Laura Stack* says dealing with a mini-crisis at work can lead to improving our overall productivity.
In his Spenser PI novels, mystery writer, Robert Parker created an unforgettable character in Spenser’s girlfriend, Susan Silverman.
She thrives on crises, often of her own making.
When preparing for an appointment or presentation, she would often wait until the last minute to get started, knowing the stress would push her to productive heights.
Forcing yourself to accomplish too much in not enough time is an intriguing concept, but by definition, it can’t work if constantly practised.
We all remember times when we had to push to do more in less time — say, because we had to prepare for a vacation — and managed to get it done.
Sometimes I even write more than an article a week to fill my buffer for those times when I need to take time off or attend a conference.
Some interesting books have resulted from annual National Novel Writing Month, when writers force themselves to complete a novel-length work in just 30 days.
So, let’s look at the idea of self-creating a mini-crisis for yourself at work to push your productivity higher.
The reasons why a mini-crisis works are interrelated and include the following.
It forces you to improve your time management skills.
Natural or engineered, a crisis generally leaves you with less time than normal, so there’s none to waste.
You must organise your time and resources.
A crisis might require tighter planning than a normal project timeline due to your need to focus.
It emphasises what’s most important.
Speaking of focus, the bells and whistles need to go out the window.
You stress what needs doing over what you want to do.
Extras, even normal refinements, are fine when you have the time.
Otherwise, go for rough but functional, especially with prototypes.
Perfectionism can’t get in the way of completion.
It increases efficiency.
Doing the right things right takes centre stage.
You can no more waste labour and materials than you can waste time.
Organise all aspects of the task more efficiently, or you will fail.
Here are three ways to start.
Limit the time allowed for the task:
If you think it will take four days to complete a project or task, set a firm deadline for three.
You can wait until the last minute to start, but it’s best to start when you normally would and try to finish early, just in case you need that extra day.
You can also time yourself, using something like the Pomodoro Technique.
This is where you specify an amount of time to work on a task — say, 15 or 30 minutes daily — and then stop when the time runs out.
Reprioritise:
The goal of a mini-crisis is to create a sense of urgency, so reprioritise your tasks so the item you’ve created a crisis for stays right at the top of your to-list.
You can’t finish quickly if other stuff keeps getting in the way.
So, push it to the top of your list, if necessary making it the only thing on your list.
If several items require crisis mode, prioritise them by deadline; or by importance if all have the same due date.
Limit other resources:
Saving time isn’t the only way to save money; you can also limit other resources.
For many modern jobs, you may have few resources you can save beyond printer paper, computer access, and coffee for the break room.
At a managerial level, you may have a chance to save on every manager’s most worrying expense — labour.
Most people prefer to allow themselves plenty of time to do their tasks, and I’m one of them.
Sometimes you can invent a mini-crisis to achieve higher productivity, either to offset complacency or because you require the extra time for other tasks.
Like the Pomodoro Technique, mini-crises force you to economise your resources and make better use of them, especially time.
The occasional mini-crisis is especially useful if you analyse how you accomplished it and add those methods to your normal workflow.
This way you can maximise productivity in all situations.
*Laura Stack is a keynote speaker, author and authority on productivity and performance. She has written seven books, the latest being Doing the Right Things Right: How the Effective Executive Spends Time. She can be contacted at theproductivitypro.com.
This article first appeared on Laura’s blogsite.
