With all the work projects, I too often get stuck in tactical work. This is the day to day maintenance that seems to take up 45 of my 40 hours each week.
This includes daily content posting, server backups, application development, to-do list processing etc.
Because of the endless supply of filler these tasks provide, I never am really able to organize the longer term strategy behind what I do. I am rarely able to assess the overall flow of a website, or generate long term goals to direct the way I handle the day to day content.
Don’t get me wrong, I am constantly thinking about this stuff and have a vague idea of where I want to go. I just don’t spend quality time quantifying these ideas, and organizing these thoughts.
To start moving this direction (beyond the tactical and to the strategic), I am beginning to schedule 1 hour (that’s all) a week to sit away from my computer/blackberry/telephone/spreadsheets/project tracking and use only a (gasp) notebook and pen. I take notes as I process concepts, desires goals etc. After 2 weeks, I have been astounded at what that time accomplishes.
So far, I have discovered that spending that hour away from the tactical has actually made the 39 hours where I AM working through the task list much more effective. I am able to view the daily tasks in a much greater context.