Term pilots use, “task saturation,” refers to when a pilot has so many things going on in the cockpit that he or she can no longer process everything that’s happening. When task saturation creeps in, the pilot starts to “taskhttps://trainingmag.com/how-to-prioritize-your-time-and-do-what-matters-most/ shed” (dropping things from their cockpit scan) and can quickly lose track of priorities and what matters most.
For example, in the cockpit, a pilot should always be aware of six primary instruments, such as altitude, airspeed, and so on. Unfortunately, many pilots have crashed because they were task-saturated, they misprioritized, and they lost track of their primary instruments.
What does this have to do with the training industry and organizations? We found that many people can relate to this feeling of task saturation in their work. At some point, we’ve all felt that stressful feeling of having so many things coming at us, but only a limited amount of time to accomplish them. In fact, our research with more than 1,200 managers from more than 100 different global organizations revealed that 68 percent of people feel like prioritizing their time is their number one challenge. Yet, 80 percent of people don’t have a process to prioritize their time outside of sticky notes and to-do lists.
The common adage in business now is to do more with less. This approach to business is a perfect recipe for task saturation and everything that comes with it, such as lower productivity, higher turnover, and a decline in morale. Other feelings associated with task saturation in the workplace include feeling overwhelmed, upset, and frustrated. When people are task-saturated, it takes a toll on their mental and emotional well-being.
This feeling of task saturation, accompanied by personal priorities slipping through the cracks, is why time management is one of the ripest areas for training and improvement.
So, what is the solution? There is a habit called Pre-Week Planning that revolutionizes time management because it empowers employees to prioritize their time and do what matters most.
What is Pre-Week Planning?
Pre-week planning is taking 20–45 minutes during the weekend (before Monday morning) to identify what matters most and schedule your priorities. This powerful habit will help you lead a life by design rather than live a life by default.
Here are the four key steps to effectively do Pre-Week Planning.
Step 1. Review your vision and long-range goals. Take a few minutes to review your overall vision and goals, then ask yourself what you can do this week towards accomplishing your goals. By first reviewing your vision and goals, you are looking at them and taking in the 30,000-foot view of where things stand at least one time each week. This puts you in an elite statistical number of people — only 1 percent of people regularly revisit their vision and goals.
Step 2. List your roles. Identify the five to seven roles that matter most to you (personal/self, manager, parent, spouse, etc.). This approach helps you plan your week through the lens of what matters most in each role, rather than just thinking about your professional role. It also empowers you to have a balance of success stories across each area of your life.
Step 3. Set action items for each role. Whether you call them action items or weekly goals, the bottom line is that you have a personal brainstorm with yourself to determine what actions matter most in the coming week for each role. Imagine how powerful that is to sit down each weekend for a few minutes and identify specific actions that matter most in each of your important roles! It could be as simple as planning a date night, sending a note to your son or daughter, developing a training plan, making time for exercise or meditation, and so on.
Step 4. Schedule a time for each action item. Whether you use a weekly planner or an electronic calendar, this step is when you assign a time on your calendar for the coming week for each action item.
These four simple steps allow you to schedule your priorities rather than prioritize your schedule. That is what differentiates it from every other planning process out there.
What’s the impact of Pre-Week Planning?
Pre-Week Planning will typically increase productivity by at least 30–50 percent. A person who does Pre-Week Planning accomplishes an average of 20 to 30 more important activities/tasks during the week than someone who doesn’t (with less stress). Over a month, that equates to an additional 80–120 activities. In a year, that’s an additional 900–1,200 items you’ve completed that are important to you!
On paper, those are only numbers. Yet, every one of those numbers represents a meaningful activity that you’ve accomplished in your life. It could represent advancing in your career, taking care of your team members, spending quality time with family or getting regular exercise.
Pre-Week planning reduces task saturation, increases productivity, and helps you take control of your life. Getting into the habit of planning will empower you to prioritize your time and do what matters most week in and week out.
For a free pre-week planning template, visit BYBGoals.com.
