Putting out fires

[andrea843]

Do you ever feel like you spend your days putting out fires? Stomping them out and then moving to the next one without the ability to do the actual work that needs to get done? What do you all do to avoid having a REACTIVE day instead of a proactive one?



Andrea,,,, just call me firefighter today...In Charleston

[jlkee]

When I find myself being overwhelmed with fires, I STOP, take a DEEEP BREEAATH, and say to myself (out loud, because it helps to hear it)  "My name is Joyce, and I can only do ONE THING AT A TIME!"  Then I quickly prioritize the fires and take care of them one at a time.



Another reason to say it out loud is that people hear you, and tend to leave you alone, thinking you are crazy because you are talking to yourself  



 

[energizer]

Joyce, I like your suggestion (especially the part about saying it "out loud."



I have a different system for dealing with fires.  I call the Fire Department.  That is, I delegate the situation to the person who has the best tools or most knowledge of the problem to deal with it.  For the situations that really are mine to handle, I add them to my "to do" list (which I keep faithfully) and code them as to their actual priority.  My criteria for coding is simple -- if not doing it immediately will result in painful consequences for someone, will cost the company money unnecessarily, or will end up creating even more work for me, then it gets coded a high priority and gets done within 15 minutes.  Otherwise, it gets a medium priority and gets done within a couple of hours.



A point of interest -- when my boss sees me adding it to my "to do" list, he inevitably asks what else is on my plate.  Chances are when he sees the length of the list, a formerly "top priority" item will not seem quite as critical, and he tells me it can wait for a short time.  Very seldom is a "do it NOW" item so critical that it can't wait for me to finish the current critical item I'm already working on.  I'm just careful not to lose my cool.  I smile pleasantly, say of course I'll take care of that, and he goes away and trusts that I will.  He's learned from this not to set fires unnecessarily, and to trust that I can determine accurately which tasks really need to be done quickly.



In the cases where I truly have two "NOW" critical items, I tell him point blank that both are critical, and I estimate the time required to complete each task.  Then I let him make the final decision as to which task I should complete first.  This doesn't happen very often, because as I said, he usually trusts me to determine how critical the timing is.  Works for us!



Keeping the work fires under control, I am . . .



Energizer  

[daisylee]

I once had a job that was nothing BUT extinguishing fires...I know that's where the term "burn out" came from.  I've got one now, I call it the A/P forest fire.  But I feel like I'm fighting this one with a spoonful of water, and nothing else!



But I guess, like anything, it gets aggravating, but as long as it's the exception, and not the norm, we all have the ability to cope with it!  I usually swear, and slam things, (only if I'm alone, which I am most of the time!)...and then I feel better!



Daisylee (only you can prevent forest fires!)

[Katie G]

This place seems to actually ENJOY fires!  (Go figure!)  I guess it makes them feel like something's going on, but it drives me absolutely NUTS!  



Part of the problem is that this is a HUGE organization (large university) and there are channels and steps to go through to do anything.  These steps take time.  This is just a fact of life around here but nobody around here seems to plan far enough ahead to make allowances for the time it takes to follow a paper through 5 - 10 steps of approval.  Instead, everything is done "seat of the pants". Then they try to take shortcuts which, invariably, come back to bite ME in the butt.  I'm the one who ends up chasing down missing signatures, missing forms, missing checks, you name it.  



I get really frustrated having the responsibility of cleaning up these messes, while lacking the authority to prevent them in the first place.  



Call me disgruntled Didface today.

[msrobbie]

Just call me "Fire Marshal Robbie".  That gives me the best (worst?) of BOTH worlds, both fire and police.  Fits my situation to a "tee".  I'm expected to handle anything that comes up, no matter what, to keep order amongst the general population, and then investigate the cause of the problem.  Whether it should be the casually thrown match, arson, a lightning strike, or even spontaneous combustion, I'm your gal.



Robbie (where DID I leave my turn-out gear??)

[ozbound]

We have just the occasional brush-fire in my corner of the office. But it seems like I'm the fire CHIEF at home--something's always coming up  (which often does take time at work as well). Seems I can never save $$ for an emergency fund either because I'm always IN an emergency! My partner gets all worried and wants to get out the fire-axe right away. But I have to remind him--prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. We gotta take care of what's already on our plate 1st and let God handle the rest, at least for the time-being. Sometimes a better solution even comes along in the interim! Then I take a deeep breath (preferably someplace upwind of the smoke)...

[sungoddesslv]

I'm with Ms. Robbie.  In my previous position, I was Office Manager.  And with that position came solving every problem (fire) that blazed.  As soon as I walked through the front door, it was reaction time.  (Okay, not every day, but very many).  And that is why I was at the office until 7-8pm because that was the only time I had to get my other work done.  After all, I was also the Exec Asst to the President of the company. [I am ADMIN hear my roar...]



sungoddess (don't have the problem anymore) in LV

[daisylee]

Well the office equivelant of them...you know, the ones that hang on to something until it becomes mission critical, and then run up to you crying "the customer needs this information in a half hour, I have a meeting, you do it!"...my old boss was notorious for this.  And then couldn't understand why you didn't finish the work you had on your desk! (I swear, this happened at least three times a week!)



And of course, that's one of the reasons I don't work there anymore!



Daisy (no, I don't have an asbestos suit and heels I can wear to the office!)

[barbri]

In a previous life (read job), I worked with someone who was famous for going to administrative staff with the line "My procrastination has become your emergency." Drove me nuts!! It is so unfair to put something off only to dump it on someone else at the last minute. What makes it worse is that the "dumper" is usually the one to get credit for the job being done!



Thankfully, I don't often have to put out fires in my current position.



Barb

[cocookie]

At a conference years ago I heard a speaker mention that Admins have one of the highest rates of job stress (she quoted statistics, but I don't remember them).  The reason for the high stress level?  Because most of our days are spent reacting to things that are out of our control.  We have only about 7-10% discretionary time, the other 90% or so is at the whim of someone or something else.  That's what we get paid the big bucks for.   HA, HA.  Fires are what make my life interesting although it's a heavy responsibility to have to be the hero all the time.



Seriously, that thought about 90% of my time being spent in a reactionary mode has saved me from going crazy.  I figure that I to to work each day knowing in advance that I'm almost like the little steel balls in the pinball machines and I don't worry about it because it's just the way this job is - it's not personal.