Too busy? Tips to give a busy trainer or manager a little sanity

One armed paper hanger…
Chicken with its head cut off…
Spinning out of control…
Don’t know up from down…
Can’t see the light of day…
Up to my neck in alligators…

Do any of these phrases describe how you feel about your days lately? Personally, I’ve used at least three of them to describe my own current workload. Not that it’s all making money, and we’re on the “whoo-whoo” gravy train to success, but, wow, my life is busy!!

Sometimes we’re busy-busy trying to find the solutions to problems that keep us up at night.

Sometimes we’re busy trying to be on top of too many areas of responsibility for one person to manage.

Sometimes we might be (not me – not you) poor managers of our time.

Here’s a quick look at some ideas that might be useful if any of this describes you:

It’s OK to say NO. Even to your boss. There are times to say, “I can’t really do that task justice right now – can we talk about it again in a few weeds?” There are other times to simply say, “I’d love to help, but I just can’t do it right now.” And then stand firm.

Be clear on your priorities. Take two minutes at the start of the day to prioritize your tasks. There is an unending list of busy-jobs we all need to do, but what will wake you up in the night if you don’t accomplish? What addresses the most important things in your life or your job? Do those things, and let some less important things slip by the wayside.

Make a list. I often find myself bouncing from one task to another, answering an email or two, making a phone call, and feeling like I’m not really accomplishing anything real during the day. For me, organizing my day means making lists. I make lists on Friday before I go home for the week of what I haven’t gotten done and want to pick up Monday morning. Monday, I make my list for the week. I add to that list during the week, and get great personal satisfaction from crossing tasks off – as quickly as I can. Some days, like today, I have to stop in the middle of the day and make a list of all the things I’ve promised people I’d deliver as I walked through the office. Cross them off; move on; get things done!

Take baby steps. I have a very clear picture in my mind of what I want to achieve in my work. Each day on my way to work I have learned to fight the rising sense of anxiety of all I need to accomplish to achieve my goals, by telling myself, “Today, you only need to take one step. Just one small step toward the goal.” I feel a sense of relief – but I also know that I need to continue to map out my steps; to break down big goals into small, achievable steps, and then cross them off, one at a time.

Let me take a brief commercial break and offer you another time-saving tip: try online training. It can save you lots of time in organizing and delivering the training you need to simply stay in compliance, but even more, it can give you a way to track completed training of all your employees, with just a click of the mouse. Even better is our newest feature – exception reports. Assign training classes to your staff once a year, and pull up reports to tell you exactly who is missing what. What could be easier? What could be more time-efficient?!

I guess what I’m really saying is that if you’re feeling like a one-armed paper hanger these days, let us help. We’ll supply a few other hands and help you get the job done right!