Catch-Up Time!
Project Managers – do you have plans for the weekend. Wait! Are you planning to work Sunday morning to “catch up?” Again? Work instructions on the project you just wrapped up? Wordsmithing the capital request docs on the next project? (CER, AFE, etc.) Making a project schedule in Excel or MS Project? Doing that Operational Excellence Gap assessment that you can’t get to during the week?
Stop it! I’ve done my share of weekend catch-up work. I could get more done in 4 hours on a Sunday morning than a 12-hour weekday – no meetings, no phone calls, nobody popping in the office.
But just stop!
Book 1 of my future How Not-To-Do XXX series will be dedicated to NOT feeling like YOU have to do everything yourself. Some things can be delegated or hired out.
Friday, when you’re reviewing your list of SIPTFTW (Stuff I Planned to Finish This Week), ask yourself, “Which of these can I get somebody else to do?”
Ignore that little voice in the back of your head.
- “It’ll take me longer to explain it to them than it will to just do it myself.” – No. It won’t. Or maybe it will, but only the 1st time.
- “They won’t do it as well as I can.” Four possibilities here.
- You’re right.
- They do it just as well.
- They do it better.
- Any of the above, but, if you farm it out to the right person, you get final say. “Fix this. Tweak that.” Still much less time than you would have spent on it. And it’s done and off that list.
Delegate what you can, so you can focus on what’s important! You know – those large items on your 2023 Goals & Objectives that you’ll be discussing with your boss in a few months.
In a perfect world, you’ll DM or email me at Bridge. I spend my weekdays helping manufacturing folks and contractors finish things that they can never quite make time to fully focus on.
But either way, get some help! Delegate!
There’s this ‘brunch’ thing I’ve tried lately on Sunday mornings. Much better than I expected. You should try it.