What To Do When There's Too Much To Do (5 page)

Now that you've gotten the have-to and regular daily tasks on the schedule, it's time to start on your to-do list items. Keep in mind the relative priorities of the tasks you've decided to include on your HIT list, and stay focused on the few high-priority tasks (P1 and P2). Don't put
everything
in your calendar and attempt to plan your entire day to the minute, or it will blow up within the first five minutes. But do schedule the most important tasks, especially if one requires a larger block of time. Find a balance between importance and size of the task when trying to fill in your schedule. Leave open some time for interruptions and e-mail (more on this later).

I can almost guarantee you'll get to the end of the time available on your schedule before you get to the end of your HIT list. So, what are you going to do with the rest of the stuff on the list? Triage it and reduce, reduce, reduce! Otherwise, you'll never recapture that extra ninety minutes a day that you need to help you recharge for tomorrow's tasks. Don't make the common mistake of shortening your estimate for some tasks, so you can squeeze a few more in. Cutting the amount of time you allocate to a task won't get it done any faster.

Similarly, adding extra tasks to your schedule won't ensure they'll get done. There's always more work than there is time to do it. So, you've got to determine what you're able to do, what piece of the project you're going to complete, and then STOP! You've already plugged the most important stuff into
your schedule. Everything else is just going to have to wait until tomorrow or next week.

Remember those secondary tasks you cut during the triage process? They should drop off the list, because in reality, even if you put them in your schedule, that's what's going to happen. So be honest with yourself and recognize that some tasks won't get done, and just take them off your HIT list. Remember, you're trying to reduce your commitment load so you can produce more. That's your primary goal. At the end of the week, you'll say, “I got this done”—unlike most people, who can only say, “I worked lots of hours.”

Even within the constraints of your established schedule, you can still influence the length of time you have to spend on each task—particularly if you apply creativity, honesty, and assertiveness to hold on to your time and keep things from ballooning out of control. Let's look at two simple ways you can do it.

Many times, all it takes to trim a task down to size is to ask the question, “How long will this take?” You should ask yourself and others this question every time a task crosses your path. Consider, for example, how this might work with meetings. When you ask that question, you make the person scheduling the meeting responsible for completing it within a certain time period. If it doesn't finish on time, you can always excuse yourself, saying you put something else on your agenda based on the stated end time. Remind other attendees in advance of your commitment when the meeting begins.

Be willing to leave a meeting if it doesn't finish on time or wanders into uncharted territory.

You can also take a cue from the computer field and use the concept of “caching” to improve your productivity. A computer stores the data you've used most recently in its active memory, because you're likely to need that data again and will want to access it quickly. If it can grab the data from the cache, it won't need to go to the extra trouble (and time) of finding the data elsewhere. In short, a good cache improves your computer's performance.

To be time-effective, a computer cache must meet three criteria:

1. It must contain the data you need most of the time.

2. It can never be either completely empty or completely full.

3. It must regularly delete unused data while adding fresh, useful data.

You can also apply this concept to personal availability. “Availability caching” is most critical when you find yourself at or near maximum capacity. While you can't calculate decisions as fast as a computer, you
are
the programmer of your workload. If you can learn to add, drop, and refuse new “data” on the fly, it becomes much easier to streamline your workflow and achieve that extra ninety minutes or so per day you need to retain your health and sanity. Your decisions about to whom to give your time become more automatic, objective, and logical—and ideally, other people will find them easier to appreciate.

Hold onto your time with both hands. Don't let anyone (even your boss) easily take it away from you by adding items to your task lists without a discussion.

If you really want to limit your availability and put fences around your time, you'll have to shackle the worst time bandit there is: yourself. Most of us are simply too generous with our time—and when you're trying to reach peak productivity, you can't always give in when someone tries to lay claim to your attention—or you'll fill your cache with no room for additions.

So let me remind you of a very important word: “No.” I expect it was one of the first words you learned as a child. It's a really easy word to say … and a hard one to use. The trick is learning
when
to say it, and realizing it should enjoy a prominent place in your vocabulary.

Unless you're blunt by nature, you may find it difficult to turn people down. Perhaps your parents taught you to be polite to everyone or to respect authority; I can certainly understand that conundrum. But if this is the case, you'll constantly have to guard against people trying to take advantage of your good nature—because believe me, they
will
try.

Or perhaps your work environment is more cutthroat and confusing than most of us like. For example, perhaps you're afraid someone will come back with an aggressive “Why not?” when you say no. The fear of being on the spot and trying to justify yourself may cause you to hesitate. Or you may not want to say no because you're afraid of hurting another person's feelings. If so, why are you taking the other person's feelings into account and not your own?

Similarly, some of us are hesitant to say no because we fear being labeled as having a bad attitude or not being a team player. This is an understandable fear, especially if the person trying to capture some of your time is an authority figure. You may also encounter this problem if you work in an especially competitive environment, where not giving all of your time is
seen as a lack of commitment. If this is the case, then you may have to surrender some of your time, like it or not; but do your best to trim the required time to the bare minimum.

Stop being so generous with your time, and relearn the value of saying no when doing so is appropriate.

One key to saying no effectively is to develop what my colleague and fellow NSA board member Brian Tracy calls “Won't Power”—the power to declare and stick to all the things you
won't
do (I'm harking back to the
Not
-To-Do list I discussed in
Chapter 1
). It's a lot easier to say no and make it stick if you keep your own needs firmly in mind. Those
have
to come first! Remember this key aspect of the PWF process: reduce, reduce, reduce. If you don't put yourself at the head of your own line and block all comers, someone else will definitely cut ahead of you. To use another metaphor, this is
your
hill, and you have to remain king or queen of it.

You have the right to say no to any request you can't afford. Stand firm without being guilted into saying yes. Maybe you're the type of person who tries to do your best for everyone. But how likely are you to produce at your peak on a task you didn't want to take on in the first place? What if you've exceeded your physical or mental limits?

Your feelings matter. If you want to say no, there's a reason behind it. Sometimes, you simply have to listen to your own gut. With that in mind, here are some additional tips for saying no.

All you need is love.
Do your best to say no in an upbeat way. I know this sounds like a contradiction in terms, but there's a big difference between saying “Not just no, but hell no,” and “I'd love to but just can't take that on right now!” A positive
rejection can ensure no one gets hurt feelings, especially if you follow up with, “But please keep me in mind for any further projects!” You're not making any promises, but you're keeping the lines of communication open. And thank the person for considering you in the first place, since you might need their help someday.

Don't make empty promises.
If you can't do something (or just don't want to), come right out and say it. Don't make an empty promise and then let it come crashing down around you, leaving your requester in the lurch. If you turn them down flat, they have the opportunity to find someone else. If you find it uncomfortable to say no immediately, ask for a little time to think it over. This will put the person on notice you might very well refuse them. Then return with your answer promptly and politely.

Don't apologize for or explain yourself.
If you can't take on a new task, decline without making an issue out of it and offering a ton of explanations. A simple, “Sorry—I'd love to help out, but I don't have the bandwidth right now,” is sufficient. They don't need to know more; in any case, you're not obliged to justify yourself, no matter how much you might disappoint the other party. If someone insists on knowing why you needed to say no, diplomatically give them a brief truth, whatever the case may be: It's not in your skill set; you don't feel you can do the project justice; you don't have the time in your schedule; or you're saving the time for your family or something important to you. If someone really insists, firmly reiterate you can't do it. Be polite but assertive. This, of course, applies to fellow coworkers. For the boss, you'll need to try negotiation.

Negotiate.
If your boss presents you with a task you can't outright refuse, but your plate is undeniably full, don't hesitate to point this out. Don't beat around the bush. Openly discuss your current deadlines and workload, and communicate
both honestly and clearly. For example, you might say, “I'm currently working on X, Y, and Z projects. As things stand, I believe this additional project is beyond my capacity at the moment, and I want to return quality work in a timely way. Would you like me to hand it off to someone else, hire a contractor, or would you prefer to reprioritize my existing project load for me?” How you approach this, of course, depends on your circumstances, but it does put the ball back into your manager's court.

Meet someone halfway.
Sometimes it's hard to say no to a request, especially when it's clear someone thinks enough of you to try to tap your expertise. While I feel it's critical for you to develop the capacity to refuse, you can arrange to meet people halfway and offer alternatives to immediately adding something to your HIT list. For example, you might admit you're already booked up, but make it clear you'll do all you can to help. Or, rather than being a committee member, you'll act in an advisory capacity. Perhaps you can't drop what you're juggling right now, but there's an open spot somewhere ahead in your schedule in a few weeks. Inform the requester you can do the task then, and not now. This solution may satisfy you both if the task isn't time-critical. If you really want to help with a new task, but you genuinely don't have the time, be honest and ask if there's some way you can contribute without going all-in.

Be persistent and consistent.
Some people just won't take no for an answer and will keep bugging you to take on a task, no matter how many times you refuse them. In a case like this one, you'll have to respond to their persistence with persistence of your own. Now, I'm not talking about someone who responds to your rejection with a standard statement like, “Aw, are you sure? Well, if you change your mind …” Some people will feel obliged to ask a second time later on; again, this is no big deal if you just say no again. Use this technique with the
dysfunctional ones who demand to know why not (see the first tip) or ask over and over, as if they can't believe you refused them. Don't let them wear you down.