Noise and Working More Effectively

There are too many distractions that divert our energies from what is really important to us. We have limited time, and we all have too much to do and too much that we want to do. Yet, we move from one distraction to another without any thought.

I refer to all background distractions as “Noise.” The distractions take many forms. Interruptions by others, a text, an email, a phone call or even a “breaking news” alert on our smartphones. Many of the diversions take only a minute or two. Some more, but what they all have in common is to take our focus or attention from what we really need to do or get done.

I’ve gotten to the stage where I classify what I need to do into five categories. Important and urgent, important and not urgent, big picture goal items, relaxation stuff, and not important or necessary. These categories have undergone many iterations and probably will be changed at some point, but this is what they are for now.

This always takes center stage and gets worked on. Occasionally this category gets too filled up, and I need to prioritize the Important and Urgent. I do this by deciding what the “Most Important Thing” (“MIT”) is and then only work on that until it is completed. “Most” can only refer to one thing, so spend a little effort deciding what that is. You can also only do one thing at a time, so work on the MIT. Whatever else was set aside can then be done after this, but at least you will have gotten the MIT done. If you are overwhelmed and have trouble deciding, then perhaps you will need to work on how you make your commitments and whether you are taking on too much work, or even if some of the backlog is not “Important.” One way to clear up your list is to scratch what might not be important. If not important, why do it? Or reassign it to someone that it might be important to. Another way is to make calls changing the due date.

Some things that might not be on your list but might always be Important and Urgent and take precedence are hugging your honey or a call from your grandkids.

This is work that is important but for which there are no current deadlines or deadlines way in the future. Because of the lack of urgency, they tend to get pushed aside. What I try to do is schedule regular time to work on these projects. I usually start by planning what needs to be done and how long it might take and then draw up a project listing or outline of what I would be doing. Some of this gets done before I quote the project, so I have some sort of a running start when I get it. I always get started with working on it, which helps me frame a reference of the time commitment I need for it. This also helps me start thinking about the resources I would need, how the result would look, and the value I would add.

A problem many people have is that they tend to ignore important but not urgent projects until they become urgent. This sets in motion perpetual stress and always running to catch up. Not too smart.

By its nature, long-term goals are never urgent. These are plans for a long time from now. But they need to be placed in motion. What I do is select a part that I could work on and then try to spend some time almost every day on it. It could be a few minutes or even an hour, but I try to do something every day. This keeps these goals at the forefront of my consciousness. Ignoring these relegates the time you spent developing those goals to the trash bin or shredder.

Some time needs to be spent relaxing. How you do it is your concern, but some relaxation is necessary. Some forms I do are focused on daydreaming, fantasizing, walking around the office (but this often interrupts others), thinking about organizing my stamp collection, closet or to-do lists, or reading articles, or some pages from one of the many current books I started, or watching a short video or listening to a podcast, going to a movie, watching a game or television show, golfing, serving on a charity board or committee or anything else I find of interest that takes my mind off of the pressures and responsibilities of what I do as a CPA and advisor. Sometimes it is even making up a new checklist. Do whatever works for you as I do what works for me.

Why spend any part of your life on something that is not important or necessary, doesn’t relax you or benefit you in some way? Just don’t do it. The easiest way out of this is just to say no when asked to do it.

We all receive some calls, emails, texts or postal mail that require timely attention. I set aside some early morning, late morning and late afternoon time to read and respond to these types of work or requests. The way these periods are makes my response time pretty quick. If it is something I cannot get to right away, I provide a date and time when it will get done or assign it to someone, as I discussed in a previous post.

Trying to allocate my time to balance out what I need to do is always a challenge, but “trying” makes success more attainable than not trying at all.

Writing this so far has been relaxing, and while I could easily add much more, I think you can get the point, and there is enough here to get you thinking or maybe trying. Good luck!