Pulling your socks up

Pulling Your Socks Up

When my sister was little she had trouble keeping her socks up. For some reason they were always falling down. She wasn’t the only one. Mine used to fall down too.

So when we were out shopping with our parents, I was constantly stopping, pulling up my socks and running to catch up with the rest of the family. But the run to catch up with everyone else would cause my socks to fall down again. It seemed hopeless.

My sister had a better idea. She would run ahead first and then pull up her socks, by which time we had caught up with her and she could simply start walking again at her normal pace.

This image sprung to mind recently when I realised my “to do” list was getting longer and longer and no matter how hard I worked I couldn’t seem to catch up.

The “to do” list comprised two parts – urgent, important tasks (coaching clients, delivering workshops, returning phone calls) and non-urgent important tasks (business development, following up referrals, getting organised).

By trying to do everything at once I was basically pulling up my socks, running to catch up, pulling up my socks again and running to catch up again. I hadn’t thought things through.

So, I took a leaf out of my sister’s book. I decided to run ahead first. This involved putting all business development (non-urgent, important activities) on hold while I concentrated on urgent, important work. At the same time I scheduled a week purely to concentrate on the non-urgent, important work. During that week I would do no coaching and my phone would be off. To any outsider I would be on holiday and their requests would simply have to wait.

If you feel like you just can’t keep up –
Step 1 – Separate your “to do” list in to urgent, important activities and non-urgent, important activities.

Step 2 - Identify when you are going to focus on non-urgent, important tasks. Schedule this time in your diary and ring-fence it so nothing else takes precedence. Set aside more time than you think you need. This could be anything from an hour a week to a whole week or even a whole month.

(This is equivalent to deciding how far ahead you are going to run before stopping to pull up your socks!)

Step 3 – Focus on urgent, important “to do’s”. This may involve putting in extra hours temporarily to really get ahead of yourself.

(This is equivalent to running ahead).

Step 4 – Let everyone know you are not available during your “non-urgent, important” time. Turn off your phone, do not check email or check email only once a day.

Step 5 - Do all your planning, business development and other non-urgent, important tasks during the time scheduled for this. Build in some extra time in case any urgent crises occur which cannot be ignored.

(This is the equivalent to pulling up your socks).

Conclusion
In his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey says that effective people are able to reduce the amount of time they spend on urgent, important tasks by dedicating more time to non-urgent, important tasks like planning, networking and researching new opportunities.

Following these 5 steps, inspired by my sister’s socks, will help you find a balance between urgent tasks and important activities - and it is that ability that distinguishes exceptional performers from average ones.

Alternative approach
If your socks fall down, leave them down!