WOW Word-Of-the-Week #495: Tactics
January 30, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on WOW Word-Of-the-Week #495: Tactics
Tactics – things you need to plan to attain a particular goal.
How did you do last week with regard to accomplishing a task or project? Have you made a list of goals that you would like to accomplish? How much time have you spent planning on how you could achieve that goal?
This week’s WOW includes the other two strategies from Kevin Stacey’s article titled, “Creating a Sense of Accomplishment.”
He writes, “By implementing a few simple time management strategies, you can create a sense of accomplishment every day, no matter how often you are interrupted or side-tracked by other people:
- Commit to spending a defined amount of focused time on the item you selected. If it’s realistic to complete the entire task that day, firmly resolve to work on it for the entire
day until it is finished. If it’s a long-term project that you can’t realistically complete in a day’s time, give it a minimum of one hour. Spending an hour on offense is an hour more than nothing! No matter how much time you allocate, make sure you fulfill the commitment. Use a stopwatch to time yourself and turn it off every time you get interrupted. You will quickly see how fast your offensive work becomes defensive reacting.
- If you can, leave your workstation and “hide” in an empty cubicle or conference room. If you’re uncomfortable saying no to others and cutting off interruptions at the start, try working in a place where you can’t be interrupted during your offensive time. If that’s not possible, turn off the phone, close the door, shut down your email or put on headphones to give yourself some uninterrupted work time. When you have to push others away in order to get your work done, remind yourself that this will help you relax tonight and feel like your day was a success.
Almost everyone can go on the offensive for at least some part of the day. Some of us may have to arrive earlier or stay later when there is no one else around. Others may have to take more drastic measures like making themselves scarce in an alternative location, or directly telling co-workers, “I’m trying something different, and I’m not going to be available from 10-11 am. Thanks in advance for your support.”
Many people will feel some initial discomfort when they stop acting defensively and start proactively managing their time. But remember, it’s only when the pain of the old way supersedes the discomfort of the new way that change happens. However, if nothing changes nothing changes. So, what are you going to change?”
This week’s focus is on creating tactics. What would you like to achieve or have a desire to accomplish? What are the steps you need to take to make that happen? Is something stopping you or making you feel uncomfortable about it? Who can help you with your tactics?