Three Layers of Resources
You have three layers of resources. Ask yourself how much you have left today, from easy to hard.
Before taking on one more thing, check three layers, from easy to hard. Time is the easy one: three hours left, a two-hour task, do it or push it. Thinking is harder: three hours on the clock is not three hours of thinking, and nobody thinks for eight hours even in an eight-hour day, so ask whether the decision is today's or tomorrow's. The hardest layer is emotional reserve. Hard conversations, performance management, escalations, conflicts and urgencies all draw from it, and most people never check the balance. Some things cannot be done today simply because that reserve is spent.
- Time, thinking, emotional reserve: three budgets, checked from the easiest to the hardest.
- Hard conversations, escalations and conflicts all spend emotional reserve; when it is gone, the right call is tomorrow.
Transcript
You have three layers of resources you have to ask yourself: how much I have left today? From easy to hard.
The first layer is time. It's easy to think: I still have three hours until I wrap up the day, and I have a critical task that I have to finish. Easy. Just take two hours, so I can finish them. I don't have enough time for this for today, so I'll push it tomorrow.
The second layer is about thinking. You have three hours left. It doesn't mean you can think for three hours. Nobody can think for eight hours a day, even if you have 8 working hours a day. Do I have to think this problem, make a decision today, or is that a tomorrow problem?
The third layer is emotional resource. It's the hard one. It's hard to gauge. A lot of people don't even realize it. Because hard conversations, performance management conversations, escalations, conflicts, urgencies, they all cost you emotional resources.
So this is the time you ask yourself: I do have time today. I do have thinking power today. Do I still have enough emotional resources today? Maybe some of the things couldn't be done today, simply because you don't have enough emotional reserve.
So these are the three layers of things you ask yourself, and you can make better decisions at the right time.