Is your weekly schedule more like the ‘before’ or the ‘after’ picture below?
Do you open your entire diary to the world and wait to see what will land in there, to know what to work on? Do you have random tasks and appointments sprinkled across your week, with no particular theme or structure?
Or are you intentional about the amount of time you open to admin or business as usual (BAU) tasks, to make sure you have enough time for creative work, tough decision-making or proactive work, that either propels your career or makes your work life easier?
Some suggestions on how to streamline your week are in the ‘after’ picture above.
Of course, you can move these times around, carve out more time for new work and leave very little for the BAU stuff, depending on your role. I've tried to demonstrate a relatively balanced schedule over a 5-day work week, but you can build additional buffers and white space, if needed.
And note that I haven’t shown meetings as a separate thing. This is because your approach to scheduling meetings should depend on the type of work that’s involved.
A workshop where you need to brainstorm a solution is different from an update meeting where you just sit and listen to some news (and wonder why it wasn't an email). But, if you prefer, you can block out mornings for desk/independent work and then open up your afternoons for meetings/collaborative work.
The general idea is to take control of your schedule before it (or someone else) controls you.
Consider creating a few themes for your week to know what kind of work to do when, such as:
1. Daily start up / shut down time
This is time set aside for getting set up for the day, such as checking and responding to urgent requests, having a quick check in with your boss or assistant, following up on something you've been waiting on, reviewing and updating your diary, or tidying your desk.
Essentially, it’s time for doing whatever you need to clear the decks, so that you can have a good day (or evening) without worrying about or getting distracted by random bits and pieces. You can also use this time as ‘office hours’ or when you are open to people popping in to ask random questions.
2. Focused/new work versus admin/BAU work
These categories are pretty self-explanatory, but the model above suggests that you use your mornings for things that require concentration and focus, and to leave the easier stuff for the afternoon.
Or you may be the type of person that likes to clear admin in the morning and have the rest of the day to work on something creative. Do what works best for your brain.
3. Important & non-urgent work
Before you dive into tackling your regular work on Monday, or before you shut down for the week, make some time for the things you never seem to get around to, but know you really should.
Use the bookends of your week to action something from your own performance plan or for team building.
Not happy that I’ve only suggested two hours per week? By all means, carve out more time if you can afford it. But if you currently spend zero hours on proactive work, start small to make sure you stick to it - otherwise, the BAU tasks will take over. Ask me how I know.
4. Lunch breaks
This category is for those who need to be reminded to take a break.
Your lunch break is an opportunity to relax and recharge by, for example, watching home organisation videos on your phone. (Or is that just me?)
I hope this is helpful.