Mastering Work: Moving from Reactive to Proactive for a Productive and Fulfilled Workweek
As a working professional, you are likely bombarded with emails - an average of 121 per day - and send an average of 40 emails per day. This equates to almost two hours of your workday spent on email-related tasks. Additionally, with remote work, you attend an average of 11 to 15 meetings each week, which is equivalent to a third or more of your workweek. It's no surprise that most people feel reactive in their work. The constant stream of meetings, emails, and demands can make you feel like you're barely in control of your workweek.
However, it doesn't have to be that way. There is a game-changing strategy that can help you shift from chaotic reactivity to a more balanced approach with proactive, productive, and fulfilling work.
The Game-Changing Strategy
The strategy that has made a difference for my clients in moving from reactive to proactive is identifying and creating time for their top priorities. Doing this week after week allows them to shift from chaotic reactivity to a more productive and composed approach to work.
While you may not have control over the volume of work that comes your way, there are simple steps you can take to manage it better. And it begins with taking back control. Here are a few simple steps to put this strategy into practice:
Clarify Your Top Three Priorities: Before your workweek begins (this means Monday morning or even the Friday beforehand), take 15 minutes to plan. Answer this question: What are my top three priorities for this week? (Consider both professional and personal goals.)
Schedule Your Top Three Priorities: Block off time on your calendar to do your top priorities. This is crucial. Creating actual time and space on your calendar to make progress on your priorities makes your intention more of a reality.
Name Your "Why" Behind Your Top Three Priorities: Creating a priority list and scheduling the time are two crucial steps. But to bring it home, you must answer one final question: Why are these priorities important? Naming your "why" gets to the heart of what will truly create the space you want and need for this work. Never skip this final step because it helps you remember the purpose of your proactive intentions.
I have seen dozens of clients pursue this strategy successfully when they were never able to make it happen before. They didn't manufacture more time, nor were they able to reduce the demands of their job. What made the actual difference was that they decided it was no longer working to show up to all of their meetings and get through their to-do list. Moving the ball forward and creating real impact was what really mattered to them. They saw how making more time for their priorities could actually help them deliver the mission of their work.
Noticing what gets in the way of this strategy
Deploying this strategy isn't easy. My clients, all high achievers, already have a completely full schedule. So doesn't creating a new list really just mean we're creating more work for ourselves? Not necessarily.
When we set the priorities and then make time to advance that agenda, we start to organize the other obligations on our to-do lists accordingly. By organizing what is most important, we start to look at what else is really possible. We may decide we can't say yes to everything. And then we are willing to say "no" or, at least, "not now" to other demands on our plate.
Where does this strategy fit in for you?
Are you ready to show up this fall with your own agenda? Do you have goals you'd like to achieve? Leadership development that you're ready to prioritize? Personal well-being that you want to make central to your workweek? What is your priority? And how can you adopt this one central strategy to let you move into the driver's seat again