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"It has been a pleasure to work with the staffing cooperative. Their dedication and commitment to our success shows through in all the interaction they have with us. I've worked with many consultants in the past and this is the first group who really took the time to understand our business and what makes us different. They really provide that high level 30,000 foot view of our company and challenge us to step out of our comfort zone to accomplish our goals."

SueAnn Naso,
Chief Customer Officer,
Staffing Solutions Enterprises

Making First Things First in Your Daily Staffing Routine

August 26th, 2009

I recently changed one aspect of my daily routine to what I’ll call the “first things first” routine.  For a while I was doing my daily planning, then slogging through all my emails, and then eventually getting to some of my most important “to dos” and project items related to my core job.

Then a few weeks ago I was listening to a podcast I subscribe to, and one of the people being interviewed was talking about how she now resists the temptation to first check email.  Instead she spends the first 30 minutes of her day working on an important item that is looming over her and then gets to the emails.  The funny thing is that this wasn’t a workplace related podcast for me, but was an idea that came off of the August 3rd Youth Specialties podcast, http://www.youthspecialties.com/freeresources/podcasts, which is for people involved in youth ministry.

Regardless, it was an idea that stuck with me and I decided to tweak my routine around it.  So now, my routine is as follows:

·         Spend 15 minutes planning out my day.

·         Spend the next 30 minutes to 1 hour working on some important item that’s on the forefront of my mind; and that I know is the main thing I really do want/need to get to today.

·         After either completing the item or making sufficient progress on it, I then check my email.

With this routine, I’ve noticed that:

·         I’ve been able to gain positive momentum much sooner each day.

·         Most emails can wait half-an-hour to an hour, or even a day for that matter – I’m not that important.

·         It makes more sense to actually put first things first, and rarely should checking email be first on the “to do” list.

The reality is many of us need to check our email at least three to eight times a day, but do we really need to flip back-and-forth between our core job-related tasks and email every five minutes?  Or do we need to burn our freshest half-an-hour of the day scrolling through our inbox?  Try your own version of the “first things first” routine, share it with your fellow sales and staffing professionals, and  comment on this blog or click First Things First to let us know what routine is working for you in the staffing industry. 

Everett Reiss
Business Relationships Development
The Staffing Cooperative
Check me out on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/evreiss
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