Productivity Coaching - Does Your Schedule Hold Water?
I would like to share with you that it does relate to your productivity and it has to do with this: [holds up water] I have got a pitcher of water filled up.
This morning when I went to the sink to wash my hands I needed to use this pitcher of water. We live in a fairly new community and that means that sometimes development work needs to take place and in this case they had to do some work on the water mains. They did a great job of preparing us in advance. There was a big sign outside of our community, big flashing light that said, "This is the date that we are going to be working on the water, you are not going to have any water from 9 am to 9 pm and be prepared."
My wife of course took note of that, is always very prepared and last night we got together lots of pitchers of water like this, filled them up so that we would have plenty for water for today.
Now, what does that have to do with your schedule? Think about the things in your calendar that you know are upcoming, that you know are going to be significant and may take a lot of time to work on. Have you put enough room in your calendar to deal with those things? Not just the actions that need to take place, but the switches that take place and the transition time that needs to take place. Do you have enough water in your pitchers for these kinds of events?
I will give you a personal example. In a few weeks, a very exciting event is going to take place in my entire family's life, which is we are going to have a daughter and this is very exciting. My little boy is excited about it, my wife is excited about it, I am excited about it. But I had to put room in my schedule to be prepared for this. Not that I can predict with a 100% accuracy when she is going to come-because, hey, when the baby wants to come, she is going to come-but I did leave an entire week in my schedule completely open. I am refusing to schedule anything for myself during that time that is most likely to for her to be born. This gives me plenty of buffer space, plenty of water in my pitcher so that I am prepared in advance for that event.
You have events like that that are coming up in a month, in two months, three months, maybe even a year. You can put plenty of water in your pitcher and make sure that you have got lots and lots of space to be prepared for it so that you don't come up on that time and realize that you have packed your schedule so full that there is no room for air.
You can be in control of your time and this is something that I help my clients do every single day. Thank you for listening. It's an honor to serve you.
This morning when I went to the sink to wash my hands I needed to use this pitcher of water. We live in a fairly new community and that means that sometimes development work needs to take place and in this case they had to do some work on the water mains. They did a great job of preparing us in advance. There was a big sign outside of our community, big flashing light that said, "This is the date that we are going to be working on the water, you are not going to have any water from 9 am to 9 pm and be prepared."
My wife of course took note of that, is always very prepared and last night we got together lots of pitchers of water like this, filled them up so that we would have plenty for water for today.
Now, what does that have to do with your schedule? Think about the things in your calendar that you know are upcoming, that you know are going to be significant and may take a lot of time to work on. Have you put enough room in your calendar to deal with those things? Not just the actions that need to take place, but the switches that take place and the transition time that needs to take place. Do you have enough water in your pitchers for these kinds of events?
I will give you a personal example. In a few weeks, a very exciting event is going to take place in my entire family's life, which is we are going to have a daughter and this is very exciting. My little boy is excited about it, my wife is excited about it, I am excited about it. But I had to put room in my schedule to be prepared for this. Not that I can predict with a 100% accuracy when she is going to come-because, hey, when the baby wants to come, she is going to come-but I did leave an entire week in my schedule completely open. I am refusing to schedule anything for myself during that time that is most likely to for her to be born. This gives me plenty of buffer space, plenty of water in my pitcher so that I am prepared in advance for that event.
You have events like that that are coming up in a month, in two months, three months, maybe even a year. You can put plenty of water in your pitcher and make sure that you have got lots and lots of space to be prepared for it so that you don't come up on that time and realize that you have packed your schedule so full that there is no room for air.
You can be in control of your time and this is something that I help my clients do every single day. Thank you for listening. It's an honor to serve you.
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