Joya is currently enrolling members for international (Europe) and domestic (NYC) strategy days. She also leads a year-long intensive mastermind of C-Suite level women, which is accepting applications for 2024.
https://www.joyadass.com/
info@joyadass.com
Joya is currently enrolling members for international (Europe) and domestic (NYC) strategy days. She also leads a year-long intensive mastermind of C-Suite level women, which is accepting applications for 2024.
https://www.joyadass.com/
info@joyadass.com
They want everything right? And so, uh, folks are trying to get everything across the finish line, which then causes people to want to overload themselves. Oh, today I'm going to get 50 things across the finish line. I'm going to get 15 things across the finish line. I have to multitask. I have to context, switch. I have to do everything all at once. And one of the challenges of doing so is exactly that whenever you are switching between contexts, you actually wind up losing productivity, you wind up losing that momentum, that focus, and so my challenge is, instead of trying to do all 15 things in a single day, ask yourself instead, what is the one most important thing that I have to get across the finish line? Um, so for designing your single day, it's far better to say, what is it that I want to prioritize today? What's the one thing that really matters. Uh, there's this principle called the Pareto Principle that says that, you can get 80% of the outcome with just 20% of the effort. Right. And then everything else is nice to have, but not necessarily existential crisis. So it's much better to say, what does that really? One thing that really matters for my business, that is the one thing I'm going to get done today. Right. I only measure myself based on, did I get that one thing done? Yeah. If I did congrats, things are going well. And if I didn't, well, it's time to have a serious conversation with myself and with my team. So that's what I mean by designing our days is instead of trying to do all 15 things all at once, what's that one thing that really matters, right? Really forcing ourselves to prioritize and say, this is really the core that's going to move us forward. And I know that that sounds really scary because it's oh, but if I can only do one thing a day, there are like hundreds of things on my plate. Right. How can I possibly get all of this stuff done? But you have to take a step back and think, well, Within a year, we've got 50 weeks to work-ish, right.? You know, there's five days a week. And so within a year we have 250 times to do one really important thing. And 250 slots to do 250 really important things for our business is more than enough to grow our businesses to the places where we want them. Right. And so instead of doing 15 small things that may be inconsequential, let's focus on doing the 250 most important. And that starts with picking the one battle that really matters today. So that's what I mean by really designing our days; it's instead of letting people take over your day by saying, oh, I want to schedule a meeting with you. Hey, I noticed that there's a bug on your website or whatever, right? Having them thrash you around and throw all of these tasks at you, you become proactive and you say"Today, this is the one thing that matters. I am in the driver's seat. Anything that doesn't align with my single priority today, I'm not doing. I'm only going to measure myself based on this one thing." So that's one of the tactics. So designing your days to really drive that stronger success over a longer period of time.
Joya:But then how does that change when you're designing your week and when do you, when should you plan to do that?
Clement:Yeah. Fantastic question. And so something to keep in mind is. Everyone has different kinds of energies when it comes to tackling war. Um, there are times when you're going to be a lot more creative. There are times where you're going to be a lot more executional there's times when you're going to be a lot more thoughtful. You're going to be really wanting to give people feedback or when you're going to want to give, uh, meetings to folks. Right. And so something that I've noticed that has been challenging for some of my clients and even for me, myself, is when you pair the wrong kind of energy that we have on some given day or some given time of the day to the wrong task. And so something that I've personally noticed is I tend to be much better at running meetings later in the afternoon. I much prefer focusing my mornings on actually spending time to create content, whether that's in the form of articles or videos or what have you. And so when I say, how do you design a week? Right? Like, let's take that step back and look at what are our energy patterns over an entire week? We can reflect on,"Hey historically, where are the places where I feel really energized? Where is it that I feel like, oh, this is really the right kind of thing for me to be doing?" Whether it's during the start of the week, the end of the week in the middle of kind of by looking back on what is it that we really prefer to do based on the the day of the week, you know, whether it is Monday or Friday, right. Or whether it's going to be mornings or afternoons, we can use that and start pattern-matching and saying, oh, well, okay. I prefer having, let's say maybe I'd really like to have one meeting every afternoon, every single day of the week. Maybe some folks would prefer to have marathons of let's just get all the meetings done on Friday. Right. A lot of it is taking control over that time and giving yourself the permission to. Look, I know that I, as an individual, I'm going to have these different fluctuating energy levels. There's some things I'm going to prefer doing on some days. And I should really make sure that I prioritize myself right. Instead of letting other people say, oh, well, no, I need you to meet with me on this time. It's more, I understand that. That's what you'd like, but that's just not, what's going to be most productive for you or for me in terms of the business. Right. So I know that I'm much better meeting on Thursday afternoons, let's say. And so let's aim to get us scheduled there, and paradoxically by saying no to others, right? By having them, uh, work within your constraints, you're actually making their lives better, right? Because now you are able to be so much more productive. You're able to engage with them a lot more fully. You're able to do the things that really matter without burning out. And so it's really important to take a look back and say, how is it that I, I been spending my time. This is where I find it too. Really brutal. Uh, you know, I hate doing, you know, website fixes, right? Or I hate doing marketing on weekends. Okay. Well then we know that we shouldn't be using that time that way. By looking at how our energy levels are fluctuating across the week. That is an incredibly valuable multiplier for our limited 24 hours a day, right. We only have 24 hours a day as people. And so it's so important for us to use the right kinds of energy, um, to match with the kinds of tasks that we have.
Joya:The next point that you offer is what to prioritize and what to deprioritize and Courtney and I, we had a conversation about this this morning, because she's really looking to scale her business right now. And so that means that there's 15 things that she wants to do, but listening to you, that's not possible. So what do you prioritize and what gets pushed down on the calendar?
Clement:Yeah. Great question. So the way to think about prioritization is really, you can use something called the Eisenhower matrix. It's basically a two-by-two decision chart. Where do you look at is something important or not important? And then if something urgent or not urgent, right? So importance. Really how, how critical is this to the growth of my business, right. Is this really going to move the needle or is it just some small thing that someone said,"Ah, it'd be nice if you could do that." Right. So does it actually really matter in terms of moving your mission forward and then urgency is, how quickly does it need to get done? Is that that, oh, there is a fire right now. Um, or is it just, Hey, you know, I should eventually do it. And so when we look at this, a two by two of there are things that are important and urgent, well, you should definitely go do those right now. Those are the things that you absolutely need to prioritize upwards. They're the things that are important, but not yet urgent. Right? Let's say that. I want to look into my plans over the next year. I want to plan out what it is, the milestones that I want to hit, but I don't have to do it right now. Well then instead of doing it right now, when you don't necessarily have time schedule that time, right? So what you want to do is you want to find a block on your calendar and say, this is the time I'm going to be doing this important thing, and I'm going to commit to it. I'm not going to move it. That is the time that I'm going to be doing this longer-term strategic work. If you got something that is urgent and, uh, if you, if you have something that's urgent, but it's not really important. Right. So let's say, oh, well, there is some particular, uh, Let's say that, you know, I need to get some email sent out by next Wednesday. Right. It has to get sent out by next Wednesday. Um, but that thing is not going to make or break my business. Then that's something that's you should consider outsourcing. Right? So you can find someone to go write that email for you, especially if it's something that is pretty automated, like let's say some newsletter or let's say some marketing campaign, you don't have to be the person to do it. You're not necessarily going to provide the highest leverage by doing something so tactical. Right. So go ahead and delegate that away, and then if it's not important and it's also not urgent, then you just shouldn't do it. You should just decline it and say that that's just not a priority. It sure would be nice if we could do that. But we have to say no. Right. I think one of the things that I've personally found as a software product manager in a past life is the mark of a really amazing product manager. And really the market of amazing leader is not the things that you say yes to. It's the things that you say no to, and so that's really the core test. We should think of strategy, not as which of these things are going to say yes to, but one of the things that we're explicitly going to say, we're just not going to do that because as nice as it would be, those are not the things that really matter to growing the business. And so that's how I think about prioritization is by using that Eisenhower matrix of is an important versus urgent. And then using that decide how we should, uh, put that into our schedules to really keep the business moving.
Joya:Now you talk about engineering time for maximum productivity. Maryanne, as you'll learn very soon here is raising her Series A, so she's 24 7, but how do you engineer that kind of time constraints and still be maximally productive?
Clement:Yeah. Great question. So in terms of engineering time, um, again, something that is really crucial is. Understand yourself. Right? So if we don't understand the way that we operate, if we don't understand what is most effective for us, then that winds up causing misalignment over the longer run. And so what I mean by that is there are some folks who would much prefer to, again, just using the example of meeting with other people, right? There's some folks who would just prefer to let's just have everyone be met on some marathon day. That is what's maximally effective. And other folks say, well, I actually prefer having that social interaction, like in drips and drabs over the entire week. Right. And so I would much prefer to actually space it out. Well, I can't prescriptively say whether you should bundle it together or space it out because it depends on your context. So it depends on what is best for you. Something that really helps this to keep a sort of journal to really look back and reflect on, Hey, so this is the way that I spent my time today. And where do I feel really excited? Where do I feel that I allocated the right task to the right time slot? And what was it that I just felt it was such a drag? It just really did not make sense. And by using that, by looking back at historical patterns, we can very quickly see, oh, okay. If there are just some things where I would much prefer to stay set up, there's some things I much prefer to keep regular there are some things I prefer to just bundle altogether. So that is one way to punching up. I think another way that is valuable in terms of looking at presenting context switching, specifically, is the challenge of always on communication. So, um, if you are using slack or if you're using email, and one of the things that is incredibly damaging is this expectation that you have to respond, but you have to acknowledge whatever inbound message you get, um, to demonstrate that you are in the driver's seat. And another, that can feel really tempting it's yes. I am someone who is really on top of my game. I'm someone who's going to make sure that everything gets done, but the problem is that every time something comes in, right, you first have to acknowledge that it came, then you move away from your current task. Then you look at it, you assess it and you say, oh, well, how am I going to respond to this thing? And now you're completely off track. Now you're trying to tackle this inbound message. And then when you pivot back, you say,"Wait, where was I again? I don't remember." So you have to pick back all of that context again. So something that's really helpful is to actually set what I like to call, um, service level agreements, basically setting expectations with others of when they should expect you to respond. So there are a couple things you can do kind of, it, it differs whether you are running a, um, a small organization versus whether you're a part of a larger organization, but kind of the principles all hold true. Is one you want to just really collect speculations for what your turn times are going to look like. Right? Is it that I'm going to respond within an hour of receiving this message? Is it I'm going to respond within one business day by making it clear to others that, Hey, this is the timeline I'm going to be responding to you. That way you don't feel like you're on the clock, right? You don't feel like, oh my gosh, I saw this message come in. I have to respond to it. Right. So that is a really great way to help you bundle your time together. So that way you're just knocking out messages all in a single block, instead of having that break into all of your dedicated, deep work time. So that that's a really effective method. Another thing that's really helpful is on your own calendar, block off times and say, this is when I'm responding to messages. So here's a 30 minute block in the morning, here's a 30 minute block in the afternoon, or again, whatever makes the most sense for your energy levels, um, experiment with it. Right. But this is the time when I'm just going to be responding. And then now you know that this is the time I'm responding. Anytime it's not response time, flip your phones downwards, right? Like turn off all your notifications, close off your email client, um, turn off slack, right? Because you are going to focus on actually getting the business to move forward. You already set those expectations with others. This is what I'm responding to you. And so it's okay that there are some things I'm not going to see. It's okay. That I'm not being responsive because I already set the expectation. And so that is also really helpful in terms of. Uh, making sure that you're not switching focus and spoil it. And I know that that can be incredibly difficult, especially as you're working through, um, through raising around, you know, there are so many different folks that you have to coordinate with and, you know, it can feel like, oh, I very, very much need to respond to people in real time, But if you take a step back, right, there are very few things where responding within 15 minutes versus responding within 12 hours is going to make or break a deal or it's going to make or break someone's decision. And so in the cases where that can happen, right? Of course, make sure to prioritize those upward. Then you will want to prioritize those in real time. But you don't have to do that for everyone, right? Like, just because you do that for one particular VC or one particular investor doesn't mean you need to do that for all of your various contractors, all of your various employees, because they don't need that type of response. So just make it really clear to others. This is the time when I'm responding. These are the times that I'm not responding. Um, and then that way you can work a lot more sanely without getting your attention dragged all over the place. A lot of it is. We are going to be in the driver's seat. Now we are going to be controlling our time because our time is the time that matters the most, but we're leading these organizations. And so if we don't protect our times, if we're not in charge of it, we let other people drive our time. We're going to cause damage to the business. We're going to cause damage to the organization. So it's so important, not just for us, but for everyone else too, that we make sure to protect our time and that we make it clear. What are we going to be responding to others and when are we not?
Joya:Clement, what is that average time when you get pulled off of a task, how much productivity time is actually lost every single time you context switch?
Clement:Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so there's actually been quite a few studies done across various universities. The one that I happen to know is the one from, um, University of California, Irvine. And they found that every time your context is switched from one task to another, and you try to come back, it takes up to 25 minutes to get back into the same mindset to continue to make forward progress right. And so, as you can imagine, if you're bouncing in between all these different messages, you might never make it back to a hundred percent productivity. Um, and twenty-five minutes is just the average for an average task. If you're tackling something that is incredibly nuanced, incredibly complicated, such as trying to pull together a roadshow for investors or trying to put together a product strategy. Those things can take 45 minutes up to an hour, um, in terms of actually recollecting all of that context and getting ourselves back on track. And so it's so important that we don't actually switch away our contexts and that we let people switch our attention away because it's not just, oh, well now I'm doing this thing that's less important, but it's, I now have to spend another 25 minutes warming back up to the thing that I was originally doing. If you think about it, say that you worked eight days. I know that some of us are working 24 hours a day, right? But let's say that you're working eight hours a day. Um, if you just context switch, let's say maybe four times a day, you're out by two hours. That is ridiculous. You've just lost 25% of your day. And so it's so important that we, when we switch contexts it's because we said, I want to, this is something that I have planned for. This is the context that I want to move into now, rather than letting other people kind of drag you out of it, because that costs you 25 minutes of time.
Joya:Clement. How do you say no gracefully? I'm a huge fan of having scripts on how to say no. In fact, somebody, I saw a block of time in my calendar and there was a meeting sitting right in the middle of my deep work time. And I said, I need to schedule that. I started to go down a rabbit hill of excuses. And then I said, I'm sorry, I have a conflict. That's it, nothing more, nothing less than she readily changed it to another day. But for those of us that struggle with saying no, what are some scripts that you would recommend?
Clement:Yeah. Great question. So in terms of scripts to recommend-- first off, I think one of the things that is helpful, even before we get into the scripts is just the mindset of when there's time on your calendar. That time does not mean that you're not using it. That's not free time. That is deep work time, right? The thing that I've personally found the most valuable is to split myself up into two people where it's"Clement the Executor" and then"Clement the Executive," right? When Clement the executive has his time taken away, he gets real mad. Like this guy is the boss. Right. And so I absolutely cannot let my boss down. I really need to make sure that I'm protecting his time. I need to make sure that I'm moving his objective is forward, right. And so now we can simply treat all of these inbound asks as trade-offs in between already scheduled times. I'm sorry, I already have a meeting scheduled during that time. I can't make this time. Let's look for a different, right. And so that can be very helpful of treating yourself as an external stakeholder, right? Like there's no reason why we should treat ourselves as lesser than anyone else. We're leading organizations, right? Like there's no reason why we should deprioritize ourselves. And so that's simple mindset shift right there. Personally, for me, it makes it so much easier even without having any scripts, because very naturally we say, oh, but I already have a commitment. Right. I already committed to myself that I was going to use this time. Sorry, like I already have a meeting with someone else, even if that's someone else is you, let's go find another time. Right. And so that is something that I feel comes very naturally to me when I think of myself as there's Clement the executive, the person that I'm meeting with the person that I'm working with. And I cannot move this time. I'm sorry. As much as I'd like to. I cannot. Um, so that is something that I've personally found very valuable. But even if you are not quite ready to make that mindset shift of thinking of yourself in as executives, um, a couple of scripts that can be helpful is again, the, the thing that we want to just keep in mind. Is people don't have our context. Right. They simply do not know. What is the availability on your calendar when they book a time on your calendar? It does not mean that that's the only time that they could make for right. It's not something where, you know, they are saying you better meet with me at this exact moment or else I'm terminating our relationship together. Right. It's never that it's just, they don't know what your schedule looks like. You know, they don't know your availability. And so you shouldn't feel bad about saying no, or, sorry, this time doesn't work, let's try a different time. So, um, some of the scripts that I like to use. Hey, thanks so much for booking this time. Appreciate you being proactive. Unfortunately, I've got a conflict during this time. Can we propose this other time and stuff? And that's something that demonstrates that you do appreciate them, right? It's not something where you're saying no, because you're being a jerk. It's that? I just have something else at this time. Right? Like, even though you didn't know about it, I'm letting you know about it now. I just can't make this time. Here's an alternative time. Right? So it's again, it's not us saying no. Not yet. It's just not this time. Just doesn't work. Let's aim for this different, right. Even if that different time is a little bit further out that's okay. Right. Like even if we say, Hey, I'm so sorry. I just, I cannot make these next two weeks because of some critical priorities on my side. What about a time in, let's say, you know, early December, right? That's totally okay. Right. Okay. Us proposing that back to them, that gives them that additional context of, oh, okay. I didn't realize that they had all these other things in the way. Um, sure. Let's go open up our schedules and figure out what's going to work best for the both of us. So I think by thinking about it, not as someone putting an ask on you is a demand, it's just, they don't have the context. They just don't know where you're coming from. And do you want to share back that information with them? And most people are very reasonable, right. But very much understand. Oh yeah, totally makes sense. I'm more than happy to move this off and find another time that works for both of us.
Joya:These are amazing tips that you've offered today. I look forward to catching up with you very soon.