What is Your “Core Work”?
This week, I have a question that comes from a concept I introduced in the Time Sector System course. That of identifying your “core work” and once you have identified the work you are paid to do how do you prioritise that? Find out more in this week’s podcast.
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Script
Episode 158
Hello and welcome to episode 158 of the Working With Podcast. A podcast to answer all your questions about productivity, time management, self-development and goal planning. My name is Carl Pullein and I am your host for this show.
Last week, I wrote about how I have been using the concept of prioritising my core work from when I began working in my early twenties. It just seemed a logical way to work. This is what I was employed to, so this is my priority.
Since then, I travelled through a few different industries and have come across a lot of evil little distractions that want me to focus on their unimportant crises. It happens to all of us. Those little temptations…go on just take a little look… Go on…what’s the worst thing that could happen?
As forms of communication get better and faster, these little temptresses and tempters become even more malicious and cunning and we can quickly find ourselves being dragged off—sometimes willingly—to places we really do not want to go.
So, this week, I want to share with you my strategies for staying focused on my core work and not allowing those malicious little temptations to side-track me on the unimportant.
Now before we get to that, I hope you are well into your planning for 2021 now. I know we live in very uncertain times. I for one was expecting to be booking my flights to Europe to visit my family for Christmas now, instead, I am having to plan a few days away in the Korean countryside will no chance of being able to leave the country over Christmas. Bit that does not mean I cannot plan 2021.
We might not know when we will regain our freedom of movement, but that does not necessarily mean we cannot improve our lot in life. Often adversity brings with it opportunity and we should not let those opportunities escape. We can take some time to look at them, decide if they are worth pursuing and build a plan to turn 2021 into, as David Guetta recently said, The biggest party year ever!
Okay, on with the show and that means it’s time for me to hand you over to the Mystery Podcast voice for this week’s question.
This week’s question comes from Steve. Steve asks: Hi Carl, I recently took your Time Sector Course and loved it! Thank you. I do have one question though. You talk about “Core Work” in the course, could you give me some examples of what “core work” looks like on a daily basis?
Hi Steve, thank you for your question.
Okay, so how do we define “core work”? Well, your core work is the work you are paid to do. The work you were employed to do.
In its basic form, if you are employed as a salesperson, your core work is making sales. If you are a doctor, your core work is treating patients and if you are a pilot, your core work is flying the plane.
Now, I know from my own experience in sales, just making sales all day is not exactly what I have to do. I also have to do my expenses, fill our activity reports and perhaps update a company’s CRM system. Those tasks are not your core work. Those tasks, while important to your admin team and perhaps your sales manager, do not necessarily help you make more sales.
So identifying the work that directly contributes to you making more sales is identifying your core work. The work that will directly contribute to your income.
Let me give you a few examples from my own working history.
I began my work life in hotels. I started out as bar staff, then moved into the restaurant as a waiter and eventually became a duty manager. It was a great life and no one day was the same. I loved the movement—you never stopped moving—I loved the people and I loved the variety of problems that were thrown at me every day.
Now when I started working as bar staff, I was employed to serve drinks, keep the bar clean and tidy and take and serve bar food orders. Behind the door of the staff entrance was a cleaning schedule. Each day, a different part of the bar was required to be cleaned. This could be the glass shelves behind the bar where we put the whiskeys, brandies and liquors or it could be the fridges where we kept the fruit juices, tonics and bottled beers.
Not long after beginning my work there, I learned that the 8:30 to 4:30 PM shift was the quietest. We did serve tea and coffee as well as sandwiches and other small snacks, during the day, but there were few customers early in the day. So, if I was doing the 8:30 AM shift, I would start my day by making sure the fridges and shelves were fulling stocked, and the cleaning for that day was done first.
I knew if I left it until after lunch, there would be a good chance I would not be able to do that day’s cleaning and I would end up having to work over to get it done. So, for me, priority number one was doing the cleaning and make sure the bar was fully stocked ready for the evening.
Once that work was done, it did not matter how busy lunchtime or the afternoon was. I was ready. I could focus on giving outstanding service to our customers. I was able to do my job well and I believe that is why I was given the chance to become a duty manager.
I applied the same rules when I became a duty manager, as soon as I arrived at work I would do a hand over with the previous shift’s manager. We would go through the events that had occurred in the earlier shift and once that meeting was over I would go into the duty manager’s office and review the bookings we had for the day.
Once that was done I would go round the various departments to make sure everything was okay and ready for the shift. I wanted to know of any potential problems early so I could make sure we had a plan in place in case the worst-case scenario happened. This was my planning and preparation time. It gave me the overview of what was happening.
Again, as a duty manager, my job was to make sure everything ran smoothly and any guest issues were dealt with quickly, effectively and to the highest possible standard. Knowing what was happening and where helped me to make sure I discharged that duty.
Once that was done—usually my first hour of the day—I was ready to do my work. Mostly that was helping out where there was pressure. Check-in time, for example, I would help out reception, dinner time I would help out the restaurant or the bar (or even the kitchen!)
That was the core work of a duty manager.
When I became a lawyer, I made sure when I began the day I started with the key cases for that day. I had already reviewed my case laid the previous evening—even back then I was doing a daily mini-review—I wanted to know what was coming up, what needed my attention and I wanted a plan for the day before I started the day.
As a lawyer, we were at the mercy of the phone. Our clients had our direct dial number—we would never give them our mobile phone numbers—and so I knew if I was to get my core work done, writing contracts, checking legal documents and preparing court filings I needed to get them done before the phone got hot and it got hot every day.
But by applying a little analysis, I soon discovered the busiest time for the phone was between 9:30 and 11:30 AM. So, as I began my work at 8:30 AM I knew I had an hour to get my biggest tasks done. So that is what I did. I did not check the mail or my email, that would have been a tremendous waste of a valuable hour. I needed to get that big work done. That is why having a plan for the day prepared before I began the day I was able to stay on top of my core work. The work I was paid to do.
My core work has changed over the years, now as a teacher and coach, now I need to prepare materials and content. That is my core work today. And although I am no longer at the mercy of a constantly ringing phone, I do still get those inevitable emergencies each day. But, my task manager allows me to collect the work as it comes in, my calendar allows me to block time out to create my teaching materials and the content I put out each week and as my calendar is king, I know that if I am supposed to be preparing this podcast, then I should not be checking my email or instant messages.
I need ninety minutes to prepare this script, so I block those 90 minutes. It’s part of my core work. Checking email is not. I know I will have time later in the day to deal with email. But I must get this script prepared. That is core. The same applies to writing my blog post, recording my YouTube videos. All these are part of my core work. It is how I help people and helping people is my purpose.
Your core work will be different, it is for everyone. But to work out what your core work is go back to your job description. What were you hired to do? If you are self-employed as I am, what work brings in your income? That’s where you start. You will find your core work there.
As Jim Rohn and Brian Tracy say, planning a sales call is not your major work. Being in front of the customer is your major work. Planning sales calls, updating the company’s CRM system and checking your email is minor work. And yes, some of that minor work is important, but it is not your core work. Always remember that. Core work gets the job done, minor work often distracts us and leaves us feeling overwhelmed and busy. When you focus on your core work, the work that matters, you never feel busy because you are always moving the ball forward.
If you want to learn more about the Time Sector Course and how to build in your core work I write a blog post a few months ago about it. The Time Sector house shows you how to build in your core work to your recurring areas of focus so you never have to worry about this on a daily basis because when the work needs doing it will come up on your daily list.
I hope you found this helpful, Steve. Thank you so much for your question.
Thank you also to you for listening.
It just remains for me now to wish you all a very very productive week.