Florence Bernard

Busy Bees and Efficient Work

A closer look at the way people work efficiently... or not and how you can help your kids get into the right working habits early.

Do you know any of those people who never have a minute, are always running around, who stress you out just looking at them? Or worse still? Are YOU one of those people? Do you feel that you have worked yourself to exhaustion and yet you haven't moved forward or there is still just as much to be done?

Well, people like that have huge potential. They are an asset everywhere they work because they are passionate and always want to do more and better. Unfortunately, they are not always good to themselves because they don't know where to stop and end up overworked, overstress and eventually useless.

What these people lack is a sense of prioritizing. They know their stuff, they get things done and they do it well. But by overwhelming themselves with tasks that might not be priorities, they will spend enormous amounts of time trying to do things perfectly - because they wouldn't settle for less - and then still have to do the really important things.

In any job, there are always things to get done. But some can wait, or some are not actually really needed. Spend a few minutes every morning, before you actually get on with work, looking through your list of tasks to do. First find the top 5 that you feel are total priority. The top 5 things that you absolutely know you cannot go home if they are not done. Then order them according to importance. DO NOT think about the other things you think you have to do. Just focus your efforts on the 5 you have chosen and get on with them. ONE at a time.

One big problem with Busy Bees is that they suddenly remember one thing that they have to do and if it is quick, like sending an email for instance, they do it. But then, when they get back to what they had started, they waste time getting back into it, finding their track again. So what should take 15 minutes ends up taking 25 or 30 with the various interruptions. All this is wasted time!

If you stick to ONE task, you'll get it done a lot faster. Then once you are done with your top 5, select the next 5 and repeat the process. And so on, until the end of the day. By then, I can guarantee you that you will feel much better about yourself. You will not have this feeling that you have worked really hard and yet can't really see the results. More importantly, you'll probably find that the last few items on your list are actually not that important and you can cross them out and move on.

Now, let's think about your children. Adopting this system is going to have 2 great advantages:

First, as you know, children learn by example and tend to mimic their parents. Remember that you are always the first role model. So if they see you running around like a headless chicken constantly, they are going to tend to reproduce the same pattern. If they see you more relaxed, and getting things done in an efficient way, they will learn to do the same, naturally, following your example.

Secondly, if you teach them to apply this to their homework and school work, you will see a complete change and improvement very soon. Kids tend to procrastinate because they like to start doing the part of the work that they prefer. A lot of the time, what they prefer is going to be the easy stuff. By keeping the harder work last, they end up rushing it, and not actually giving it their best or showing their full potential. If you show them to always start with the priority, i.e. the challenging assignment due the soonest and to stick to it until it is completed, they will work more efficiently. They will therefore end up with more free time, which will prove to them the benefits of working that way.

Try it now! Don't wait! And try it for yourself and your children! It works!

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