Asian Efficiency is a blog we consistently return to. This recent post about tackling so-called ‘boring’ tasks has some useful tips on learning to form productive habits, as well as long- and short-term solutions to overcoming lethargy.
Of course, one solution is hiring someone to take on those ‘boring’ or time-sucking tasks so that you can focus on what is needed most for your company. This gets you spending less time on the things that can be delegated!
Enjoy this article which we agree with so very much. “Your ability to distinguish urgent and important tasks has a lot to do with your success.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”
“It takes too long to explain what I want done!” Have you ever had that thought?
“I know I should delegate this, but it will take me longer to explain how to do it then it will take for me to simply do it myself!” You are correct. You are absolutely right. So why bother? The only reason to bother and invest the time it will take to delegate something really well to somebody is for the investment in your future.
If you invest the time upfront (and to be clear, it’s an investment of your time, and that is an important resource) you will begin to give yourself a new kind of future. A future where the next time you delegate this task, you’ll have less to explain. And a little less the next time. Then finally, you don’t have to explain it at all. You can simply say, “Please do this.” And you are now no longer the person having to do that task or project. You have freed yourself because of the investment you began to make last month or last year.
The sooner you start investing, the sooner you will free yourself of that task or project that is not the best use of your time or your mind, so you can do the work that contributes to your company, your home, or your organization.
Like the author of this article, our team has been working remotely since the start of our company, almost five years ago. Working from home is a benefit and advantage for our contractors. Our team of virtual Executive Assistants stay connected via bi-weekly strategy meetings and regular check-ins.
How have you adjusted to the world of working from home? Do you see this continuing for yourself and/or your teams?
This article offers up some practical tips on how to stay focused, work through any distractions or loneliness, and be less stressed and more productive.
What does it take to manage people remotely? As the founder and CEO of Athena, that’s all I’ve ever done. We didn’t “transition” our business to a “work from home” business. That’s been the primary benefit for our staff right from the beginning. With the pandemic came many articles about managing remote workers. I particularly like this one from the Society of HR Management.
Item #7 in this article talks about being connected with your people and that is more important now than ever. Frankly, it was always important, but we could skate by without putting much effort into it in the past. Knowing and empathizing with whatever your remote workers are dealing with is critical in these times. As someone who has always had staff who work from home, I have always been interested in what’s going on at home. Why? Because that’s the environment in which they are working (for me and our clients). It gives me a sense of how hard or easy it is for them right now to be working from home.
Staying connected to your people is an ongoing job. You can’t assume that how they were last week is how they are this week. People and their circumstances are always changing. As a leader it serves you to always be interested in what your people are dealing with in life and with their work. If you have more attention on listening than speaking, you’ll be amazed what you will learn.
Read the full article at SHRM.ORG
