Here’s a picture of the gas company digging up my yard looking for the second leak. (They found the first one right away!) I won’t bore you with the details (really, who wants to hear about someone else’s crappy home ownership challenges?!) I’ll just give you the facts . . .
- Everyone is fine
- The leaks were both found
- The process took 2 days
So, what does this have to do with time management?
Let me set the stage . . . I work from home. The gas company was here for two days. Did I mention I work from home?
One of the calendar strategies I teach my clients is to only fill 50% of each day with scheduled activities. This way, they can react to emerging priorities – such as changed deadlines, appointments that run over, new opportunities, and gas leaks. (Ok – I don’t usually use gas leaks as an example, but I will now!)
Since the technicians needed access to the house, I couldn’t pack up my laptop and work at my local Panera. (My favorite place to work when there are distractions at home.) But, I also couldn’t hold my coaching appointments, since it certainly wasn’t quiet – and I was needed to answer questions periodically. This meant I needed to reschedule appointments. Since I only schedule 50% of each day – I was easily able to reschedule each appointment – most within a 24 – 48 hour time frame.
Imagine how this scenario could have played out if each day was filled with 80 – 90% scheduled appointments! It could take weeks before I could get “caught up”.
It’s important to realize – that I didn’t just consider the 2 days I spent with the wonderful professionals (they truly are both wonderful and professional) at the gas company a wash – I still accomplished items on my task list. They were just items I had planned to do later in the week. Think of it as a swap. I switched “non client” activities with “client” activities for two days.
How full do you schedule your calendar? What’s your favorite technique if your day gets a little off track?
We had a gas leak in our townhouse a year after we moved in. We kept smelling gas and finally tracked it down to the pipe going into this house, by the gas meter – it literally had old duck tape over it. We called the gas company to tell them, and by law (in our area anyway) they have to alert 911 which sent an ambulance and two fire trucks. The gas company luckily came quickly and just replaced a small pipe and was pissed that someone had tried to cover a leak with ducktape. They checked a few other townhouses and sure enough, they had ducktape too! Luckily our incident was only about an hour!
Diane –
thank goodness no duct tape!! :) And, thank goodness no 911!! It was crazy enough out here with all the digging – I can only imagine fire trucks also! thanks for stopping by!
Lisa
Now that’s quite an interesting comparison!! And it looks perfect! I am not a busy bee but I work and i understand the importance of scheduling. You always need to have a back up of your time. Good one!!
Sweety –
Thanks for stopping by! So much (work, fun, family, life!) can be accomplished with a well thought out schedule!
Lisa
This is great..leaving gaps is very useful. I have learnt through experience not to overfill my days…now I have a loose plan and generally only have two large tasks..depends what I am doing, on deadlines and energy levels. But you are right. Scheduling and time management in our busy lives is vital, but we also have to leave room for the unexpected and the chance to be spontaneous. I think that’s what can turn a humdrum day into an exceptional one.
Sharon –
Love your comment! Focusing on two main tasks I’ve found to be very beneficial . . . but to take it a step further and to match those tasks with energy (and attention) level has really increased my productivity!
Lisa