As an Executive Coach, I have often observed successful leaders deal with the frustration that comes from over-committing. It is usually born from a failure to fully assess the amount of time a project will take to complete.

The scenario goes something like this:

You are in a meeting and your boss, customer, team, or board asks for you to deliver on Project X. You understand it and see the value, so you commit right there on the spot. The requestor asks if Project X can be done by the end of the month. You think 20 days should give you enough time. You leave the meeting feeling good about your ability to deliver.

Then you jump back into the crisis or opportunity du jour, which requires all of your mental abilities for the remainder of the day. Tomorrow comes, and it’s more of the same.

Fast forward 19 days later, when you get a reminder email from the requestor of Project X. She is really looking forward to seeing it tomorrow. Tomorrow! Off you go, falling back to the cramming patterns you learned on campus. You skip dinner, work into the evening, grab a few hours of fitful sleep, and are ready to deliver your half-baked project.

This may sound a little harsh or exaggerated, but some of you might even be thinking, YES, this is my reality. If this resonates with you and you want to improve, consider the following best practices.

The next time you are asked to deliver Project X by a certain date, do the following:

* Make sure you fully understand the Desired End Result of Project X.
* Write down everything you think you will need in order to deliver Project X with excellence.
* Assess how much time you will need to complete all of the required steps. You must know how many hours it will take you or others on your team.
* Schedule the time on your calendar as if it were an appointment with your most valued client. If possible, add 50% more time that you think you need.
* If you are truly unable to make the appointment that you had previously scheduled, reschedule it within 24 hours.

If you are simply unable to fit the required time into your calendar, then here’s an important revelation: you can’t complete this project by the due date. You will need to assess whether you need to push out the due date for this project, make room by postponing other projects, or simply say no.

I am confident that if you master this simple process, it will radically reduce your stress level and lead to more deadlines met and improved quality of work.

Good luck scheduling,

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Think about a week that you really brought your “A” game to the office. 

You were on time, fully present and prepared for all your meetings.  You closed the deals you were working on.  You executed with excellence.  Not only this, but you had time to think, to plan, to exercise, and you were home in time for dinner!  Did I mention email?  Yes, you were even caught up on all email correspondence.  Not just your work email, but your Linkedin, Facebook, and personal email accounts.

Even as I type this, I am thinking “Yeah, right!”  I was tracking with my own exercise, until I got to that email part.  It’s time for a coaches’ confessional:  I am really struggling to keep up with my email inboxes.  I have to admit that email communication is one of my weaker disciplines.

So if I were coaching me, what questions would I ask?  What direction would I take myself in this situation? 

The first place I would start is with my Perfect Week.  The Perfect Week is an exercise we coach clients through to help them visualize what a week filled with High Payoff Activities from their Life Plans and Business Plans would look like.  We then have them add the Low Payoff Activities which cannot at this time be delegated or dropped.  We also coach them to schedule no more than 70% of their time, leaving room for the unplanned opportunities and challenges that creep into all of our days.

This is just what my assistant Lynne and I did last week.  We went back to my Perfect Week to make sure it is synchronizing with my real schedule. 

In years past I had two times blocked out each day for emails and returning phone calls.  Somehow, I had lost that discipline.  The good news is that, by doing this exercise, we recaptured that discipline, and Lynne is already scheduling these times back into my days.  I am confident this will help me to keep my inboxes managed and my stress level down.

I know this has worked for me, and I believe it could help you as well.  Please feel free to contact us at info@buildingchampions.com if you want a Perfect Week Time Blocking template.

Cheers,

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1. There is No Substitute for One on One Time
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After an hour and a half, he left, and one of my sons came by.  He is 17, and is finishing up his senior year with some classes at our local community college.  The purpose of our one on one time was to connect and take a look at his plan for the next quarter.  It was an opportunity for me to listen to him and to connect at a deeper level.  I was able to pour into him.

The reason I wanted to share with you about my morning is to challenge you to think about how you will spend your time this year. 

Are you proactively scheduling one on one time with those you care for most?

One on one time is the absolute best way for people to connect, to experience intimacy, to build trust, to share life, to love and support one another, to challenge each other, to affirm each other and to show those around us how much they mean to us.  With our busy schedules, this can be quite challenging, but it is worth it.  I have learned — by observing those who are further down the path than I am — that those who do this tend to have the deepest and the best relationships.

Many of you are already busily filling in the vacant slots on your calendar for this month or even the entire year, and this is one discipline that will pay huge dividends.   These one on one times (or dates, as we call them in our home) should be scheduled first before other things get in the way.

Look at your Life Plan, and make sure your key accounts include the discipline of one on one time with those who are the most important in your life — your spouse, your kids, your close friends, your extended family members.  Then make room in your calendar, and invite them to meet with you.  Make this a non-negotiable discipline so that it becomes a way of life for you.

I know many of you already do this, and do even more to make the time rich and meaningful.  I could learn from you!  Others may want to make this a priority, but don’t know where to begin.  It starts with one date.

I hope this helps you and those you care for,

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But what I could miss is that I was scheduled to be at my daughter’s ballet performance on the evening of the 10^th, and that the following week, I am to make two major presentations.  Not to mention, this all comes after three very full weeks of meetings. 

The old me would have made a commitment to that date without assessing how it would impact me and those around me during that larger period of time.  Outlook was not good enough.

The solution was to go back to a paper tool. 

About 12 years ago, I found the Franklin Covey Yearly Fold Out Calendar.  This tool allows you to put all of the major events for the year onto one sheet of paper.  You can see your vacations, business trips, important meetings, birthdays, anniversaries, project due dates and any other key commitments that you are to make.  You can use your Life Plan and your Business Plan to help you fill it in.

The calendar can then be color-coded to show you at a glance how you are spending your days.  For example, on my calendar we use yellow for coaching days, pink for business travel, blue for ON-Time, orange for business development, and green for vacation time.  This helps me to make better decisions as I can see how I am investing my time over longer periods.

When you see the whole picture — the weeks before and after the date in question — you are better equipped to count the cost and make an informed decision. 

A few years back, I was coaching my friend Mike Hyatt through this tool.  As Mike will often do, he took a great idea and made it even better.  He created an Excel Yearly Calendar, an electronic version which we now use here at Building Champions.  Mike and I gave it away to our Experience attendees earlier this year and we want to offer it to you now.

Send us an email if you’d like a copy of the calendar.

I hope this helps you to make better decisions in the year ahead!

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