First Things First
A Bench Jeweler’s Guide to Scheduling Daily Work
Now that you have decided on all the jobs you will work on them during the day you then need to determine what to work on when.
Urgent Jobs
Your first priority would be jobs that need to be picked up later in the day. If you have a job that needs to be done today place that job and the whole group that the job is in, at the front of your work tray. This will be the first group of jobs you will work on.
Additional Work
Next, look for work that involves additional work that needs to be done before you can do your work, such as jewelry that needs thorough cleaning before retipping. Take these jobs out of their envelopes and place them in the cleaner, and place the envelopes in the back of your work tray to be work on later in the day.
If someone else needs to appraise a stone before you set it; make certain they have the stone and check to see when they will be finished. Then schedule time later in the day for you to set the stone after they are done with the appraisal.
If engraving needs to be done on a charm by someone else before you can solder it onto a bracelet, make certain the engraving is being done, and then schedule time for you to solder it onto the bracelet later in the day by placing the envelope in the back of your daily work tray. Anytime you have a job to do that requires something to be done before you can do your work, make certain the other work is being done, and schedule time later in the day for you to do your work.
Frogs
Next, look through your remaining jobs and see if there are any jobs that you particularly dislike, any type of work that you would put off doing if you could. Take these jobs and put them in front of your work tray. If there is a job that needs to be done right away then put these jobs second.
Mark Twain once said “If you have to swallow a frog, it is best not to look at it too long.” What generally happens when we have one of those “frogs," a job we do not particularly like to do, we tend to put that last and do the other jobs first. By the end of the afternoon we become tired and think that, we really do not have to do this now, and put it off until the morning. We procrastinate. The job keeps being put off, and it doesn’t get done.
Not only does that job not get done, but while you are working on the other jobs during the day, you are thinking about that frog. It is there in your tray and you spend your whole day dreading that one job. Because of it, your productivity suffers.
Instead, do the work first that you dislike and get it out of the way. When you get that job completed you receive a sense of accomplishment and look forward to the rest of your day because that job is finished. The fun work is left and it makes your day more enjoyable. As a result you are more productive during your work day.
Remaining Jobs
How you arrange all the rest of the jobs has a tremendous effect on how productive you will be during the rest of the day. Each jeweler will arrange these jobs differently. The following methods will help you establish the BEST arrangement for you to increase your productivity.
Scheduling Daily Work continued