Routines: Try 'Em; You Might Like 'Em!

 "Rainy days and Mondays always make me ________." It's not raining and I have that old feeling! I watched the sun rise with coffee in hand, watered and fed the dogs, had morning the chat with Jacquie and now, I'm at it!

Not hard to know what "it" is…harder to know what to do with "it"! I don't believe in time management! I've written some places, sometimes, that there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day, and we can't do anything about it! All we can do is figure-out what to put in those packages of time.

I need, for lack of a better word,  a routine. I can't get everything done! You probably feel that way…no matter what your occupation, as my friend says, there just isn't enough "bandwidth".

Being anal, routine is pretty easy for me, once I've got it in place! I described my pre-work, morning routine above. Then there's the once-I'm-at-my-desk routine. I wake-up my computer, go to the internet, and access 3 sites. (secret pleasures…woot.com, the Mandolin Café and JazzMando. They take me about 5 minutes, altogether.)

Then it's on to the rest of the day: routine aimed at productivity! The routine is simple, pre-determined (and would be boring to you; it is to me, sometimes) and focused on generating revenue, fulfilling obligations of committed revenue and exceeding the expectations of those who've paid me!

The routine keeps me focused. It protects me from outside influences, because times to handle those things are all scheduled in my routine. I operate a closed-door policy! Nothing encroaches upon my routine except actual fires. (If you and I were involved in businesses where "real fires" sprang-up we might have to react…most of us aren't!)

If Pete Jones, a client, calls and I'm in the middle of solving a client's problem, taking his call then, as opposed to returning it an hour later, probably costs me a loss of creative time, and momentum. It's not likely Pete can't wait…all due respect to Pete!

And, I might even rather speak with Pete than write! Gotta' stay focused!

My routine is, by some standards (and remember: I'm very anal!) over-the-top! Don't go crazy…try a simple routine of your own. Place your priorities on the calendar 1st. Separate the activities that are time-sensitive for others that aren't. (You shouldn't have sales person one-to-one's at dinner time.) Be sure to leave a space for handling the incoming stuff like Pete's call. You might even schedule breaks.

Then…work your routine!