译文
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守护你的日历
你的可用时间能成为你的生产力的致命杀手. 在大公司里, 我的客户经常使用共享日历的方式来让其他人能够看到什么时候他有"空闲时间"来约定开会. 在那里, 人们发现他们一整天的时间都被会议占满, 不到下午五点都没空处理自己的工作, 这种情况并不新鲜. 在小公司里, 或者是那些自己做老板的人, 有种共识是他们必须有空来处理和响应任何的事和所有的事. 结果呢, 他们针对某天, 某周, 或者某个月的安排都可以被其他人劫持, 劫持的目的却是满足劫持者自己的需求或者因为劫持者本身缺乏灵活性和良好的时间安排.
你的日历可以成为你的最佳生产力工具, 但是你必须保护它.
1. 为了你的目标, 项目或者任务在字面上预约时间 - 实实在在的分钟或小时
很多人在一份列表上工作, 而该列表却越变越长, 因为他们从来不预约需要用来做事情的时间. 相反, 他们发现他们的工作日被其他人的安排给吃掉了. 当你设置你的工作计划时, 你需要实实在在地去占掉一些时间来处理你自己的工作.
2. 现实地面对你的时间.
有些人天真地认为他一天的工作量差不多等于18个小时的工作量. 但当我的客户们在实践中使用他们的日历时, 他们就能比较实际地估量他们一天能完成的工作量. 所有呢, 他们也就意识到了自己的能力, 意识到了他们能够承受的工作量. 从而呢, 他们也就可以做到实实在在的去代理任务给别人, 拒绝某些东西, 抛弃某些东西, 从而使得他们有能力接受新的任务.
3. 说不.
升了官的人经常认为他们能到那个位置是因为他们对别人说"Yes". 但是到了某个阶段, 说yes就不灵了. 为了保卫你的日历, 保卫你的生产力, 更为了保护你现在的价值, 你需要"NO"这个词. 如果某人在你的日历的空隙里约了个会议 , 而你却需要这段时间来做别的事情, 你就得拒绝这个会议. 如果通过给你打电话的方式跳出来, 简单地说"不, 今天我不能参加这个会议" 或者 "不, 我现在没时间" 是不会有什么问题的. 保护你的安排和时间, 如果你不这么做, 没有其他人会帮你做的.
4. 在你的团队中经营你的保护策略.
如果你有一个帮你安排时间的助理, 请确保他或她不会过分的占用你的时间. 跟你的团队聊聊如何去使用他们的日历来安排他们的工作时间, 而不仅仅是开会的时间. 你也许会需要设立一个团队的规矩来放低开会的优先级, 或者每两个会议之间至少留有一个小时. 只有你知道什么对你和你的团队是合理的. 我们要说这里重要的一点是: 合理的边界很重要. 如果人们(比你高或比你低)认为他们可以任何时间都获得你的注意力, 那么他们会毫不犹豫地这样去做. 如果他们理解你为了你的生产力而建立边界, 他们会理解, 尊重, 并配合你, 特别是当他们开始见到了点效果的时候.
高效管理者必须在他们的日历中预约时间的三件事, 保卫这三件事.
1. 你和你团队成员一对一的面谈的时间.
2. 创新地思考和为了重要决定指定策略的时间.
3. 锻炼身体, 午饭, 和通常的休息时间. 你需要这些时间来保护正确饮食的习惯和保护你的充沛精力.
注意: 快速的浏览一遍你这周的日历, 并问你自己这个问题: 这是在为谁的安排服务? 如果你的日历不为你服务, 你需要重新管理它, 如果你需要帮助, 给本文的作者打个电话吧.
原文
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Defend your Calendar
Availability can be death to productivity. In big companies, my clients often use shared calendars that give other people access to see where they have "free time" to schedule meetings. It's not uncommon for people to find themselves booked in meetings all day and unable to get to their own work until 5:00 PM. In smaller operations, or for self-employed people, there's often a sense that they have to be available to respond to anything and everything. As a result, their agenda for the day, week or month can get hijacked by other people's demands or by their own flexibility and lack of structure.
Your calendar can be one of your best productivity tools, but you have to defend it.
1. Literally block off time - real minutes or hours - for goals, projects and tasks. Lots of people work from lists that just get longer and longer because they never block off the time it takes to DO things. Instead, they find their days get eaten up with other people's agendas. When you set your work plan, literally block off the time in your calendar to do the work.
2. Be realistic about your time. What some people think is a day's work is more like 18 hours of work. When my clients get real about using their calendars, they also get real about what they can accomplish in a day. As a result they know their capacity. They know what they can take on. And they get real about having to delegate, defer or dump something in order to take on something new.
3. Say no. People who have moved up the ladder often feel like they got there by saying yes to people. But at a certain point, that doesn't scale. Defending your calendar, your productivity and ultimately your value now requires the word NO. If someone books a meeting into a slot in your calendar when you need to do something else, decline the meeting. If someone pops by or calls you, it's OK to say "No, I can't fit in a meeting today," or "No, I don't have a minute right now." Defend your agenda and your time. If you don't, no one else will.
4. Engage your team in your defense strategy. If you have an assistant scheduling appointments for you, make sure he or she knows not to over book you. Talk to your team about using their calendars to schedule work time, not just meeting times - you might need to set team rules about not scheduling meetings first thing, or always leaving an hour between meetings. You know what's reasonable for you and your team, the point is, boundaries are important. If people (below and above you) think they can have your attention any time they want, they'll take it. If they understand that you are setting boundaries to improve performance, they'll respect that and get on board - especially when they start seeing the results.
3 things high performing managers must block time for in their calendars - and defend!
1. One on One's with your team
2. White space to think creatively and strategize for big decisions
3. Exercise, lunch and regular renewal breaks – you need to protect the habit of eating properly and managing your energy.
ACTION: Take a quick look at your calendar for the week and ask yourself this: "who's agenda is it serving?" If your calendar isn't serving you, you need to manage it. If you need help, give me a call.
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