Three Simple Keys for Managing Information & Working Smart (2 of 3)
In a recent blog, I covered the basic definition of working smart and provided a helpful tip to assist you in your efforts to working smart. The first tip is to work intentionally. Working intentionally requires you to think about your outcome and manage the information that will help you get there and let go of the rest. This is much like the idea of think before you act, however, it has huge implications when it comes to managing information, since most of us are so awash in it.
So the next tip is this:
- Prioritize your focus. There’s not enough time to do everything. You don’t have time to put everything neatly away, there’s not enough time to stay up on all the topics of interest, not enough time to read all the email and blogs coming in. Manage information based upon what’s important – which is defined by the first step. Identify and live with intentionality. That brings a relatively narrow focus, or as the movie “City Slickers” defined it, “know what’s number 1″ – and I would add to it, know what’s number 1, and how you plan to get closer to it today.
Your job is probably not to be the “library of congress.” A job where everything is neatly in its place, or to please everyone. It is, for the purpose of this blog, to work smart, to live smart, and when that comes to managing information, it means narrowing the focus based upon your priorities and desired outcomes. That’s where you want to spend your time and that’s where it’s most important to track and manage information.
I don’t need to get everything done, just the priority one items. And on the priority one items, I need a system that allows everyone who touches that to work in a coordinated, collaborative, up-to-date manner, anything short of that isn’t working smart.
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