工作太多忙不过来怎么办？这四招让你不用抓狂

我在2015年4月加入Bullhorn公司，负责客户成功部门改革，这项挑战包括让不高兴的客户开心，提高部门的领导力，组建一支专注的团队，带来无与伦比的客户体验。虽然我很想立即解决所有问题，但我意识到这样做不可能带来成功。我清楚，自己不可能一次解决所有问题，我必须分清轻重缓急，从最重要的任务开始，稍后再去处理次要任务。

在需要进行大量改变的时候，不仅自己要清楚工作重点，也要将你的安排介绍给团队的其他成员，使同事可以了解你的工作，这一点同样重要。

分享需要优先解决的问题，与确定这些问题同等重要。如果周围的人不了解你目前正在关注的问题以及背后的原因，他们就会向你提出自己眼中的优先任务，让你不胜其烦，最终将你变成一个信号接收器，而不是一位高效的领导者或团队成员。因此，你需要有一份明确的计划。

一、对任务进行筛选，提出问题

尤其重要的是，了解今天和明天分别需要完成哪些任务，所以你必须采用一个关键的“过滤器”，区分现在与将来。你可以提出一些有关项目的恰当问题，尤其是在你不确定这些任务如何带来直接客户收入或价值的情况下。你需要提出一些有价值的问题，并寻找答案，例如“这个项目如何改善客户的利润？”或者“为什么这款可交付物对客户的业务增长如此重要？”这样一来，你便可以在正确的时间安排正确的任务。针对公司的具体情况，制定确定优先任务的基本原则。我在确定优先任务时坚持的一条基本原则是：只有能够为客户创造价值或为Bullhorn产生收入的任务，才是优先任务。

二、专注于背景和大局

在确定不需要现在处理的任务时，只要你清楚目前的首要任务，你便更容易理解说“不”的背景。在最开始，一定要明确特定任务的目的和目标，以及如何将它们纳入到客户的商业策略当中。了解任务与大局的关系，让你可以选择是立即进行处理，还是先放在一边，特别是在十万火急的紧要关头。

三、保持开放和灵活

环境可能会改变，在这种情况下，你必须愿意将任务提前，或者把任务交给其他人。可能会有人提出一些你并未意识到的问题，所以当问题出现时，你应该愿意进行评估。

四、坚持反思和完善

我的非当下代办事项清单从来都不是一成不变的：在完成当前客户的可交付物之后，我会不断对清单进行评估，重新确定优先任务。一项任务不需要在未来90天内完成，并不意味着就可以把它抛诸脑后，你应该时刻关注这些任务，在实现目标的同时，重新评估自己的总体策略。不断反思可以保证我正在处理正确的任务，可以给客户带来最成功的结果。

学会说“不”给我带来了巨大的帮助，以至于有一些同事也邀请我进行这方面的培训。列出一份可稍后处理的任务清单，可以让你明确当前需要完成的任务，让人们负起责任，最重要的的是，可以带来理想的成果。 （财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

I joined Bullhorn in April 2015 to take on the challenge of transforming the customer success organization, which included turning unhappy customers into happy ones, sharpening the department’s leadership, and creating an engaging team to deliver an incredible customer experience. As much as I wanted to tackle every issue immediately, I realized that wouldn’t result in success. Knowing I couldn’t complete everything at once, I needed to prioritize and start with the most important tasks, and approach the secondary ones later.

When a huge volume of change is required, it’s important to not only know what’s priority, but to share those priorities with the rest of your organization so your colleagues understand what you’re working on.

Sharing your priorities is as important as having them. Unless people around you understand what you’re focusing on and why, they’ll bombard you with what they view as priorities, rendering you more of a signal receiver than an effective leader or team member. That’s where having a clear plan comes in hand.

Filter tasks and ask questions

It’s extremely important to know what needs to be done today vs. tomorrow, so you need to apply a critical filter to separate now and later. You can do this by asking the right questions about projects, especially if you’re unsure how those tasks will generate immediate client revenue or value. Getting answers to valuable questions, such as, “How will this project improve my client’s bottom line?” or, “Why is this deliverable important for my customer’s business growth?” will ensure that you’re working on the right assignments at the right time. Have a general rule of prioritization that works for your business. One of my general rules to help with prioritization: The task was only a priority if it created value for a client or generated revenue for Bullhorn.

Focus on the context and big picture

When deciding if tasks should land on the not-now list, it’s easier to understand the context of “no” if you understand your current priorities. At the onset, be sure to clearly define objectives and goals for certain tasks and how they fit into your client’s business strategy. Knowing how assignments fit into the bigger picture allows you to either urgently jump on them or place them to the side, especially when those fire-drill requests occur.

Remain open and agile

It’s possible that the environment changes, and if it does, you should be willing to move stuff forward or push it out. Someone may come to you with something that you weren’t aware of, so be willing to evaluate issues as they arise.

Reflect and refine all the time

My not-now list is never stagnant: I’m constantly reviewing and reprioritizing it after completing current client deliverables. This doesn’t mean that if you don’t need to complete a task within the next 90 days that it’s thrown into an abyss—it just means that you should keep it on the horizon and reassess your overall strategy as you meet your goals. Constant reflection ensures that I’m working on the correct initiatives that’ll deliver the most successful client results.

Learning to say “no” has worked so well for me that some of my colleagues have asked me to help train them to do the same. Keeping a list of what can be tackled later on will allow you to clearly see what needs completion right now, hold people accountable, and, most importantly, deliver results.