Why You Need to Focus on High-Value Work

One of the things that I always do when I have a list of tasks at work is ask myself if a task is high-value work or low-value work. What I mean by that is determine the amount of benefits that could potentially come about from completing a particular task. After all, I want to make sure that I am making the best use of my time and energy. I want to be optimally productive in producing the results that I am seeking. 

Time and your energy are finite resources and you need to manage them in an optimal fashion. In you every day work life, you might have a set of things that you could be working on and they all need to be completed, but some produce more valuable results than others. The tasks that have a better return on investment of your time and energy are the ones that you want to concentrate on more than the other tasks.

What constitutes high-value work? 

High-value work will have a far greater impact when completed than low-value work. Some of the questions you can ask yourself in helping you determine which work you should focus on more include the following:

• Is the work going to affect just one person, a large group of people, an entire organization, or significant number of customers? 
• What is the cost savings of your work? Is it a negligible amount or a substantial amount?
• Do you have the necessary resources to complete the work or will you run into too many road blocks that could waste too much of your time and energy?
• How much of a priority is this work compared to your other tasks?

Managing low-value work

I am not saying that low-value work is not important and not worth your time. I simply look at them as low priority tasks that will need to be completed, but they yield very little benefits. Essentially, you need to manage your time and energy levels in a way where you maximize focus on high-value work. Then you can focus on the low-value work during down times in your work day where you don't need to spend as much energy to complete them. 

It is the high-value work that is going to showcase your skills and show others what you are capable of doing. In addition, it is work that will be more challenging and exciting for you to complete. I recommend taking the time to look at all of your work tasks and figure out which ones are going to bring the most success when completed.

Why I Am Writing Again

It has been several months since I last wrote a blog post. I actually missed writing and I am a little sad for not being able to keep up with it.

What happened?

The truth is that there have been both professional and personal changes in my life in the past few months that have disrupted my writing habit. However, I still could have kept up with it instead of letting it come to a halt. I have no excuse. I simply did not keep up with it, but that is alright. Starting and keeping up with a habit is not an easy thing to do. The majority of us fail many times, but that's part of the process in starting and sticking to a habit. All I can do is simply start writing again. I can be more disciplined about it than before and do my best again in sticking with this writing habit. If there's a pause, then that is alright. Things come up in life that can take us away from our daily habits. On the other hand, I hope to not repeat the scenario where I don't write for many months.

Why I like to write?

One of the things that I most missed about writing is that it is a meditative process. It's a great way to get thoughts and ideas out of my head into text. This frees up my mental engine from spending energy on thinking about those things. It feels good to transfer those thoughts into text allowing me to think of other new things.

The other thing I like about writing is being able to share my experiences and tips with others. What I write may or may not help others, but if it does help then that's great.

What I will I do different this time?

I am thinking that to get back into a writing habit that I will try the Pomodoro Technique to help me dedicate 25 minutes each day to just writing. If you haven't heard of the Pomodoro Technique, it is a time management strategy where you dedicate a small set of time to focus on one task without any distractions. Then take a break and repeat the same task or another task for the same amount of time. Then take a break again and this process continues however long you want. 

I am also going to say to myself that I do not always have to write for my blog. I can just write about anything and whether or not I publish the writing is not important. The importance in all this is going through the act of writing and developing a writing habit. 

What have I learned?

I learned that things in life can easily impact your schedule and derail things that you are accustomed to doing. I also learned that is perfectly fine, because we never know what can happen in life. The important thing is being able to adapt to changes in life. Sometimes it is very easy to adapt and sometimes it is difficult. We can try our best and learn from our mistakes.

How Writing A List In The Morning Can Help

I have found the practice of writing a list of things to do for the day in the morning to be helpful in managing my day. We all have busy days and we never have enough time to get everything done. It is easy to stress ourselves out trying to keep track of everything that needs to happen each day. Instead, we can attempt to free our minds of the job of trying to remember all of our tasks for the day. This will enable you to focus more on the important things that requires more mental processing power. Try this simple action; write a list of everything that you hope to accomplish for that day.

It doesn’t matter whether you use a pen and paper or a to-do list app. The important thing is that you are moving this list out of your mind. Now this is what I would suggest:

1. Write down everything that you hope to accomplish for the day. You can make the list for just work, home life, or both.
2. Then you need to prioritize this list. I have heard how some people like to focus on the hardest tasks first and then the easier ones later. Their reasoning is that while your mind is fresh for the day you can easily take on the hardest tasks. On the other hand, some people like to work on the easiest tasks first as a way to warm up their mind. Plus, it feels good to see some tasks already checked off on your list. I recommend doing what works for you; try one approach one day and the other another day. You might also have your own way of working on tasks throughout the day where certain times you feel more energized to take on the harder tasks.
3. I also recommend asking yourself for each task, “Is it a high value one where it has a significant impact on you, your business, and your customers?” If it doesn't do that, then it is a low value one where it can sometimes be the mundane, repetitive tasks that need to get done, but it is not a high priority.
4. Remember to take breaks throughout the day. Your list is a way to visually see what has been done and what remains to be completed. It is not a sprint to try to get as many things checked off on your list, but rather a means to help pace yourself through the day.

I recommend spending a few minutes or fifteen minutes in putting together a list in the morning. I know some people even try to plan more in advance by putting together a list the previous night. I found that having this list can be a great visual, road map for all the things you hope to accomplish for the day. It helps prioritize your day and makes you more efficient.

Why I Start My Day Off With Exercise

I think a lot about time management, because we are all limited to the 24-hour day and sometimes there's just not enough time to get everything done. I am always looking to be as productive as possible and, at the same time, managing my energy levels in a manner that allows me to stay consistently productive throughout the day. The reality is that as the day progresses, I get tired. It is unrealistic to try to go full steam ahead with your work without any attention to your energy levels. I remember years ago when I would attempt that and fuel that drive with unhealthy amounts of caffeinated beverages that were loaded with sugar. I learned after sometime that I was not being any more productive with all that unhealthy fuel. It was not clean fuel for my body and my mind. I eventually learned that I needed to listen to my body and power it with healthy alternatives to fuel it throughout the day.

One of the things that I learned to develop was a morning routine that helped me start the day off right. I am a morning person and I enjoy getting up early. We are all different and we are each optimized to work best at different parts of the day. About two years ago, I decided to make it a point to get back into exercising on regular basis. I have not done a good job at it for almost a decade and I finally forced myself to just start it. My goal was to develop a routine where I could stick with it. I wasn't looking to run a marathon or achieve anything huge, but just simply stick with some kind of an exercise plan. What I did two years ago was that I looked at what exercise classes were offered at my local YMCA. I noticed that there was a boot camp class at 6:00 AM every Monday. I was wondering to myself if I could even wake up that early and do strenuous cardio exercises. I decided to give it a try and set the alarm to wake up at 5:30 AM.

I still remember that morning to this day. I remember waking up and saying to myself do I really want to do this. It was awful early for me and the sun was barely rising. Then I told myself to just try this and the focus right now was to just make it through one class. I forced myself out of the house and drove over to the place.

The workout was tough considering I haven't done anything similar to it in a long time. However, I became determined to stick with it to the end. I was sore for the rest of the day, but it felt good to have my body go through that grind. My mind felt great and I felt I could mentally process things better than ever. I felt great for the rest of the day at work. It was easier to manage my work and get them done.

Fast forward to today and I have added more classes to attend throughout the week as well as joined the basketball league at the YMCA. I found that I am the most optimal when I start the day off with some kind of exercise. The exercise serves as the springboard for me to be energized for the rest of the day.

I recommend finding something that helps you get ready in the morning before your work. Exercise worked for me, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you personally require exercise in the morning. I recommend it, but you have to pay attention to your body and recognize what things help you get ready for the day. Maybe that is meditating, reading a book, writing, or something else. Whatever gets you ready for the day, make that your daily routine.

How Paper And Pencil Can Still Work For Managing Your Tasks

There is an abundance of to-do and task management apps that help you to be productive. I personally use Any.DO for my to-do list and Trello for my task/project management work. I can conveniently access them through apps on my iPhone or through a web browser on my laptop. Their simplistic design makes them extremely easy to use. These types of apps are popular, because people are looking to make better use of their time and want to get things done. All of our lives are busy and it doesn't take much for things to spiral out of control without proper self-management.

I am for the most part religious in using Trello for my work, but I can't say the same for Any.DO. There are days where I just don't want to manage my daily tasks with a digital tool. I know it is due to constantly looking at the laptop screen and my cell phone that I just want a break from looking at all the screens. I just need that short digital break from looking at one less thing on a screen. There are also times where I just want to detach myself from everything that is going on at the moment. 

Now, I still want to keep track of the things that I have to do for the day. 

What do I then use? 

I use a pen or pencil and a sheet of paper.

I make a list of all the tasks that I would like to complete for the day. Then next to each task I draw a short line where I can put a check mark when the task is completed. This simple list still provides me with a way to visually see all my tasks and prioritize them. It is simple to setup and use. 

Sometimes it is best to take a simplistic approach in managing all the chaos in your day.