ShareThisWe are just a month into the new year and already you may have a to-do list that runs halfway across the office, a backlog of email and tasks left over from slacking off around the holidays.
It's enough pressure to trigger a nervous breakdown. What's a stressed-out, overwhelmed office worker to do?
Purge and prioritize.
That's the advice of Jason Womack, author of "Your Best Just Got Better: Work Smarter, Think Bigger, Make More" and a consultant who has worked with business and education leaders for 16 years.
Rather than trying to tackle that entire list of to-dos in the first couple of months of the new year, select the tasks that can be done in one to four days and concentrate on those first.
That enables you to chop away at the to-do list while creating some momentum and movement toward reaching longer-term goals.
While you're at it, try managing your time in 15-minute blocks. That's enough time "to actually do something but short enough that I will find those (segments) during the day," Womack said.
He advises employees to carry with them tasks that can be completed in 15-minute segments. That way, if you're on a plane, stuck in traffic or delayed at the airport, you can get work done that you otherwise might have to take home.
Such an approach helps free up what should be your free time. "If I do work on the plane, I can land and have a whole weekend with my wife," Womack noted.
Rather than fret about that leftover 2011 backlog, simply purge a lot of it, he said.
That's particularly true with books, magazines, newsletters and emails that haven't been read. You also might want to reassess committees you've joined or community activities that drain your time.
"Get rid of everything you can, and reduce what might be coming in," Womack said.
To stay on track, he advises clients to hold themselves accountable by ending each day by writing on 3-by-5 cards what you finished, who you met with and what you learned.
It's a great way, he said, to "make sure you're really doing the things that help you make the most of your time."
He also thinks it's a good idea to reassess after the workweek to determine what went well, what you would like to repeat and what you want to do less of or avoid.
To keep your focus at work, you might want to identify what distracts you -- whether it's your BlackBerry or all those casual conversations with co-workers -- and work to reduce it.
"If I start responding and reacting to what the outside world thinks needs to be done, then by default I'm not working on my priorities," Womack said.
Now, with the work to-do list out of the way, what about those at-home honey-do lists?
"Is that another conversation?" Womack asked with a chuckle.
(Contact Mark Belko at mbelko(at)post-gazette.com. For more stories visit scrippsnnews.com.)
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