Let’s just go ahead and preface with this: I fell into entrepreneurship and therefore leadership. And riding a bull is about the equivalent of being a business owner; perhaps you can relate.
There are tremendous ups and downs, spins and ejections. So, keeping that in mind, I wanted to talk about questions that continually come up for me while I am out in the community: “How do you do all the things you do?” “I see you everywhere! Do you sleep?” “Do you have a clone?” “I didn’t expect you to be here yourself!”
Now, these are real questions, some paraphrased, some with profanity removed, but the common thread is … I am busy. And the answer to that top main question is, I plan to plan.
I am a planner. All things in my life are planned. I pick out my outfit the night before. Dinner reservations are two months in advance for vacations. My son’s birthday party date was picked six months in advance, so it is already on people’s calendars when they start making Thanksgiving plans.
Planning is in my nature and here are three tips that keep me sane while managing my calendar:
1. Don’t respond to (all) emails in real-time. Don’t feel like you must respond to all of your emails in real-time. Some, yes. All, no.
There is this pressure of feeling constantly connected, always with a phone in our hand. When you respond right away, you are telling the recipient that you are available at that very moment to correspond.
I recommend delaying the delivery of your emails. This allows you to still be productive when it works for you, but send your response during business hours (say you are working late at night). Example: You receive an email, and you happen to have three minutes in the waiting room at the doctor. You can respond now when you have the time to clear that from your inbox but can set it to delay the send for an hour or so. This way you have responded, but not 30 seconds after receiving the email. This sets an unrealistic expectation for future response times for the recipient.
2. Don’t answer (all) phone calls in real-time. I feel compelled to answer the phone. Sometimes it takes everything I have not to, but it is not always a good time to get caught up on the phone. You can always let it go to voicemail and then follow up later.
The other way to look at this is when I answer the phone, someone wants to dive right into a problem or impromptu consultation, but I might not be able to give them the undivided attention that they need at that time. Example: I am trying to get out the door for an appointment or have a sick kid beside me on the couch. This is when you should reschedule the call.
3. Be selective with “low-hanging fruit.” Make sure when choosing those low-hanging items on your to-do list that they are not taking up time you should be spending on something more pressing, especially those tasks that don’t have to be done for, say, weeks from now. We tend to get distracted by the little things we can easily cross off and get that shot of dopamine, but it may truly not be the best use of our time at the moment.
Remember, the difference between important vs. urgent. Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” Start making these small adjustments to your day to bring some control back to your calendar.
Amy Richardson is the founder of Richardson Professional Solutions, which provides back-office solutions for small businesses, non-profits, and family estates. Their services provide small business owners the flexibility to do the things that matter most – building their businesses and spending time with family.
