Where do you focus your energy when you have no time!?
Last week, I reached out via Instagram to find out what you want me to write about in this newsletter.
I was asked where busy comms professionals should focus their energy when they are time-poor.
It really hit home because it’s something I have struggled with my whole career.
Working in media and communications is busy. Social media and the 24-hour news cycle never sleep. Teams are also often small and need to deliver outcomes across their organisation.
It’s very easy to be reactive constantly with no time to focus on the positive stories you want to tell. This is frustrating because you never get the chance to flex your strategic capabilities.
Here are some suggestions on how-to claw some time back for what you really want to focus on:
Carve out time for strategic thinking. I know what you’re thinking; all my time is taken up, and there is no time for strategic thinking! My advice is to start small and build. Set the target to find 30 minutes weekly to do some strategic thinking.
Schedule it in your calendar early in the week at a time that will likely not be busy. Using this time well will make the busy times easier and give you more time to focus on proactive opportunities.
Use quiet days to your advantage. When quiet days come up, use them to your advantage. Set up folders to file necessary documents so you can find them more quickly. Develop messaging for issues that arise regularly so you aren’t starting from scratch every time.
Be careful with notifications. Every app and platform we use wants to notify us about every thought they have. When notifications come up, they can draw you away from your work, making you less productive and more easily distracted.
Apart from your phone and emails, you probably need to receive only a few notifications. Instead, can you create a habit of checking them several times daily so you don’t miss information you need to be across?
There is no ‘I’ in team. As a team, discuss how to use a divide-and-conquer approach to manage time better. Are there meetings that several of you attend that only one of you needs to attend? Do you all need to be monitoring social media notifications each day?
A good discussion will probably find a few things that can be shared so you can use your time more wisely.
I hope these ideas are helpful. If you have others, please share them