Some days I have my ducks in a row, some days I don't. I missed a conference call recently, I thought it was at 10:00 AM, it was at 9:00 AM. By the time I realized I was late for it, it was nearly finished and I said, puck-it, I missed it. That is rare for me. I can't remember the last time I missed a meeting, that I intended to go to.
I have gotten better about deciding that some meetings, some calls, I am not going to go to. If others from my department are going to be on the call, I ask myself, is it critical that I be there? If not, I tell them to cover it and skip it. If all 4.2 of us are on the call, the overall cost is nearly $500 an hour, and I am the most costly of the team.
So much of my time, I am overwhelmed with work, then I will hit a cycle where I am not. And I feel guilty when my work is as done as it is going to be, and I have only put in 7 or 8 hours. I have to remind myself about the 10 and 12 hour days, and Saturday meetings - time that I only get back if I balance it by knocking off a little early when I am caught up. Even with that, there will always be work that could have been done. I figured out 35 years ago, that I would have a long to-do list when I die, and that is okay.
I was working on some travel planning recently. It was a little complex in that I needed to estimate driving times from point to point, and balance it so I didn't end up with 10 hours of driving one day, and 2 hours on another day. I somehow messed up the timeline, I had started making hotel reservations and had to modify two of them, or I would end up with an extra day in the middle of the trip with no place to go, and no reason to be where I was. One was easy, and even less expensive, one involved two phone calls and a follow up email, but all of those ducks are now in a row. I even went back and double checked against the calendar.
I am a planner, I always think my strength is the big picture, but I am often drawn into the details. Getting the right ducks, in the right order, qack-quack-quack.
My professional strength was the little details. I love the details. As for those ducks, SG once said in a talk about organizational management he gave to about 100 people that it was important to keep all your ducks covered.
ReplyDeleteIf I keep them covered, they won't get wet in the rain.
DeleteI am terrified of making a mistake when booking for holidays. I triple check times, dates and places, and then get my partner to check too. Whatever, that has worked for me and I've not made a mistake...yet.
ReplyDeleteI almost always catch the mistake before we leave home.
DeletePlanning is good, but shit happens, eh.
ReplyDeleteBlizzards
DeleteIt's always nice to plan a trip and to see those plans come to fruition. However, without the internet, such planning would be nigh on impossible.
ReplyDeleteI can remember road maps and the Holiday Inn Directory
Delete"no place to go, and no reason to be where I was," after a while, you get used to it. Trust me. 😄
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it
DeleteI'm with Debra. All the planning in the world, but one little thing beyond your control can shut things down.
ReplyDeleteI am all about the details, but really able to switch things up if something else works best.
The day of a meeting was changed, I have a day in Denver with nothing on the schedule, I wonder if the Mint has free samples?
DeleteI am a big picture thinker too! I've had a hard time with a new boss who doesn't seem to understand that I can't work with just the details, I need to big picture to put it in context.
ReplyDeleteWe need to see the forest so we can understand the trees
DeleteI had five teeth pulled on Friday. I look like a one toothed beaver. I'm thinking about putting on some overalls and visiting my bestie in West Virginia. I have no more ducks left to give. Sorry, painkillers make me loopy.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the dental work, and let us know if you are as close as West Virginia,
DeleteI say this a lot at work "Now that I have the duck in a row (after gathering the data) how are you?"
ReplyDeleteI am doing much better
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