The 30 second rule and Priorities.

I am back and in the action. I took the last 9 days off (plus the weekends). When I return to work after a break, I realize how hard I work and how much volume I deal with. Need to polish my systems to deal with things better.

The challenge is to understand what my priorities are and to work on them in order.

As I re-enter my work, I think about how I can get on top of things the fastest (and how I could have not let as much stuff pile up while I was away). Although I was email live while I was away, I tended to only deal with the super high priority items and left many others for now.

One trick I always use is a 30 second rule. If I can deal with it in 30 seconds, I deal with it right then. if I am rushed or on holidays, I might cut that to 10 seconds which means many other things get left.

Right now I am doing a second pass on things with a one minute rule. If I can deal with it in one minute, I finish it.

Of course there is a problem with doing more than one pass on anything. It takes more time. One rule of time management is touch everything only once.

Breaks over - back to work.