Great Escape Podcast episode 46 - Make sure you get done what you need to get done

It's been an interesting few days.

I'm really making some progress with a couple of projects, and that causes a tension with other things that need to be done, aren't necessarily terribly important, but are urgent and you get this sort of sense of frustration of, actually, I need to be focusing on this, this strategic thing, but there's this tactical, interruption that also needs to be dealt with and it's just getting in the way.

Getting that balance. Working out how to respond to those things has actually been quite tricky in the last few days. So, I've got quite a lot of tension or frustration going on inside as I try and work out how to get that balance right, so what I'm trying to do is Get up, Rehydrate, first thing. Get down to the gym. Get some fairly serious exercise done just to get the blood moving because we all know that has really positive impact on mental health and mental state as well as the physical advantages. And then spend the morning doing what I want to do. Focused on the jobs that I need to get done in terms of the strategic stuff. And then allow the interruptions, the phone calls, the email, the less strategic stuff to happen in the afternoon. And that's been my plan. That's been my aim. It's not always been successful. But it's beginning to become so, and as much as anything else it's getting my head into that space where it's here is a sequence of events that happen rather than Oh, it's just all blowing in the wind and random. That's becoming more under control. It's becoming more focused, and it's becoming more targeted because I've been able to work out what it is I need to be doing in order to meet the goals that I have. So, it really has been quite a challenge. It is an interesting journey that I'm on in terms of building a structure to my working day that I'm on control of and build something that's actually working for me rather than letting myself get blown back and forth by whatever's going on, whatever emails have come in, whatever has been randomly posted on Facebook or Twitter, and focus on what I need and want to get done first and then allow the other things to be caught up on later because very rarely is it actually the case that a phone call can't wait until a bit later, or an email can't wait until a bit later. I think it's Brendon Burchard where I first heard this quote probably somebody else said it earlier that "Email is a really good filing system for other people's priorities." I keep trying to remind myself of that when the temptation is to pick up the phone and have a look at what emails have come in.
And, actually, quick tip: On my phone, definitely, I've turned off almost all notifications so if my phone's in my pocket I only see messages, I only see emails, Facebook messenger, things like that when I choose to pull it out and look at it. It's not there constantly going ping all through the day because that interrupt driven thing really can get in the way of productivity, really can just slow you down.
And so that is a change I made probably about nine months ago now, and it really has helped me increase my productivity and increase my focus on the tasks that need to be done.

With that I will leave this little escape episode there. Talk to you soon.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Great Escape podcast. You can find other episodes at all the usual places on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify, or at the website, https://greatescapepodcast.com/episodes And if you'd like to contact me, talk about any element of this episode or others I've covered please go to https://greatescapepodcast.com/contact and you can find all the ways of getting hold of me there. And if you're stuck in a situation and you can't find a way out please go there, send me a message, and let's see how we can work together to get you unstuck and moving forward with your life again. Please do share this podcast with your friends and family, other people you think might appreciate it. And comment on episodes or send me a message I'd love to keep the conversation going.