subject: Master Planning for The Hard Working Man [print this page] As an entrepreneur who is trying to grow and learn, I am constantly being badgered by marketing and sales emails, books, tele-seminars and workshops telling me to take time to set professional goals, and then lay out the steps toward accomplishing them.
But what about you "employee" guys? Yes, I know you work hard enough already, and I know you are successful, or you have good "numbers" or good annual reviews. But what about taking the time to really think about your job, what you do and what you could be doing?
Working "smarter not harder" and moving toward an employment benchmark usually doesn't happen without some strategizing on your part. Make a pact to set aside some pure professional development time for yourself. Start by asking:
* Am I as efficient as I could be or are there tasks I could automate?
* Would I be more efficient if I made the determination to "batch" my work ?
* Do I have to do everything I do, or could I delegate some things?
* Do I attempt to keep a relatively organized and clear desk?
* Should I consider setting boundaries for staff to respect my "work" time
as different from "open door" time to protect my productivity?
* Are there any time wasting meetings I can gracefully stop attending?
And most importantly, think ahead to where you would like to be in a year. Then break that goal down into quarterly goals and then monthly tasks to achieve it. Make sure when you start your work week, that you have blocked out time for development of that week's piece of the master plan. Pretty soon, with the new time that you have carved out of your schedule, and a few weeks of moving toward your new goal, you may see some significant forward motion!
