Coping With an Overwhelming To-Do List
At Southeastern Home Services, we're 1 month into acquisition #1 (Mario's Air Conditioning & Heating), and just over 2 weeks into acquisition #2 (Pro-Team Plumbing). And we're gearing up for acquisition #3 in the next 45-60 days. I think it's safe to say this is the busiest I've ever been in my professional life. Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying it as I love this stuff...but it's a lot.
Everyone hits these phases for different reasons, whether it's starting a new job, having a child, dealing with family issues, or battling through a personal health crisis. There are some overarching things I try and do when things get crazy, like focusing even more on personal health and energy through diet and exercise. Or drawing clear boundaries between time with my family and when I'm working. Or even breathing exercises and meditation. These are all important and necessary.
But none of these will be the focus of this article. I want to get into the real nuts and bolts of how to approach that overflowing task list. I recently came across The Focus Funnel concept which is shown below. It appears credit goes to Rory Vaden for developing this. I'm going to go through each phase of the funnel and share how I've thought about that stage during these past few weeks, and provide concrete examples in the hopes it helps someone reading identify what they can eliminate, automate, delegate, concentrate, or procrastinate.
Eliminate - From my perspective, this is the most important one. The busier you get and the more you have coming at you, the need to ruthlessly eliminate becomes imperative. At work I've eliminated some of the fancy planning and project management templates I was using and am settling for crude and simple. On a personal front, we hired a financial advisor which is in a sense eliminating the need to manage our personal finances. I was trying to stay active on Twitter almost daily to both learn and contribute, and that's mostly been eliminated for the time being. I even thought about eliminating this blog, but I think the longer form writing is therapeutic and helps me work through topics like this one that have been on my mind.
There's a reason eliminate is at the top of The Focus Funnel. It should be the first filter used and if something isn't adding enough value, it should be eliminated. A word of warning though, just because you don't like doing something, or it isn't the most important thing to you personally, that doesn't automatically mean it should be eliminated. You have to look through the lens of what's important to the team/business, and that's where the next two categories come into play.
Automate - This is probably the one I'm least effective at, but working to improve. If something is important enough that you decide not to eliminate it, but it takes considerable time, then you should consider automating it. I'm still very early in getting my arms around the data and processes in our new companies, so automation opportunities are still hard to see. That said a couple simple examples...
Every day we get an email from Indeed with the new HVAC technicians that uploaded their resumes to the site. Given everyone is looking for technicians, there's value in striking first and making contact, but our busy managers often can't drop everything to make immediate contact. We're working on an automation for this
There's certain data I'd like to see daily or weekly. This could come from ServiceTitan for our HVAC company, or Housecall Pro or FieldPulse for our plumbing company. Or Quickbooks for accounting at either company. I'm working on some reporting automations to have this data auto-pulled and sent to me which will be a timesaver while still providing valuable information for decision making
Delegate - After running your overwhelming task list through the eliminate and automate filters, the next one is whether you should delegate it. This could be delegating to your direct reports and extended team members, or even delegating up to your manager. It's important here to realize what your strengths are, as well as the skillsets of your team. Ideally you only want to personally be working on the things you're uniquely suited to do effectively, and have the leverage and impact corresponding to your role in the organization. The higher you get up in the organization, the more selective you have to be in terms of what justifies your time and attention.
In the immediate aftermath of these acquisitions, there's a lot I can't delegate. As the CEO, I can't delegate the communication of the vision, the setting of priorities, or the relationship building and interactions with the teams. Some of the quicker wins in delegation have been the many administrative tasks associated with an acquisition. Things like vendor credit applications, COIs, aspects of insurance, etc. But I've also delegated some more significant projects. Something like marketing strategy for one of our acquisitions, or an exercise around process mapping.
A word of warning around delegation. It may sound easy, especially if you haven't managed people before. But it's a learned skill just like anything else. How to effectively delegate is beyond the scope of this article, but suffice to say you can't just toss something over the fence with limited direction and follow-up, and consider it delegated. Delegation is a powerful tool, but make sure to do it thoughtfully so it doesn't backfire on you and your team.
Concentrate (Now) - When you get all the way down The Focus Funnel, these are the tasks you work on right now. They are important, might be urgent, and are generally suited for your skillset. There might still be a lot in this bucket, but far less than when you started, before you eliminated, automated, and delegated. This is also where reality sets in as there are only so many hours in a day or week, and you have to set boundaries on how much you're willing to take on.
Procrastinate (Later) - When I first saw The Focus Funnel, I thought this was the most unique and innovative aspect of it. The concept of "procrastinating on purpose" is huge. There's often such a negative connotation with procrastination, but in this context, it makes a ton of sense. Anything that makes it all the way down the funnel, but doesn't hit your Concentrate (Now) bucket, you essentially run it back through the funnel again. I call this my parking lot, and it's quite large at this moment. I feel like I've come across a ton of good ideas and areas for improvement, some from within the business, and some externally. But I don't have the bandwidth to work on them now, nor do they hit the priority list yet for automation or delegation. Still I see potential in them at a later date, especially as we learn and get more information integrating these businesses, so they go on the procrastination list for now.
I've found this to be a helpful framework to cope with what is currently an overwhelming to-do list. The list is still long, but with a filtering process like The Focus Funnel, it's manageable. I hope you find it worthwhile as well.
With that, here are some of the favorite things I've read and watched in the last few weeks:
· Article - Jimmy Butler Has Established His Legend, No Matter What Happens Next by Ramona Shelburne – So this article was actually written October 2020 when the NBA Finals were played in the bubble due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I think the title would apply equally now after Butler had 47 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 4 steals in a Game 6 win on the road. Great story about someone with one heck of a competitive edge and work ethic. Excited for Game 7 tonight!
· Article - St. Pete-Based Home Services Provider Acquires Two Local Companies – Southeastern Home Services getting some good press in the Tampa Bay Business Journal
· Movie - The Batman – This was unlike any other Batman or superhero movie I’ve ever watched. It’s extremely dark and honestly a bit hard to watch given the somber tone it sets. All that said, it’s really well done and keeps you wondering until the end. We watched is streaming on HBO Max
· Article - The Top Idea in Your Mind by Paul Graham – This is an old article but good one. I think it’s an important concept from several angles: to solve an important problem it has to be top of mind (aka think about it in shower), the types of thoughts you don’t want to be at the top, and how you can’t directly control this, so you have to change your environment and situation if you don’t like what your brain is drifting to focus on
· Article - Right Now, But Wrong Later by Nick Maggiulli – Regular readers know I love Maggiulli’s blog. A lot has happened in the markets in the few weeks since he wrote this, we’re coming off a nice rebound week. I think his message here is really important, and I’m always impressed by how he backs everything up with a lot of data, but writes in an easy to understand way
· Quote #1 – Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. Carl Sundburg
· Quote #2 – The only way out is always through. Robert Frost