It’s weird out there – but people are getting back to work. Though of course, that doesn’t mean getting back to work as normal.
Priorities have changed, marketplaces have shifted and methods of delivery have switched around. Which for us, has led to a lot of urgent requests, tight turnarounds and creating strategy under time pressure.
This is no bad thing. In fact, it’s quite exciting. But you do sometimes get to the end of the week and think: How the heck did we do all that?
If your workplace is ramping up activity, we’re sure you’re feeling this too. No-one is easing gently back into it. So we thought we’d share the things that help when we need to be super-adaptable, super-productive and create quality to tight deadlines.
Preparing for busy
If a shed-load of work arrives, unexpectedly, and with an urgent turn-around time, it helps to have well-established processes in place. Scheduling, project management and quality control are essential. So having defined and understood processes for how you manage each of them – and who has responsibility for doing what – is really important.
Even in a really small business, busy can quickly turn into overwhelmed, itchy stress if you haven’t got processes in place to keep you on top of things. And it doesn’t need to be complex. Our scheduling process involves online diaries and whiteboards. Quality control is a process we all know and take part in. Project management is largely carried out on spreadsheets.
So when things are quiet, update processes, train people to use them – and make all tools and documents easy for teams to access and use. Then when the deluge comes, you’ll be ready to go.
Focus
At a slower-to-normal working pace, it can be ok to check the news and to look at email every time Outlook goes, “Bing!”. When you’re super-busy, the distractions can become agitating. So ditch them. The world will not stop turning if you don’t check Twitter for a couple of hours.
If you have your head down in crunchy work, put an Out Of Office on and quit your email. Leave a message on your answerphone. Make yourself unavailable for a couple of hours – and get on with it.
Prioritise
Run through your to-do list. What absolutely has to happen now – and what can wait until later?
We all have pieces of work we like doing more than others… and this can mean they make it to the top of the list. But in ultra-busy times, you need to be dogged about this. If a deadline is a couple of weeks out and you need two days to complete the work, push it out. Even if it’s your most favourite thing to do and it’s fresh in your head.
And remember to balance “urgent” against “important”. All those projects that are essential to the smooth-running and future stability of the business? Don’t put them off indefinitely. Keep them on the agenda. The reality is that some of these projects will go on hold. Just don’t forget them.
Working in sprints
When the going gets super-busy, we chunk our days out into two-hour sprints – and we allot tasks to each one. Concentrating really hard for a couple of hours is completely do-able. And being able to tick off what you’ve achieved at the end of a sprint is satisfying.
A short timeframe forces focus. You haven’t got time to faff around or get stuck down rabbit holes of unnecessary detail. You just have to cut to the chase and get on with it.
At the end of the sprint, don’t forget to log the times you’ve spent doing what. This will help you with invoicing (if you’re a small business or freelancer). And whatever size of business you are, it will give you a good feel for project progress, as well as the insight to better estimate future projects. At Wordtree, we use a simple app for this – but a spreadsheet would work just as well.
Setting aside time to think
Up against a deadline, there can be an urge to just dive into the work. It’s a bit like when you had exams in school. The paper is on your desk and the invigilator says: “You may start!” There’s a collective rustle as papers are opened – followed split-seconds later by the scratch of pen against paper as everyone starts to scribble, working to get all their answers down in time.
But working under pressure doesn’t have to be like that. It’s OK to spend an hour of your two-hour sprint thinking. Or even an hour and 40 minutes. You just need to take a deep breath and think about what you have to achieve, rather than what you have to “do”.
At Wordtree, that often means re-reading and re-assessing a brief – because if you’re rushing, it’s easy to forget details of what you were meant to be doing in the first place. It can also mean going for a little walk outside while we let ideas knock against each other in our heads. It can even mean sketching or closing our eyes and drifting a little.
Having a good think, jotting down notes, sketching out structure, floating ideas… or letting ideas surface – can all be much more productive than just getting stuck in. Because once you know where you’re going with a piece of work, it just kind of falls into place.
Remembering to move
When you look at a full calendar, it’s so tempting to just think: “Right, no lunch or snack breaks for me today…” And though it’s admirable to be devoted to the cause, this approach can be counter-productive. Moving releases hormones that break down stress. Having a break can speed up your thinking later in the day.
So get up, stretch, move around, go for a little walk. If you’re really struggling to fit this in, decide on some tasks you will always do standing up. For example, we tend to proofread standing up.
You feel better and you produce better work when you’re not jammed into a chair all day.
Taking breaks
We’re not talking long lunches here – but we do find that 10-15 minute breaks here and there can make us more productive. So go for a walk, do a downward-facing dog or have a quick catch-up with someone.
Schedule breaks into your day – and take them.
Looking after yourself
You can’t work intensively if you’re too cold, too hot, thirsty, hungry or uncomfortable. Do what you need to be comfortable so that you can focus all your attention on the work.
Making notes to yourself
It’s inevitable that in the course of a super-busy day, you’ll find your brain throwing unrelated ideas and thoughts at you. Did you put the bin out? Did you remember to send that email? Oh my word, but why didn’t we think of X in that strategy?
These are all good thoughts to have – but just record them and don’t act on them. Keep a little notebook of thoughts you need to check back on, or pop each thought on a Post-It for later reference… then get back to the work.
Asking for help
If your workload is too much for one person – or you’re struggling for whatever reason – ask for help, and ask for it as early as you can. If you work in a team, ask your line manager. If you’re self-employed and work alone, ask your self-employed friends, contacts – and even your clients. It’s better to flag issues with timing early in a project (or project stage) than to fry your brain trying to deliver – and then missing the deadline anyway.
Not overpromising
There are only so many hours in a day and so many days in a week. Once they’re full – that’s it, you can’t magic up any more. So keep on top of your schedule, know exactly how much time is available and when – and don’t add to your stress by promising work you don’t have time to deliver.
If you work in an organisation and you feel under pressure to crunch through ever-increasing workloads, ask for guidance in prioritising. Try saying: “I’d love to take on project X. Please let me know which of my existing projects I can delay to achieve it…”
If you’re running an organisation or you’re self-employed, it can seem really difficult to turn work away. So either make sure you’ve got a network of people around you who can help you deliver when you’re super-busy. Or, say you’ll do it next week, because this is when you have availability.
If you do find yourself doing extra hours, don’t sweat it. But don’t expect to pull an all-nighter and create work that’s good enough. Instead, start a little earlier and finish a little later. Eat well, get a good sleep and go at it fresh.
Having faith in yourself
You’ve done busy before and you’ll do it again. Know that you’ve got this – and know that you’ll surprise yourself by how much you can do when you put your mind to it. Remind yourself – regularly throughout the day – of just how awesome you can be.
Using less busy times productively
If you’re relentlessly, stupidly busy, it’s probably time to look at getting more resource. So hire someone, get a contractor, beef up your freelance roster or look into borrowing resource from other teams. Or, you know, you could also turn work away.
If you work in a small or micro business, it’s not unusual for work to come in storms, followed by periods of calm. The temptation after the storm is to take it easy for a bit. And of course, you should certainly give team members time off in lieu if they’ve been putting in extra hours for you.
But use this slower time to build up your infrastructure, get those internal projects nailed and get ready for when you get busier again.
Being grateful
Super-busy can feel overwhelming and stressful if we let it. But always remind yourself that it’s way better than not busy at all.