4 Steps to Higher Productivity as a Small Firm Architect

Finding The Time To Be An Architect

A little past 6AM, tunes from the local radio station wake me from a very deep slumber. (I set the alarm to 6:14, so I hear music rather than the daily ‘bad news” report. I am very serious about my “full media blackout“.)

After making the family breakfast and keeping the kids focused on meeting the morning deadlines, I hustle the kids off to the bus stop.

I work very hard to keep balance in my life. I’m a “scout dad”,  a “swim dad” and a “row dad”. I eat dinner with my family every evening (unless I have a conflicting client meeting). As an Entrepreneur Architect, that’s not an easy schedule, but it’s worth every sacrifice that it requires.

This is how you are going to be home for dinner each night and how you are not going to work weekends…

As a small firm architect running a virtual studio, I am wearing many hats these days. I currently hold the positions of CEO, COO, CFO, President, Director of Architectural Services, Architect, Project Manager, Office Manager, Book Keeper, Receptionist and Custodian… and that’s just at work.

If you are an Entrepreneur Architect, I’m sure this sounds familiar.

How to Get it All Done

I find it a bit ironic that I am writing this post about Personal Productivity. Like so many of you, I have a desk full of “important papers” waiting for me at the studio. Way more than I will ever be able to handle on my own. Every Monday I roll into studio, look at that pile of lists and ask myself, “How will I ever get this all done?”

I have read every book I can find on personal productivity and getting things done. I’ve tried all the systems and listened to all the podcasts… and still, I can not get everything done.

Here’s the secret that none of the experts ever talk about… YOU CAN’T GET IT ALL DONE!

It’s impossible. You can’t do everything. You will never get it all done.

In order to stay sane and keep yourself, your family, friends and clients happy, you will need to make some rather important decisions.

How To Be More Productive as an Architect

Step 1: Process Everything.

It’s time to make another list. No, not another “to do” list to throw on the pile. Compile a list of everything in your head. Literally everything. Write it down and get it out of your head.

Now, don’t you feel better?

With a clear mind, you will have better focus and much less stress.

Read through the list and prioritize each item as 1) Urgent and Important, 2) Not Urgent and Important, 3) Urgent and Not Important and 4) Not Urgent and Not Important.

The late Stephen R. Covey, in his iconic self help book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (if you haven’t read it yet, read it!), presented his Urgent/Important Productivity Matrix as a tool to help us determine what is truly important and what are merely distraction and time wasters. I am not going to get too deep in how to use this tool now. I encourage you again… read the book!

The idea of using the matrix is to live your life in Quadrants 1; things that are Urgent and Important and 2; things that are Not Urgent and Important.  Things in Quadrants 3 and 4 are needless interruptions, time wasters and busy work.

Step 2: Decide What to do… and what NOT to do.

Now that you know what is important and what is not, the next step is to list the things you are going to get done. We’re not talking about things we WANT to get done, or things we HOPE to get done. We are listing things that WE ARE GOING TO GET DONE.

Now identify the things on the list that are NOT going to get done. Break down this list further as things you do want to get done in the future and things that are never going to get done. The things you want to get done should go on your list for next week and the other things should be flushed from your brain.

Step 3: Schedule the things that you ARE going to do.

Before you start to schedule the things you are going to do, we need to discuss your calendar.

You should use one master schedule for all your things to do, personal and business. You have one life. You need one place to schedule that life. We are living in a time where technology allows us to access the same calendar using many different devices. Pick one calendar system and stick with it.

Now take all the things that are going to get done and schedule a time to get them done. Be realistic with your time allotments. You must have the proper amount of time to complete each task.

This is how you are going to be home for dinner each night and how you are not going to work weekends… if you decide that’s what you want.

If you don’t want to work weekends, don’t schedule work activities during the weekend. Yes, I know most residential clients want to meet with you on weekends. You need to decide what is most important in your life. The life you want will require some sacrifices and those projects with client who will only meet on weekends may be one of those sacrifices. YOU determine when you meet with clients. You set the rules for your business.

I am available for client meetings anytime during business hours and after hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and occasionally on Friday. The studio is closed on the weekends and most prospects respect the fact that I spend my weekends with my wife and kids.

Step 4: Repeat.

Now that you understand the basics of how to get things done, you need to perform this process every week. Pick a specific time for scheduling and include that on your calendar too.

Step 1 will be much less involved the second time around, because you’ve already done the hard work.

Throughout your day, capture every thought on paper or in a capture tool. I currently use Evernote. I can access it from my Mac’s desktop, on my phone or anywhere I have an internet connection. I love that I can use the voice note tool in Evernote when I am driving, which is when so many of my ideas come to mind. It’s a great tool and I highly recommend it. In fact, I organize my whole life with Evernote. I have a notebook for every important role in which I play a part.

Using your capture tool, organize your daily thoughts into “to do” and “not going to do” lists. Then, at the end of each day, empty your capture tool “to do” list and schedule a time to complete those tasks.

Keep the “not going to do” list in the capture tool so you will never need to use precious brain power to think about those items. Whenever you want to review one of those ideas, it will be there waiting for you.

Some Rules and a Suggestion

There are three very important rules to this process. First, Don’t use your “to do” list to get things done. A continuous “to do” list is actually the single biggest cause of your stress. Its a constant reminder of all the things you haven’t yet done.

Second, you must commit to getting done whatever you put on the schedule.

Third, don’t over schedule. Give yourself enough time to get it all done.

If you find that you still don’t have enough time to get it all done. You need to make some more decisions. You will need to either add more to the “not going to do” list or delegate some of the less important items on your list to others. The topic of delegation is an entirely separate post, so I will not expand on that here.

If you have been following this blog for a while you may remember when I shared my biggest secret to being more productive. I posted it the same week as the relaunch of this blog back in 2012…. Turn off the television. You will be amazed at what you will accomplish with a few more hours of dedication to the things that matter most in your life.

Some Homework

Pick any two consecutive days of your typical work week and record what you actually do each day. Create a form, listing 24 hours. Start at 12 midnight on Day 1.

As an example:

12:00AM to 1:00AM: Blog Writing (just kidding…)

1:00AM to 2:00AM: Sleep…

6:00AM to 7:00AM: Wake and prepare breakfast…

9:00AM to 10:00AM: Check email…

Each hour of your day, list what you are doing. You may be surprised where your time is spent. The next time you say that you wish you had more time, you can pull out your list and you will find “more time”.

Question: How do YOU get it all done? What is your best advice for being more productive?

Share your knowledge below or over at The EntreArchitect Community Facebook group.

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Want to take your personal productivity skills to the next level?

Check out my GetFocused Productivity Course. I will walk your through my personal program for getting things done, so you can focus on what matters most… whatever that may be for you.

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