We’ve all heard the story of the absent-minded professor who always leaves her keys hanging in her office door or the absent-minded boss who constantly forgets about meetings with direct reports. The problem with these stories is that they are myths. These two professionals are not absent-minded at all, they are full-minded people with busy schedules and a lot on their plate.
Here are 5 tips for busy professionals who can’t afford to hire a personal assistant to run your errands or an executive assistant to keep you on schedule.
- Ditch the paper calendar for one that’s in the cloud. Keeping a calendar is all about control, and I promise that you will feel like you have more control when your calendar cuts across all your mobile devices.
- Treat your email inbox like a to do list. Ask people to shoot you emails if they need you to do something for them, so this way all your tasks are in one spot.
- Choose one day of the week to run the majority of your errands.
- Don’t grow too dependent on any one technology. Mobile apps and computer programs are meant to serve us, so once these tools become overwhelming or stressful they cease being useful. Get rid of them.
- Small tasks matter. When you stay on top of the little things, your credibility increases and you build mutual respect with people.
Not all of us have access to the C-Level resources but it doesn’t mean we have to let our full-mindedness interfere with our lives. Select a strategy or two to appear less absent-minded and become more mindful of the small things.
