Top 10 Tips to move from a Culture of Now to a Culture of When

A colleague of mine, Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D, asked me to put together a list of top 10 invaluable suggestions on how to from a "Culture of Now" to a "Culture of When."

A "Culture of Now" says that all needs to be done right away, it needs to have an promptresponse. The "Culture of Now" is terribly unproductive.

People must to move to a "Culture of When" that says, "this is when I'm going to finish things." The Culture of When helps you take control of your schedule, rather than allowing you to be pushed around by the whims of others or the beeps and buzzes of technology. It would help you be more productive and Invaluable in your work area.

Here are the top 10 suggestions to move from a "Culture of Now" to a "Culture of When."

1. No appointments without a calendar. Don't ever commit yourself to an appointment with someone else (or with yourself) without scheduling it into your calendar.
2. When designate a task, give a clear expectation of due date. When you delegate a responsibility to someone else, make sure that you are clear with them when you expect the result.
3. Establish a voicemail expectation. That means that when someone calls you, they should hear a message that lets them know when they should expect to get a reply back from you.
4. Tell others when you expect to get them a result. If others ask you for something, let them know, "I expect to get back to you within an hour or two hours or five days."
5. Ask others when they expect you to reply to them. If someone delegates something to you, clarify with them when they would like a response back.
6. Schedule recurring appointments with yourself on repetitive tasks and projects. If you have a repetitive task that you perform, such as paying bills, then schedule a recurring appointments with yourself in your calendar to take care of that.
7. Establish a schedule to check email. Make sure that you are not constantly checking email or that you are dependent upon email to let you know when it has arrived. Instead, establish a schedule for yourself within your calendar to check email.
8. Establish shop hours for your office. In the same way that retail businesses have hours that they are open for business, you need to have a distinctly established set of shop hours for yourself. Let other know when it is appropriate to interrupt you and come into your office.
9. Setup 1:1 Huddles. I talk about these huddles in my book, The Myth of Multitasking. This is a one-on-one meeting that you have regularly with other people to ask them what they need from you and to tell them what you need from them. This eliminates a lot of the quick questions that happen in your day.
10. Set a time boundary for yourself. Most people allow their day to just spill over into however long it takes. By establishing a set boundary (meaning, I'm going to stop my day at five o'clock or six o'clock) you take control of your schedule and you force yourself to be wise in the decisions you make with your timeline.

If you implement these changes you will bring a much greater sense of control and sanity to your workday, and you will be much more productive and you will be more invaluable.

For more information visit www.InvaluableInc.com.