One Day, One Task at a Time

If I followed you from the time your alarm clock rang in the morning to the time you put your head on the pillow at night, what would I see? What personal and professional habits do you engage in most frequently throughout your day?

The real question is this: Do your habits help you to be the best leader, the best time manager, the best superintendent you can be in an overscheduled and increasingly demanding world?

We all have 24 hours a day, yet our habits and routines determine whether we make the most of those hours. This is an overview of the habits that help me be more productive, organized and proactive in handling personal and professional challenges.

The Daily Set-Up

Your day should begin with what I call the “daily set-up.” Complete this no matter what time you arrive at the office. The goal is to spend 15-20 minutes on this activity and emerge with a written action plan for the day.

The action plan ideally empowers you to manage anything else that crops up from that point and to determine whether the interruption is worth veering from your plan, even briefly, to address.

My daily set-up, with four steps, looks like this:

Check-in: I touch base with my executive assistant when I arrive, which is usually 30 minutes after my assistant’s arrival. She updates me on any pressing issues that have occurred. I unpack my briefcase, plug in my technology and get a cup of coffee while we continue to check in. Once back in my office, we part ways with my office door closed.

Process in-basket and task list: I process in-basket items. I review my task list from the day before and note any handwritten items I need to enter into my calendar/task software. The goal of processing your in-basket items and prior day’s task list is to address any of the “loose” items and either complete them with signatures or approvals or file for future completion. If you do this every day, your in-basket should remain relatively empty.

Review tasks: My goal each day is to have no more than 10 items on my to-do list. Each item requires a daily review to determine its importance. If it is not one of the 10 on the list for today, I determine the “float factor,” or the amount of time I can push off the task prior to completion. The goal is to come up with 10 items that make the cut, and ultimately, determine what must get done today.

Review schedule: Once you determine your 10 tasks, you can schedule time to complete the “must be done today” tasks. When finished, print a one-page sheet that displays your calendar and tasks. I carry a printed copy of my schedule throughout the day. This allows me to write additional notes or tasks to add to my list when setting up the next day.

The final task is to open your office door and greet your day. It is a good time to revisit your day’s prioritized plan of action with your assistant. I work with people who do this at the end of each day or over lunch to calibrate activity in the middle of the day. This is an excellent start, but most jobs require more than just a daily perspective.

Weekly Routine

A weekly, 30-minute meeting between you and your assistant helps you review the current week and forecast weeks and months ahead. My assistant and I meet weekly, usually on Fridays. My assistant comes prepared with a copy of the week’s schedule, my schedule for the next three weeks and a list of monthly tasks for the year. Here is a sample agenda of one of our weekly meetings that can be adapted to fit your own weekly session needs.

Review the past week. We review each day’s schedule and any completed items, events attended, etc. This is a great way to identify follow-up items to complete in the coming days and weeks. We also identify any routine activities that should be placed on our monthly task lists.

Look three weeks out. We review the upcoming three weeks and determine scheduled events or appointments, whether in the office or on the road. For example, we identify tasks to be completed before an upcoming appointment and what information I need from my team members in advance of the appointment. My assistant and I identify the need, write it down and create a task to be reviewed and completed.

Project three months out. During my first year as superintendent, my assistant and I created a master list of tasks to be completed by my office each month. This includes items other administrators complete because ultimate responsibility for the school district rests with me. For example, the April list includes items such as sharing the annual report publicly, planning for the spring town meeting, reviewing cyclical agenda items in advance of the May board meeting and more. We continuously ask ourselves what tasks should be placed on our list.

Monthly Routine

My monthly calendar contains one recurring, 60-minute appointment. This appointment, called “Leadership Lunch With Me,” is time to review, reflect and plan. You will need to prepare a list of questions to take with you. The goal is to review your successes, challenges and personal/professional status since your last lunch.

Here is how my lunch typically goes:

Pack a bag. Before you leave the office, make sure you have a notebook, pen and list of questions. (I have provided a starter list of questions below.)

Pick a spot. I usually find a nice sit-down restaurant and order something a little more expensive than normal. Once a month, you are worth it!

Reflect. After you order, review your questions one by one. Take a moment to think deeply and answer honestly.

Write. Record your reflections in your notebook so you can review with yourself at your next lunch to see what has changed or where you have grown. You also can use a technology tool such as Evernote to capture your thoughts.

It’s important to develop questions to focus your time. The goal is a sustained, big-picture conversation that carries over to the next month. Here are some sample questions for your lunch:

• What challenges can I learn from?
• What successes can I learn from?
• What do I need to do/learn/read to become a better leader?
• What is the most important decision I am facing? What is keeping me from making it?
• How would I like to be different next month?
• How am I different from my last lunch?
• What would I say to me, if I were sitting across the table from myself?

When I first started this routine, I felt a little awkward. There is always so much to do and a longer lunch alone didn’t fit the whirlwind nature of this job. However, I now look forward to it and enjoy the time and reflection about my different roles and different aspirations.

Yearly Routine

This one is simple. Once a year, take time to review your status regarding your professional and personal life. I conduct my yearly review during my summer trip to the beach. I review my year and make plans for the next. The operative question is this: One year from now, what is it that I would like to have accomplished?

Key areas to consider during your yearly review:

• Think about where you are in your current profession and where you would like to be in the future. I use this time to reflect on the relationships in both my personal and professional life that are critical to my success. This results in creating action steps and placing them on my task list.
• The yearly review is also a perfect time to review your year of “Leadership Lunches with Me” and identify keys to your past that can inform your future.
• Review your calendar from the past year — first by yourself, then with your assistant. Ask yourself the following: What is the usual weekly flow? How often do I meet with my team? Where in my schedule do I prioritize time for family/personal life? How many nights per week am I out?

Next Steps

So there they are, four routines with simple yet strategic components that should add to the habits or routines that make you an effective organizational leader. We all have 24 hours provided daily, whether we ask for them or not. What you do with those 24 is up to you.