Prepare your schedule for emergencies

- Many of us experience emergencies in our lives. It's nice to think that if we put something on the calendar it simply happens like that and nothing ever gets in the way. 20, 30 years ago at the dawn of time management training we could get away with filling up every minute in our schedules because there were far fewer sources of interruption. But in our world right now where we're overloaded with so much information and infinite opportunities we're bound to be interrupted.

This is why it's absolutely essential that we under-schedule our time. I call this under-scheduling buffer time. Buffer time refers to open spaces on your calendar on either side of every appointment that you schedule. How much open space you need depends on the kind of work that you're doing. For example someone who has a job that is very consistent and predictable in terms of schedule may need only a bit of buffer time. Perhaps 10 percent of their schedule.

This means that they need around 10 minutes of buffer for every 90 minutes of activity. However some jobs such as emergency response or IT support well you're expected to respond to people when they come inbound you're going to need a lot more buffer space in your schedule. As much as 50 percent of your total time. I've coached a variety of business leaders through the years. One of them was the manager of a successful auto repair shop.

He learned, over time, that he could only schedule about four hours of pre-determined work in his eight hour workday. The other four hours had to deal with the interruptions and the emergencies that happen frequently with his repair crew. So when it comes to being prepared for emergencies how much buffer time is appropriate for you? If you don't know where to start shoot for about 10 minutes out of every hour. For example if you schedule two hours to work on a project you're going to want no less than 20 minutes of nothing in your schedule immediately following.

The paradox is although this appears wasteful in the long run it helps you be far more productive because you're living in balance with the truth of time. Now, what if despite putting buffer in your schedule something serious happens that is more than your schedule can bear? When this happens to my clients such as a loss of a loved one or a catastrophic business event or even something positive like the birth of a new child the first thing that I tell them to do is stop.

They must take a moment and change their expectations about themselves and what they can accomplish. It's not reasonable after going through a significant life event to think that you're going to work at the same level of productivity you did before. In fact trying to push forward at the same speed will be counter productive because you'll overextend yourself and fall behind leading to even more distractions and interruptions. No, stop and tell yourself it's okay to slow down.

To help with the necessary slowdown start scheduling extra buffer time perhaps doubling the amount of extra space you had previously in your schedule. This will give you more room to deal with unexpected issues. Next create a reasonable date from when you'll return to normal. Not only does this help manage your expectations but also keeps you firmly grounded to your calendar. Not long ago I experienced the loss of my father and it was very emotionally draining.

It took a lot of time to sort through all the details that were necessary for his funeral, for cleaning through his house, and his belongings. It just took time for me to sort through my own feelings about the impact of his life upon me. When that occurred I said to myself dealing with this is going to take several weeks so I'm going to lower my expectations and reduce my workload for the next six weeks. Then at the end of that six weeks I'm going to return to my normal level of activity.

This gave me room in my schedule and permission to take the time necessary to get back to normal. Life never (chuckles) lines up perfectly the way that we want yet we can create reasonable, realistic expectations for ourselves. This helps us maintain principles of correct time management even in the most challenging of circumstances.