It sounds like something that is common sense but the human element comes out in us all. I recently spoke with a client who is in the manufacturing business. I asked him how things were going and he told me that he was just extremely busy. I wondered why he was busy and frustrated at the same time. After a couple minutes in the conversation I realized he had made a flaw in his scheduling process.
Most people set out a schedule of some form or another. We tend to put out the bigger fires first. We rationalize that we have time before the smaller fires turn into big fires. This was the mentality of my client. It is human nature and I was once in the same boat. Somewhere along the line of life experience you learn its best not to wait til you see fire but perhaps you should act when you see smoke or even better practice some form of early warning system. Of course there are situations where this is impossible and that’s why you are in business for yourself and others work for you. Some people are not cut out for the constant changing of variables.
I’ve found that booking time slots in my calendar has worked well for me. Now of course things change and you have to stay on top of it. It does provide a good snapshot of how effective your day/week and even month has been. If I have a couple things to do in a week’s time I find that setting the estimated time in my calendar keeps the smoke from rising and even better, less fires.
I passed this on to my client and hopefully he will enjoy his days a bit better. I know I do!