Prioritizing and Time Management are KEY! In fact… it’s the ONLY way you can get ahead of the pack. It’s literally the make or break.
Anyone who works with me knows I am driven by metrics, time, productivity, and accuracy. Literally, my day is mapped out in increments of time from most important to least important.
I have a full time job, a family, a social life (sort-of…. it’s more like my husband’s personal cheerleader and back-up dancer) – I give a great deal of my time to others i.e. strategizing operations, consulting, etc. I’m a personal bookkeeper and personal assistant to a few of my dear friends LOL….
But the ONE thing I know for sure…. rain or shine… no matter what I have going on in my personal life or with my side hustle……
I BETTER DELIVER IN MY POSITION THAT FEEDS ME! No matter how exciting of a project I have, no matter the next million $ idea I come up with…. THE MINUTE I STOP PRODUCING WILL BE THE MOMENT I FAIL.
I learned a LONG time ago that I am only valuable as long as I am producing….. End of Story – It doesn’t matter how great I think I am, whether I think I’m needed, whether I think someone will be understanding if my productivity decreases for this reason or that reason…. Business cannot sustain with bouts of poor performance no matter what the reason. And if you’re an employee of a business, know that your employment will not continue with bouts of poor performance.
So now let’s talk about perception… Everyone is going to have an opinion of you…. whether it’s accurate or not… fair or not. When I first started at the City of LV, I was a Court Clerk coming into a department with many tenured women at least 10 years my senior. I quickly learned what was valued and managed to become employee of the month each and every month because it was ‘graded’ on how many customers were accurately served within a shift. I discovered how to be quite efficient with the processes and month after month, my stats ranked me at the top. Because I produced well over the expected amount, often times I would ‘log out’ and go to the bathroom, make a personal call in the break room, or reconcile my checkbook on company time. My manager… who was NOT a fan, would attempt to write me up and I would kindly… well actually not very kindly (I was pretty cocky back then) say, “Please refer to the q matic report which clearly shows I out perform anyone on the floor.” Oh she hated me! But I learned a valuable lesson. When you make yourself invaluable and outperform your counterparts…. your job is pretty darn secure – And whatever the perception is…. you have legitimate proof that you are meeting the organization’s expectations that were set forth.
I’ve also experienced the opposite – It IS hard to juggle multiple things at once and sometimes people overextend themselves. I’ve worked with many people whose intentions are honorable but because of poor planning or poor prioritization, things fall through the cracks and their performance suffers. And when they’re called on the carpet, it turns into a dramatic and emotional scandal as if they’ve been unfairly targeted. And the sad part is….they didn’t cover their ass to prove their productivity or job performance…. so in the midst of the ‘attack’ they flail without a leg to stand on….
Ladies and Gentleman… this is Strategy 101
- Prioritize
- Manage Your Time Accordingly
- Produce and Make Sure It’s Documented
- Outwork/Outperform Your Counterparts…. Especially if the ‘perception’ is that you have a side hustle that is taking priority, or take too many personal calls, or take too many days off, or whatever is potentially taking your focus off of your main responsibilities.
