How do I micromanage myself?

Usually when someone thinks about micromanagement they envision a supervisor to supervisee relationship. People usually imagine an overbearing boss who can’t trust their subordinates to do what they need and can do.

However, micromanagement doesn’t always have to be bad. Yes, it does have some negative connotations; but micromanaging one’s OWN workload can lead to better accountability; less distractions; and a greater emphasis is on prioritization.

This article will first define micromanagement before addressing it as a consequence of issues revolving around doubt and self-worth. Distractions and how they affect your workflow will be addressed, in addition to how workloads can and should address big picture items and goals.

Appropriate time and resources can be dedicated to these priorities through the use of time boxing; or the assignment of time to resolve and accomplish specific activities. Personal focus and follow through will be addressed in using micromanagement to your own advantage as well as how having a dedicated workspace can help you better manage your own workload.

What is micromanagement?

Before we use micromanagement for our own benefit; we first must determine what it is and how this term is generally used.

Micromanagement is often seen as a negative term that refers to a particular management style. This style is characterized by very close supervision and control of very specific and minor details regarding someone’s work .

As a result, micromanagers generally avoid delegating tasks and projects to subordinates. They are usually focused on data gathering through the production of over detailed and lengthy reports.

Doubt and self-worth

The definition and application of micromanagement might cause some doubt and self-worth issues. After all: why would someone micromanage you if they already felt that you could accomplish the work on your own ?

This assumption often addresses individuals’ issues of self-worth. Specifically how you approach problems from orthodox or traditional standpoints . You may also have these issues if you do not settle for anything less than extraordinary and are always focused on the best possible work that you can do. Most people see this as “perfectionism .”

As such, these doubts often reveal themselves as points of invalidation of your own work philosophy . This can manifest themselves in your interpretation of your supervisor’s micromanagement habits of your work .

However, the opposite can be true. By using and reclaiming micromanagement for yourself, you can build a stronger baseline for other professional activities that you’ll engage in during your career. Often, individuals who lack confidence dwell on mistakes that they cannot undo . They also blame themselves for taking the best course of action based on the knowledge they had at hand .

Shame can often be a debilitating feeling that causes you to perform below your abilities. This is especially evident in work that you’ve completed for others that is otherwise good but is full of smaller technical errors such as spelling; punctuation; or other basic elements.

Your work can be considered good as a whole. However, the small errors tend to outshine the achievement of the whole project. Therefore, learning how to micromanage yourself reclaims the title and impetus of this supervisory tactic. By micromanaging yourself you dedicate your energy to producing the best work that you can with the knowledge and resources at your disposal.

Distractions

Distractions are often a thief of our time in a way that we do not usually measure. That’s because repeated interruptions usually break our concentration from what we should be focusing on . Thus, by micromanaging yourself you avoid falling into distractions that might otherwise prevent you from accomplishing your best work.

Doing your best work requires that you micromanage yourself and your activities in order to stay on task and stay focused. Doing this often requires that you determine what your end goal is and how you intend to accomplish it through tasks leading up to that final product. This means that you often have to set clear intentions for your work at the beginning in order to stay focused on achieving a specific outcome.

Some distractions may come from yourself; while others may come from other professionals. If you are constantly surrounded by people who pull you away from your work then it’s best to spend less time with them when you are concentrated and focused .

Another large source of distractions are computers the internet . While they do provide many useful features and tools as a means to do your work; they are also full of distractions. You can ensure a more focused and purposeful work environment by removing all but the most useful and relevant resources for your work .

Even just removing a few distracting elements will help you achieve more as you use and reclaim micromanagement as a tool that helps you become a more productive and focused professional.

Big picture

Making sure that you are aware of the “big picture” whenever you are doing work is key to staying focused and successfully micromanaging yourself. The big picture is what you hope to accomplish in this position; at this job; and with your role in the organization. The big picture could also be the fundamental mission of your office and the institution. Knowing what the big picture is helps you make sense and connection to the “grunt” work that may have to do on a regular basis .

Becoming great at personal management involves constantly asking yourself “how is what I am doing right now serving the “big picture” goal?” Doing this regularly means that you have to constantly justify your own actions as you work through them. You may end up spending a lot of time worrying about a detail that doesn’t really affect (or isn’t connected at all) to the “big picture” goal you’re attempting to accomplish.

Remember: productivity is not about how many things you can accomplish on a regular basis . Productivity is about how swiftly you make progress towards accomplishing your goals. Making sure that your activities and tasks are aligned with your overall goals is one of the hallmarks of effective personal management.

However, deciding what your ultimate goal is can be difficult . For entry level student affairs professionals this could be to gain more experience in residential life, student activities, academic advising etc… You can align your goal with the goal of the office that you work for by serving their mission to engage and educate students. Therefore, its best practice to find out what the mission and vision of your institution is and how that affects the goals of your office. Making sure that your goals are in line with the overall goals of your place of work makes you both efficient and effective.

After sorting out your goals it’s time to determine what your responsibilities are and how they align with those goals. Those responsibilities usually have discrete outcomes such as “advise first year students” or “create residential hall programming.” Those are good goals to have; however goals without timelines are considered open ended and not well structured for you to accomplish them . Therefore, strive to write goals with specific deadlines in mind . Those could be “advise 30 first year students in the first month of employment “or “develop 10 residential hall programs by the end of the fall semester.”

You’ll see that these are smaller and more granular tasks compared to overall intuitional goals such as the “holistic education of the whole student” or “to provide a co-curricular learning environment.” Certainly, your individual goals help support these larger institutional goals. However, you as the individual student affairs professional have the agency and the decision making capacity to provide one small step towards achieving the overall ends of the institution .

Prioritizing

Knowing the big picture for yourself and your institution is important. The next step is determining what you have to do to accomplish those goals. Then prioritizing the order and sequence in which you accomplish them .

This streamlines the entire process and helps you work more effectively. That’s because some goals are meant to be accomplished on your own (i.e. effectively supervise your resident assistant staff). Whereas other goals you can work in concert with others (i.e. create residential assistant training for all returning staff members).

Micromanaging yourself is a more proactive approach towards better personal management. Micromanaging yourself keeps on your toes at all times and forces you to examine what steps are necessary for accomplishing your current goals . This also has the added benefit of setting yourself up to accomplish the next one.

Knowing the priority and the sequence in which to do things helps you think through some difficult decisions that may come up in your professional life. Knowing that these are incoming (such as working through students’ community standards cases) are better addressed when you have already had an opportunity to develop a community with your residents.

All of this boils down into prioritizing and focusing on what you will do each day at work and how those goals help you achieve your personal mission; the mission of your office; and the overall mission of the institution. Each task, activity, or assignment you give yourself is a choice towards making progress towards those stated goals . Making those activities intentional is part of the entire self micromanagement process.

The to-do list is the center for how you want to micromanage you own time and resources towards achieving your goals. Your list should be short but impactful: specifically focusing on the activities and tasks you need to do today in order to meet your large goals.

The next step in this process is determining how and when you’ll handle these individual tasks. That’s because arranging specific times of day to work on certain activities compared to others, increases the likelihood that your positive habits will continue to thrive .

Time boxing

Setting boundaries for what you have to do and when you have to do it helps you work more effectively. Time boxing is a technique where you set aside specific time in your day to work on specific tasks, activities, and projects that serve your goals.

Often, professionals will leave their calendar open and only book appointment times to connect with colleagues, attend events, or meet with students. But leaving those times free in your calendar indicates that you don’t have a structure for that time. The lack of a structure means that your time will be wasted worrying about what you have to do next, instead of just doing it.

Time boxing works best when you can set time in your schedule to work (without interruption ) for a given amount of time. This can be as small as 15 minutes; but often works better in 30 minute; and 60 minute increments.

The best way to time box is to setup these times to commit yourself to working on specific activities and projects BEFORE taking on appointments for meetings with colleagues; attending events; and connecting with students in a formal setting. This means that you already have a “time boxed” period in your schedule for working on a given task or project. This helps aid in your focus, memory, and productivity .

Time boxing can be overwhelming for individuals. That’s why it’s good to start slowly and block out smaller chunks of your time to work on individual tasks. The Pomodoro Technique structures your productive time around 25 minute blocks . During those blocks you should dedicate all of your focus on accomplishing a specific task or activity. You can spend the 5 minutes afterwards taking a break; checking social media; or otherwise relaxing before starting your next calendar commitment or time boxed activity.

Remember, that without structure, work tends to take up the amount of time allotted to fill it . If you only give yourself one hour to complete a task then it’ll take one hour. But without constraints; the same activity could take you days or weeks to complete. Therefore, good personal management and micromanagement requires that you keep a vigilant watch at all times on how you spend your time and where you spend it .

Time is a valuable commodity . Be careful how you spend it as it can be a great enemy or a great ally in making sure that your work gets done. Time boxing is a technique meant to give you a specific focus for what you need to accomplish. Take this time to distance yourself from distracting activities so that you can do what needs to be done when you need to do it.

Focus and follow through

Time boxing is one technique that you can use to better micromanage yourself. However, you’ll also need to rely on focus and follow through in order to accomplish your goals. However, most people were never taught “how” to focus .

The basics of focus begin by distancing yourself from distractions . Almost anything can be a distraction. However, you can’t be distracted unless you know what you’re being distracted from. If you’re supposed to write a report then anything that doesn’t help you write that report IS a distraction. That means social media is as likely a distraction, as your boss interrupting you, or a student emergency.

If whatever occurs doesn’t help you accomplish the task that you are working on right now then it IS a distraction.

After falling into this mindset you’ll begin to see how much more effective you can be at utilizing your time boxed calendar to accomplish your individual l tasks and activities. Everything becomes simpler and smoother once you know what you have to do and when you have to do it .

Focus and follow through also have to do with WHEN you choose to work . Student affairs can be a very flexible profession. So, if you feel more creative at night then you can work at night. If you are more productive in meetings during the morning then you can schedule your meetings to take place during that time. This is where time boxing has an added benefit of showing you right on your calendar where your responsibilities and commitments lie. The visual reinforcement shows you where you are most committed and how you choose to dedicate your time in this area.

A dedicated workspace

Perhaps the best element of micromanaging yourself is choosing when, how, and where you’ll work. Having a dedicated workspace is great for focusing on what you need to do and when you need to do it. It also helps minimize any external distractions which may pull you off track .

Working in a dedicated office doesn’t mean that you’ll have less distractions. Depending on where your desk is and how you work you may be prone to more distracting interruptions. Those could come from colleagues dropping in unannounced; meetings taking place around you; or the errant student crisis.

The same can be said for work at home spaces. Working from home has its benefits; but it can be replete with more distractions from people; pets; and the environment than being at work.

Remember: if it doesn’t help you achieve what you’re working on right now then whatever is pulling you away from work IS a distraction.

Takeaways

This article defined what “micromanagement” is and how it how it is often used negatively against student affairs professionals. Being micromanaged often means that feelings of doubt and self-worth need to be addressed. By addressing those, you can use micromanagement of yourself to achieve your personal goals; office goals; and institutional goals.

Distractions were addressed as something that gets in the way of achieving your set goals. Distractions are only present if they are distracting you FROM doing something. That’s why it’s important to think about and plan for the “big picture” of what you want to accomplish. By doing that you can become better at prioritizing what you want to do and time boxing your schedule to accomplish it. Focus and follow through were addressed in how you can manage yourself as well as what is needed in a dedicated workspace.

I hope that you found this article useful! If you need some additional help on your student affairs job search, then check out the eBook The Student Affairs Job Search: A Comprehensive Guide available here .

Happy searching,

Dave Eng, EdD

Provost, The Job Hakr

@davengdesign

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Cite this Article

Eng, D. (2021, June 7). How do I micromanage myself? Retrieved MONTH DATE, YEAR, from https://www.jobhakr.com/blog-1/2021/6/7/how-do-i-micromanage-myself

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