Spinning Plates

"I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions."

-Stephen Covey

I actually began writing this on Thursday morning.

Then life happened!

One of the things that has become clearly evident to me is that I want to get back to prioritizing my day.

Start each day with a plan.

A plan that includes identifying my top 3 priorities for the day and sticking to them.

I try to do this every night before shutting down for the day,plan for tomorrow.

The challenge develops when I open my morning emails to find that someone sent me a note that includes " .....and I need this today!"

Or when I check in for my early morning run and find out that the County has cancelled their bus and I now have 6 extra stops.

Invariably there is something unexpected that pops up.

Ignoring them is not a great option.

Neither is allowing these new tasks overwhelm me to the point that I neglect what I want to accomplish today.

The best way I know to maintain control when this happens is to make sure I add these to my daily list.

Sometimes , attending to these new requests for my attention can be handled in the moment.

Forwarding a file,sending out a response to an email or filling out some form or paperwork.

Often times, because I start my day before 7 here on the East Coast, time zones become a factor.

An email from Spain (6 hours ahead of me) with a request that requires a response from a vendor in California (3 hours behind me) can literally hang around for over a day.

Forget when China gets involved!

You can see how these things can just drag on , unresolved for a long period of time.

They become a distraction. They hang over me like a stench in the air that just won't go away.

Handling the immediate request or challenge, and then letting go is a skill set that I must practice over and over again.

When I do this, when I remember to handle it,let go of it and move on, I can be much more productive and efficient.

And I can then get back to my original Big 3 Goals for the day.

Making sure that other people's needs do not overwhelm my own can be a challenge.

Particularly when these "needs" will ultimately impact my world!

Like the act on the old Ed Sullivan Show, there are just so many plates that I can keep spinning before their rotations start to falter.

The trick is to make sure that none of them hit the ground and knowing just when it's time to grab them before they do.

And never lose sight of what I need to accomplish today!

Shabbat Shalom!