By Isabelle de Vooght
Online Career Tips, Special Contributor
One of the biggest challenges in my job as an executive assistant supporting an entire department is juggling many different and often last minute requests. Some days I get to work on my planned to-dos, but most days I add items to the list as opposed to crossing them off. So, how do I work to get it all done in a timely manner and without losing my mind? I stick to a plan:
- Every morning I start by analyzing what lies ahead: my notepad with the infamous to-do list, the meetings within the department as well as on my own calendar, and finally I glance at the new emails that arrived since the day before and are more than likely will add items to the list of upcoming tasks.
- Easy tasks (those that don’t require a lot of follow-up and can just be completed) usually follow my morning check-in. These tasks might not be the priority (they usually don’t even make it to the to-do list), but at least they are taken care of before the office gets crowded and the day gets busy.
- For those projects that require more time and effort, I usually make an appointment with myself. Here I create a meeting reminder (in case I am carried away doing something else), and the appointment on my calendar will show me as “busy” in my email management system, slightly decreasing the chance of being interrupted.
But what if the day doesn’t go as planned? I have learned to prioritize and take care of those tasks that are both important and urgent in order to use my time more effectively. Before this became my second nature I relied on the Urgent/Important Matrix developed by Stephen Covey and just divide my to-do list according to the importance (high/low) and urgency (high/low) of the different tasks. This little exercise can be done several times a day on those days where time just seems to disappear.
Writing this article for example was important to me, but not urgent when the initial request came through. However, as weeks went by, this task shifted in my matrix to important and urgent, pushing me to make time for it. In order to do so, I used other helpful tools to minimize distractions such as putting the “do not disturb” status on when using office communicator (people simply can’t IM you when you have it on), shut down my email management system for 30 to 60 minutes at a time; or when people drop by and ask if this is a good timing, just be honest with them and say “no this isn’t a good time”.
And if all of these tips don’t help and you are still overwhelmed and stressed out due to the multiple things you have to do, take several deep breaths (my colleague calls them DCBs – deep cleansing breaths), walk away from your computer to see what the weather looks like outside, and then get back to work.
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