Lesson 2: Do a Work Audit
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Do a Work Audit
Taking some time to periodically analyze where you spend your time is a great exercise to help you focus your energy.
I call this a Work Audit. Here's how you do it:
- Record all your daily tasks for at least three days (better to do it for a week). This is hard to do, but it will be very enlightening - so Just Do It. You can use any tool you like for this. Here's an example work audit template you can use.
- At the end of that time period, sit down and ask yourself these questions:
- Is this work that moved the needle on my goals in some way?
- Was I needed in that meeting or topic?
- Is this work that can (or should) be delegated?
- Is this work that should be done by having a better (or new) process?
- Is this work that could be automated, or done by another team?
- Based on your self-assessment, your goal is to be involved in only the activities you need to be involved in, or the activities that get real traction for your team.
You can also use the work audit in your personal life:
- Is this something I do regularly that is causing me to show up less effectively where it matters elsewhere?
- Is it worth hiring someone else (like a virtual assistant) to do?
The goal is to free up your time from non-value-added tasks so that you can operate at a higher level of value for your team (or your family).
Deciding where you should be spending your time is not always straightforward. You must balance your own desire to solve problems against the return-on-investment of your own time and energy spent on other topics.