Hi ,
Usually by noon on a Monday I would have written an article and already sent it off to you. That's the plan, and I try to stick to the plan. As you likely guessed, today isn't one of those days.
Before you read on, real quick, as of Feb 1 there were some changes with email deliverability and I want to make sure you're getting my emails. Could you please just click this link to confirm you got
this? It just goes to my website, you don't have to do anything once you get there, but my stats will show that my emails are getting through so I know I updated my settings correctly. Thanks!
Recently I've been reflecting
on the skill of recalibrating when things don't go according to plan. I took this skill for granted before, but with some intention it can be a lot smoother. Today I don't have a fully thought out article for you, just some musings on the subject so you can see my thought process when I experience this.
First, I Look at My
Calendar
The first thing to note is my radar is always tuned to what I have to do and how long I have to do it because I am diligent about planning my days and weeks. I've written about my time-management system before, and I really do use this. Every week I plan my upcoming week, and every day I mostly stick to what I planned. This means that every week I get a chance to reassess what I have to do, when.
Most
of the time I have extra buffer time, but when I don't, I can easily see at a glance what I had planned to do and when. If my day is totally off the rails (like today when instead of starting work at 9am I started at noon) I go to my next phase of recalibrating, which is rescheduling and triaging.
Rescheduling
This is where I take everything that is non-essential for the day and move it to another time in the week, or even into the next week. Something is non-essential if the actual deadline is not today (not just the nice-to-have deadline, but the actual deadline), it doesn't involve rescheduling a call, or it doesn't move my business forward in a critical way.
Triaging
Next I see if what's left is actually essential or if I can make it even easier. For example, today I had planned to write an article, then email it to all of you. To save time I decided to nix the article and just write directly to you, since that was the more
important of the two tasks.
Take a Deep Breath
Once I've done all of that, which takes approximately 3 minutes, I get to take a deep breath and get back to my day. Today that also included a walk in sun with a neighbour, and some very
loud music and dancing to get my head cleared and back in the game. Thankfully I have a nice lunch already waiting for me in the fridge. Recalibrating isn't all about the tasks, because getting my body back and working in my favour is the other puzzle piece.
Recalibrating your day quickly is essential. The more time you spend fluffing around confused and in
denial that you can get it all done, the worse it will be. Be the leader you need in those moments, be decisive, and move on.
Some day soon I'll pretty up these musings into an article, but for now you get the gist!
You've got this,
Stephanie Wasylyk
Your Business Guide