Time Management for the 21st Century

If there’s one aspect of quiet quitting that makes sense, it’s that the quitters are finally acknowledging that you can’t get it all done. Not in one day, not in a 40-hour workweek; maybe not in a lifetime. There will always be more to be done, and  the stress of that fact is what causes burnout.

Step one of your rehabilitation plan is to acknowledge: you can’t do it all. The key to being effective and staying sane is to prioritize the most important tasks and do them well. Choose what matters most, both for work and your well-being, and schedule them first.

Whatever system you use to organize and categorize your activities (A,B,C, Big rocks, Little rocks) choose a balance of activities that will advance your most important projects, finish off projects that can be ended, or take care of personal or family business that is keeping you up at night.

So your day might look like this:

• Finish the report on the XYZ project and email it to my boss.
• Graph the final outcomes of the project and add them to slide deck for Jeane to finish. (ending XYZ project.)
• Call Deb to get quotes for conference space and dates for annual meeting. (advance a big project.)
• Put out requests for speakers for annual meeting (advance a big project.)
• Tonight: take one hour to organize expense receipts for filing taxes. (personal business.)
• Put Aimee’s remaining school field trips on my calendar with ticklers for permission slips. (family business.)

This is a list, that when finished at the end of the day, will feel like you’ve accomplished some important things. Too often, we simply move to start a task that’s in front of us, or one our boss has inserted, even if it shouldn’t be moved to the top of the stack. Or we choose work that appears to keep us busy, but drains our executive function (what we need to make good decisions and do our best work. Going through email is a great example.)

Author Josh Davis tackles the tough subject of how to get things done as a human being, with all our human failings. If you have important work to do, Davis has tips on how to get it done in his book Two Awesome Hours. He writes: “The key to limiting mental fatigue is recognizing the work that is most likely to deplete your resources in a substantial way and, when you have any say in the matter, to simply not engage in that work before you want to be at your best.”

You can choose to do the most important work you have first thing in the morning, before tackling tasks like email or other work that will drain your energy and decision-making mojo. You can also make some decisions in the evening, so you have fewer to make at the start of your day. Lay out your outfit, pack your lunch, make your to-do list for the next day. You’ll be able to start your day fresh with plenty of executive function energy.

Here’s another tip, courtesy of Scott Eblin at The Eblin Group blog: Do what only you can do. That means that you should prioritize what you do better than anyone or that only you have the right skills to do. Delegate easier tasks, routine, repetitive tasks, or tasks you’re not very efficient at to someone else. You can start at home; assign routine chores to your partner or kids so you can focus on the things that matter most and that you’ll do very well. Whether that’s planning, organizing, repairing, running errands, nurturing, or listening, making time and space for what’s important will work better for you and for your family.

Delegating to others builds skills and confidence on your work team.  You’ll have more time to focus on the big stuff because they’ll take over the other stuff and eventually will do it well and not need questions answered or decisions made or confirmed for them..

Scott Eblin also recommends that you master the art of the graceful rejection of requests for your time and attention. At some point early in my career, I realized that 90 percent of what was keeping me up at night was not essential to my job. From community committees to saying yes to projects that weren’t part of my role in the company, I’d added stress and pressure because I had a hard time saying no.

When I cut back on my extra activities, I slept better and got more done on the job. You can’t do it all, so do what matters most.