How to Stay Focused If You’re Working on Multiple Projects
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” — Nelson Mandela
I have worked with multiple teams and projects my entire career. And with time I learned how to prioritize work, time management and get the work done.
Tbh, it’s not easy when you need to work with different teams and every team is different. Things that worked at one place might not work in another. So we need to adjust according to situation and people you work with.
Personally I am very organized and keep things neat and tidy and I like to think that I am better with time management. But I learned my negative trait is looking for perfection in all the work I do or my team does.
And some times it’s difficult to get similar perfection and time management from other people. Because not everyone is same as you.
When you are managing multiple projects deploy your expertise exactly where and when it’s most needed, share your knowledge across groups, and switch projects during lull times, avoiding costly downtime.
The reality, though is a lot more complicated. For many people including me, getting pulled across several different projects is stressful and less productive than theory would suggest. Switching attention between tasks takes time and saps your focus and energy.
How can you manage your time, stress, and development if you’re on multiple teams? And how can you stay focused on what’s most important? Start with some up-front planning and follow a few simple rules:
If you are also in similar situation, I want to share my learning with you:
Prioritizing and Sequencing Your Work
- Get the big picture.
- Focusing narrowly on a given day’s work puts you in a reactive, firefighting mode.
- Schedule a regular status check on all your projects to note milestones.
- Sequence strategically. Pick one task and focus on it intensely, rather than juggling.
- Start with the task that requires the greatest concentration and give it your undivided attention.
- Decide on a distinct set of must-achieve outcomes, define which actions are necessary to achieve only those results, and ruthlessly stick to them.
Setting and Communication Expectations
- Protect yourself. When you’re focused on a high-priority task, buy yourself a mental escape from unnecessary intrusions.
- For example, when I’m writing — my highest-concentration task — I put an automatic reply on my email telling people I’m not checking messages till a certain time of day, and offering my mobile number in case of an emergency.
- By telling people not to expect an instant reply, you buy yourself some time to focus, while reassuring them that you will pay attention — later.
- Including your phone number signals your willingness to respond but also makes people think twice about whether their request truly needs immediate attention.
- Document and communicate progress.
Set Time for Real Learning
- Know thyself. You need to know thyself first. Is it to make good decisions — decisions that are right for you? If you know yourself better, you know when to react or not, It can lead you to be develop social awareness.
- You need to own your development goals and your progress toward them. Figure out who else on the team you want exposure to.
- Make your development goals explicit, to both your team leader and those experts.
- Force thyself. After identifying your development goals, block out time for actual learning.
- You need to intentionally and explicitly schedule time for reflection.
Let me know what is your story on how you handle when you work on multiple projects or with multiple clients.
Be Bold
Be Courageous
Be Your Best
Citation : https://hbr.org/2017/11/how-to-stay-focused-if-youre-assigned-to-multiple-projects-at-once
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