Flaming torches, balls and bowling pins

Juggling: that’s how I often experience my work.

I love my job. I love the multi-faceted nature of it. And I also struggle to work out which are the right balls to keep in the air at any one time.

The basic tasks could be broken down into a few categories: long-term regional planning, making client appointments, following up clients, troubleshooting and problem-solving (often around the issue of clients or organisations), and providing technical advice.

Administration is the thing I find it hardest to do well. I am working with a system where I observe the discipline of recording every phone call, email or meeting in a database. On a day where you’re ranging between technical advice, booking appointments, discussing training, and sending out quotes, the work can pile up very quickly.

I tend to have tasks that I regard as high priority, and others that sit quite a long way down the list. Prioritising takes care of some of the most urgent tasks, but it doesn’t always allow me to deal well with those in the ‘medium’ category.

There’s no question that sorting tasks will always be a challenge for me. Certainly, there’s no such thing as a dull day at work. But I continue to wonder how I might be even better at what I do. I’m pleased with the progress in many areas this year, but the juggling of tasks continues to be a lively challenge.

What method do you use to sort through the ‘medium’ importance stuff?