Handling the unexpected like a pro
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Today’s issue is adapted from this piece I wrote for Fast Company.
Committing to a deadline can be scary. Especially if you tend to get a lot of unplanned tasks thrown at you at work.
I see talented people who give up on promises and planning altogether, and simply make themselves available to handle whatever comes their way. Meanwhile, their most important work gets pushed to the margins, squeezed into stolen hours at the edges of their days.
With everything coming at us, it’s an easy habit to fall into. But putting out fires for other people can mean you neglect your own priorities. And that’s no way to work. It doesn’t help you, your team, or the organization.
We’d all benefit from focusing on tasks of the important-yet-not-urgent variety.
Dealing with unexpected work requires an entirely different process. Here are the 4 steps that help me:
1. Swap your instant “Yes!” for a “Let me check and get back to you”
Saying no isn’t easy. While practice certainly helps, it’s still hard to say no if you don’t have a solid backstory. Don’t beat yourself up about it.
Instead, try dropping your “OK, I’ll get right on it” and replace it with a response that gives you a few minutes to take stock and formulate a well-thought-out response.
A good manager will appreciate you taking a moment. A more anxious manager will want to hear a timeframe: “Give me 10 minutes.”
2. Estimate how much work it is
This is key. Take a moment and make a generous estimate of how much time you think this job will take. I block off time in my calendar for things I need to do, which also helps train my estimation skills.
You might think it’s impossible to say. But pros will get this right, in time. For a new task, you could be off by as much as a factor of two or five, but since it’s unknown territory, try to allocate too much time so you’ll still be on the safe side.
3. Does this really need to happen right away?
When something pops up—a key client contacts you with a question, your boss asks you to take a look at something—it feels super urgent. The truth? Often it’s not urgent at all. We just assume it is and hop to.
An unexpected matter doesn’t necessary mean an urgent matter. If there’s no deadline given, assume that the implicit question is, “When can you fit this in?”
I recommend not asking for a deadline but proposing one. I’ll always review my calendar, and let’s say based on my estimation I think I can tackle the request comfortably the next day. I’ll then respond with: “I can fit this in tomorrow afternoon. Does that work?”
Often you’ll find that’s perfectly fine. And it saves you a frantic shuffle.
4. Know what you’re postponing (or ask your boss to make the call)
If you do have an urgent situation that you need to deal with right away, make sure you know what you’re moving aside to make room for it.
I live by my calendar. Not only does it show my appointments, I track my own tasks and projects there, too. Contrary to what people sometimes think, this makes me more flexible. It allows me to adapt with ease. When something urgent pops up for the afternoon, I know at a glance what I’ll have to put on hold.
I just block off the time I need to deal with the urgent job, and ping people to let them know I’ll need to reshuffle those other commitments. You can circle back after the crisis has passed.
If you’re in a team, this step is even easier. Just show your plans for the afternoon to your boss and let them make the call: What has priority? As a manager, I ran into this all the time. When I needed some extra time from a member of my team for something urgent, I had no trouble deciding to move something else off their calendar.
We’re all busy. But no need to let the unexpected derail your own priorities. Instead, use my process to handle the situation like a pro. And you’ll get back to your most important work in no time.
Have a good week,
Rick
PS Here’s more on the Eisenhower matrix. And here’s another way of deciding how important that “important” task is.
produced by the language girl