How much is your time worth? Do you realize how big a bargain you are? Merlin Mann, guru of 43 Folders, recently made that point in a post about revaluing time and attention. It costs very little for someone to get your attention, but it costs a lot for you in terms of lost productivity.
I think it’s a smart observation. All too often, managers believe they need to keep an “open door” policy so they are accessible, but that accessibility comes with the downside of unplanned interruptions, sidetracking, and wasted time.
The solution is to actively manage your time and attention. How? Mann has five approaches, or what he calls “patterns”:
- Identify leaks: Find giant holes that have filled with crap. Remove the crap. Then seal the leak.
- Govern access: Stop allowing unfettered access, and decide who gets your attention — and when, and for how long.
- Minimize notifications: Ditch all so-called “alarms.” This includes notifications for e-mail, social networking sites, and the like. As Mann points out, an alarm is really “something that says, ‘Hi. Stop what you’re doing right now. Or you’ll die.’” Not much in the workplace falls into that definition (or, if it does, you’re in one heck of a scary job).
- Work in dashes: Cut your work into bite-sized chunks. If a task is too big to fit into your available time, break it down.
- Renegotiate: Ask yourself what you need to change to get something done, and done well? And learn to say “Yes, but…”
I’ve recently embraced the dash approach to working and I’m learning the art of renegotiation. But I have to admit to being way too reliant on notifications — which are really just little distractions that make me feel important (”Look, someone sent me a note!”).
And I’m terrible about governing access. Part of it is my writer’s tendency toward procrastination; every interruption can also be seen as (hooray!) an excuse not to work on whatever it is I’m supposed to be working on. Part of it, however, is a sense that I need to keep myself instantly available to all my stakeholders: clients, colleagues, family, friends, and others to whom I’m committed.
In this, I think I’d do well to remember that not every e-mail is urgent, not every phone call is an emergency, and not every office drop-in will solve world hunger.
Thanks, Merlin, for the great reality check and advice.
