't know how to do anything and paid close attention to know who did and made sure my work in that area found its way to those people, unless of course if it was meeting with the boss, then I had them type up a summary for me to deliver.
Retirement: I try not to be around when She has something to be delegated.
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