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Do you have too much going on?
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Do you believe that you are essential and that everything you do is vital?
Do you still feel that you are not sufficiently valued?
Are you stuck in your current position and finding it increasingly difficult to decide which is more important - work or wellbeing?
Sabina Nawaz, arrow to the right
advises executives from all over the world.
Her clients include boards of directors of the Fortune 500 companies and heads of government agencies, as well as nonprofits and academic organizations.
Then you may fare like Suleikha.
Suleikha is one of the most organized people I have ever coached.
She answered emails within an hour, worked through a long to-do list every day, and was there for each of her team members as soon as they needed support.
The problem
Suleikha worked seven days a week.
She never took a break.
Yet Suleikha waited in vain for a promotion.
Eventually she felt so burned out that she seriously considered quitting.
Are you stuck in the helper trap?
Does this situation sound familiar to you?
Then the cause of your problem may not be in your job or with your colleagues.
Presumably it is because of the way you approach your job.
Not every project or task that you take on requires your immediate attention - sometimes you don't even need to take concrete action.
This is especially true for those topics that are brought to you by others.
Use six simple questions to help you decide if a to-do on your list really needs to be done.
By the way: These questions also apply if someone has explicitly asked you to take on a task for them.
1. Why does this task have to be done?
Suleikha was surprised to find that around a quarter of her duties had no really valid reason.
They weren't critical to their department, nor were they required to keep the business going.
That is why Suleikha, for example, deleted the weekly meeting for the status update from her calendar and instead only wrote corresponding e-mails.
The question of
why
helps to prioritize tasks.
This often shows that a lot can either be delegated or do not require any processing.
2. Does this task fit into your time budget?
Create a portfolio for your most valuable resource: your time.
Suleikha divided her core activities into seven categories: leading her team, maintaining relationships with her superiors, pursuing the five most important projects, developing a vision for business growth, looking after one of the major customers, giving lectures or presentations at two important annual conferences and emails to edit.
In the second step, she considered what percentage of her time budget should ideally be allocated to the different areas.
She documented the time actually spent on each area - and set her new goals so that they matched her ideal.
Suleikha realized that she was spending way too much time processing emails.
She also learned that she had to turn down less important tasks.
Above all, however, it turned out that she should use a lot more capacity on her actual job: she had to act more strategically and clearly than before and set a clear direction.
Such time budgets, divided into categories, can help to be more careful with the time available and to get the really important things done.
3. What consequences would it have in four weeks if this task was not solved?
Suleikha always felt great satisfaction when she had completed a project and could tick off her list.
This went so far that she wrote tasks she had already completed on her to-do list and then crossed them off with relish.
But the question was: Would she still enjoy the thought of successfully completing her job in one month?
She realized that much of what she had just achieved and accomplished would be forgotten a few days later.
Not only from the others, but also from yourself.
Before you rush to take on a task yourself, you should think about the impact this engagement will have on you, the stakeholders involved, and your company.
This way, you can avoid investing time in things that sooner or later will be recognized as unimportant anyway.
4. Who would like this task to be done? And: who is the right person for it?
Suleikha was always the first to respond to email inquiries.
In fact, their employees often felt that Suleikha was doing the work for them and robbing them of the chance to be noticed by upper management.
So don't just ask yourself who could do a particular task, but also who is actually the right person to do it.
Create a cushion of time by delegating projects.
Also, make sure your employees feel genuinely responsible for their work and take the initiative.
5. How often do you attach more importance to a task than it deserves?
A colleague asked Suleikha to speak to his nephew about his career.
She reserved an appointment in her overflowing agenda and was transferred twice.
Finally she understood that the responsibility for the success lay not with her, but with the nephew.
And that the meeting was obviously not time-critical for him.
Check your ideas about the required pace and importance of a task.
Leave responsibility where it belongs.
Concentrate on the tasks that are really urgent and your own.
Make sure you do this in your private life as well.
more on the subject
Self-Management: Finally ProductiveBy Alice Boyes
Tips from the career advisor: How do I finally manage to say no? A guest post by Carmen Michaelis
Tips from the organization professional: How to get your digital chaos under controlBy Maren Hoffmann
Tidying up tips from the efficiency professional: "Nothing comes out of chaos" By Maren Hoffmann
6. What is the story you tell yourself?
Suleikha imagined dire consequences if she did not do all of her duties.
It started with "people will think I'm rude", went on to "my bosses already have enough to do" to "I will appear completely incompetent and weak".
Together we made a fact-versus-AUZ list (fear, uncertainty, doubt) in order to compare Suleikha's greatest fears with reality.
If you have the impression that you are also keeping a specification sheet that you have written yourself, you should create an AUZ list.
It helps you to reduce your workload.
Suleikha has now left her urge to feel responsible for every little thing behind her.
You may also discover that there are more important things to do - things that increase your success, but also your quality of life.
© HBP 2020
This text is an abbreviated version from the
Harvard Business Manager
.
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