{"id":11283,"date":"2013-01-01T03:45:18","date_gmt":"2013-01-01T10:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=11283"},"modified":"2013-01-01T03:45:52","modified_gmt":"2013-01-01T10:45:52","slug":"too-much-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=11283","title":{"rendered":"Too Much Work!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"multitask\"(This article is part of a series originally published in Japan by ALC Press English Journal, and is written in “Global English”.\u00a0CLICK HERE<\/a>\u00a0to see the accompanying video, spoken in “Global English”.)<\/address>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0\u201cI have twice as much work as I have hours in the day. No matter how hard I work I\u2019m always behind. Help!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

ANSWER: I know how you feel! There will always more work than time, so being \u201cbehind\u201d is kind of normal. These five practices will help you reduce your stress and optimize how you use your time.<\/p>\n

Write Down Your Goals. Even though you\u2019re busy, that doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re effective. Running in a circle uses energy, but doesn\u2019t get you anywhere. Make sure your destination is clear. Less than 5% of people write down their goals. Some avoid this due to fear of failing to achieve their goals. Many are addicted to the adrenaline rush of being busy. Lack of clear goals is the most common cause of failure to achieve goals! Post yours conspicuously, and don\u2019t waste time on tasks that doesn\u2019t support achieving them.<\/p>\n

Prioritize Ruthlessly. Most busy people are doing too much. When I ask people to prioritize their tasks they nearly always say \u201cEverything is #1!\u201d Some even protest \u201cYou\u2019re asking me to choose between my heart, lungs and kidneys!\u201d Of course it\u2019s difficult, but if forced to choose most people would agree that their heart comes first. Write each task on a separate PostnoteTM, then force yourself to arrange them in priority order according to which are most important to your goals. Then work on the tasks at the top of your list. Review priorities with your colleagues to be sure you\u2019re working on what\u2019s most important to your team.<\/p>\n

Prototype, Don\u2019t Perfect. Although I\u2019m a great admirer of perfection when it matters, sometimes it can be a giant waste of time. If you\u2019re performing surgery or maintaining an aircraft engine, only perfection will do. But sometimes \u201cgood enough\u201d is good enough! Prototype and make improvements later if required. One motivation for perfection is the fear of making a mistake. But ignoring other, more important, tasks is a bigger mistake. Try stopping when you\u2019ve done enough. Even an Olympic gold medalist doesn\u2019t run another lap after crossing the finish line!<\/p>\n

Set Limits. While it\u2019s often impossible to finish your work, you can abandon it, at least temporarily. Weary, sleep-deprived people aren\u2019t efficient or effective. Work is a marathon, not a sprint. Sometimes the best way to make progress is to go home and get some sleep!<\/p>\n

Get Help. Business is a team sport. There\u2019s only so much one human being can do. In baseball a team with only one person would surely lose. Don\u2019t try to do a whole team\u2019s work all by yourself. Asking for help is a sign of maturity, not weakness.<\/p>\n

Experiment with these practices for just one week. If you\u2019re like most people you\u2019ll find you\u2019ve achieved almost twice as much as normal, and you\u2019ll feel better, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(This article is part of a series originally published in Japan by ALC Press English Journal, and is written in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,854,847],"tags":[1183,1182,897,1184],"class_list":["post-11283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-goals","category-priorities-2","category-time-management","category-pmbok-process-planning","category-self-leadership","tag-get-help","tag-prioritize-ruthlessly","tag-prototype","tag-too-busy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11283"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11350,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11283\/revisions\/11350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}