WEBVTT - Measure the day by task, not time

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to learn to measure the day's accomplishments

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<v Speaker 1>by task, not time. As this episode is first airing

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<v Speaker 1>in late March two thousand twenty, lots of people are

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<v Speaker 1>working from home for the first time in an attempt

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<v Speaker 1>to slow the spread of COVID nineteen. Well, some jobs

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<v Speaker 1>cannot be done remotely. It's turning out that many can,

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<v Speaker 1>which will have all sorts of ramifications for when life

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<v Speaker 1>returns to something approaching normal. That said, just because people

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<v Speaker 1>can work at home doesn't mean it's easy. I remember

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<v Speaker 1>when I first started working from my kitchen table full

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<v Speaker 1>time back in two thousand two. Before that, I'd always

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<v Speaker 1>had in the office jobs or had been in school

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<v Speaker 1>attending classes. For the first time, I'd wakened the morning

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<v Speaker 1>and realized that the day in front of me was

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<v Speaker 1>somewhat dizzyingly open. When you go to an office, you

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<v Speaker 1>feel like you've done something just by changing locations and

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<v Speaker 1>sitting down at your desk. You end the day at

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<v Speaker 1>five or six p m. Because that's what everyone else

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<v Speaker 1>does in the absence of that, how did I know

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<v Speaker 1>if I'd accomplished anything or not? And I used the

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<v Speaker 1>word dizzying literally here. I actually felt dizzy. But within

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<v Speaker 1>a few days I realized that time and location didn't

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<v Speaker 1>have to be the marker of productivity that I'd felt

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<v Speaker 1>them to be in the past. Instead, I could manage

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<v Speaker 1>my days by tasks. Each day, I could assign myself

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<v Speaker 1>a certain number of tasks. If I did them, I'd

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<v Speaker 1>had a good day. And so that is what I've

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<v Speaker 1>been doing ever since. I start the day with a

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<v Speaker 1>short list of things I definitely want to accomplish. It's

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<v Speaker 1>short because, as you might imagine, stuff comes up. I

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<v Speaker 1>might decide to take on something that would need to

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<v Speaker 1>be in by five p m. That I didn't even

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<v Speaker 1>know about at nine a m. In general, I do

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<v Speaker 1>wind up working about forty hours a week, but that's

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<v Speaker 1>because I budget in tasks to my week that take

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<v Speaker 1>about forty hours, not because I'm aiming to log forty hours. Specifically,

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<v Speaker 1>if you are new to remote work, and especially if

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<v Speaker 1>you're new to managing remote workers, this focus on tasks

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<v Speaker 1>rather than time is key. A lot of people are

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<v Speaker 1>accustomed to feeling like their employees got in a good day.

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<v Speaker 1>If everyone looks busy from nine to five, we don't

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<v Speaker 1>think so critically about their exact deliverables, but we should.

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<v Speaker 1>For employees have regular conversations about exactly what they should

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<v Speaker 1>be doing and exactly what you'd like them to accomplish

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<v Speaker 1>each day or each week. Ideally, they'll be thinking about

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<v Speaker 1>this too, so you don't have to just dream it up.

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<v Speaker 1>They can present task list to you at whatever frequency

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<v Speaker 1>you choose that you can then approve. When they do

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<v Speaker 1>all these things, then you'll know that they've put in

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<v Speaker 1>good days. This seems straightforward enough, but when I've talked

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<v Speaker 1>to busy this leaders about this, some start waxing eloquently

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<v Speaker 1>about the intangibles. You want your employees to come up

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<v Speaker 1>with great ideas and discuss them with each other, And

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<v Speaker 1>how can you anticipate this ahead of time? These brilliant

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<v Speaker 1>insights happen when they're there and owing you their mental

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<v Speaker 1>capacity for a certain number of hours. If an employee

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<v Speaker 1>accomplishes the daily tasks assigned to him or her by

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<v Speaker 1>twelve pm and they're working from home, what's to stop

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<v Speaker 1>them from quitting? My answer, nothing, But so what if

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<v Speaker 1>you want people to think through big long term problems.

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<v Speaker 1>Assign this as a task. You can totally tell people

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<v Speaker 1>to dream up ten big what if scenarios, or to

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<v Speaker 1>think of eight new clients that your company has never

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<v Speaker 1>worked with but might engaged employees will naturally propose adding

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<v Speaker 1>some of these more open ended questions to their task lists.

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<v Speaker 1>Make it clear that you'll reward such things, and they

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<v Speaker 1>will definitely do them. And also, just as I've realized,

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<v Speaker 1>I naturally assigned myself about forty hours worth of tasks.

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<v Speaker 1>People who work remotely long term tend to learn to

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<v Speaker 1>do this too. When you manage by task, not by time,

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<v Speaker 1>you could wind up with a four hour work week,

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<v Speaker 1>but you generally don't so today, especially if you're working remotely,

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<v Speaker 1>think about what would make the day feel productive. What

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<v Speaker 1>would you need to do If you're managing people, get

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<v Speaker 1>very specific about what tasks would make you think that

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<v Speaker 1>the day went well. Everyone will feel far more effective

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<v Speaker 1>if you're all clear on this. As a result. In

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<v Speaker 1>the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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<v Speaker 1>to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

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<v Speaker 1>love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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<v Speaker 1>your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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<v Speaker 1>Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E

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<v Speaker 1>the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can

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<v Speaker 1>also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at

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<v Speaker 1>iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with

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<v Speaker 1>all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to

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<v Speaker 1>staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit

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