We hear it every day: The world is changing. And while the coronavirus has brought about perhaps the most obvious changes, the influx of new ideas did not start in 2020. It has been happening with each passing year, and it has drastically changed the way that we all work.
This isn’t solely because of new technology, either. The passage of time inevitably changes things; a few years ago I ran a large company, where now I’m working more with smaller, local ventures. I had a lot of habits and behaviors that enabled me to be successful back then that maybe haven’t served me as well lately.
And I recently spoke with a friend who is in a similar boat; still managing businesses, but on a much smaller scale than he’s used to. Before, we both relied heavily on our time management skills, but our new roles have made most of that unnecessary by virtue of smaller projects.
Of course, we didn’t just stop managing our time. But we both adopted new processes and scaled them down to smaller models. A big move for me was in recognizing the high tech management software I used for tasks, projects, and my “to do” lists was just overkill. Now, I use a whiteboard in my office and once a week summarize in an email what everyone in my various organizations needs to know. Lower tech, but it serves the need efficiently.
If your work circumstances have changed, like many of ours have, how are you changing with them? Have you consciously made an effort to do things differently? Don’t throw out all your old processes; they worked for a reason, after all. But if you can adapt them, scale them to your new situation, you’d be surprised how much more efficient you can be in your new role.