PPB April 2020

2 Schedule Purposefully Bill Petrie has a lot on his plate as the president of PromoCorner, board member at PromoKitchen, past president of the Regional Association Council (RAC), a podcast host, serial volunteer and speaker at multiple industry events, including the SPARK Conference 2019. To keep himself organized, he shares these tips. “I have to be intentional about remaining organized as juggling so many things at once can quickly become overwhelming,” he says. “To ensure things get done, I heavily leverage my calendar by blocking out time for everything: content creation, meetings with teammembers, developing marketing pieces, and, yes, even answering emails. By scheduling specific times for specific tasks, I ammuch more efficient as I block out everything else but the task at hand.” Especially with time-sensitive tasks, it’s important to dedicate time to complete them. Once you’ve scheduled time to focus on a single task, keep yourself on track— turn off notifications, close your office door or put on headphones and zero in on the task at hand. Deciding when to schedule these focus sessions is important as well, since everyone has a time of day when they’re most productive. For me, it’s early mornings before most of my coworkers are here. If I have a project I need to get done, I come in earlier than usual to give it a few focused hours. Jody Shaw, manager of professional development at PPAI, recommends scheduling time for reflection and brainstorming as well. “If you keep notes during that time, just like you do for a regular meeting, over time you’ll be able to see the transformation from the ‘ aha ’ moments. Try it for one month and then schedule a time to look back at the items you’ve been scheduling/working on. Could you be more strategic about your time? Also, look for the gaps. What are you missing or didn’t allocate time for this past month?” Most importantly, dedicate time to scheduling in the first place. Deciding what your schedule will look like ahead of time will prevent you from floundering in the middle of the day, trying to decide what to tackle next. 3 Prioritize Wisely “When everything is a priority, nothing is,” writes Karen Martin in her book, The Outstanding Organization . To that end, it’s important to make sure that you take time to rank your tasks. Personally, I evaluate each task as it’s added to my to-do list and check if it’s something I can delegate and, if so, I delegate it immediately to get it out of my inbox or off my plate. Otherwise, if it will take me 10 minutes or less to accomplish it, I do it right then to keep small tasks from piling up. If it’s something I can do later and I know I won’t have time for it that day, I write it Upcoming Webinars For more SPARK content, register for two upcoming webinars presented by SPARK Conference 2020 speakers. Dr. David Vequist will present “Why Strategy Is Better With Data” on April 29 and Julia Maddox will present “Innovation: Design Thinking Can Help” on May 20. Sessions are free to PPAI members and associates. Register at www.onlineeducation.ppai.org/upcoming-webinars. Join Us In San Antonio If you’re a young professional in the promotional industry, plan to come to the SPARK Conference 2020 in San Antonio, Texas, July 15-17. This event will help you learn and connect with topics speci c to the beginning stages of a career—and expand your network of colleagues who can help you. Seats are still available at press time. Register today at www.ppai.org/events/spark. I have to be intentional about remaining organized as juggling so many things at once can quickly become overwhelming. —Bill Petrie, President of PromoCorner | APRIL 2020 | 73 THINK