Do you ever wonder where the day went?
Jonathan, who ran a small design firm in Manhattan, asked himself this question just about everyday. On his commute to the office, he would make a note of the projects he would work on. But upon his arrival, a bit later than he hoped, the phone was ringing, there were piles of emails and messages and he’d get caught up in conversations with whoever happened to call or stop by. He found it difficult to stay focused on his plan for the day.
He went onto the internet to do some research, and would find himself at random websites, not to mention facebook…one thing led to another and before he knew it, it was 6 o’clock and he hadn’t touched the work he intended to do.
He’d burn the midnight oil, desperately trying to whittle away at his enormous to do list in an effort to make up for what hadn’t gotten done that day. On the way home, he would cringe at the thought of how to apologize to his wife, who had eaten dinner alone for the umpteenth time.
The next morning, Jonathan would drag himself out of bed, exhausted from yesterday, and return to the office for what often turned out to be a repeat performance. He would try to catch up on the weekend, but he was often too tired to make much progress; but determined to stay focused on Monday morning.
As Jonathan related his story to me, one thing became very apparent – rather than choosing where to spend his time, he was stuck in reactive mode, responding to whatever came up or he happened upon.
If this sounds familiar, there are many possible solutions, but to start, here’s one simple thing you can ask yourself each day:
Am I choosing where to invest my time, or leaving it up to chance?
Susan Martin, Small Business Productivity Program.
