Thanksgiving was last week. Now it's Turkey Day!

By now, the only remnants of Thanksgiving should be the unwanted pounds you've gained and some pumpkin pie in the fridge. A turkey sandwich in today's lunch might be acceptable, but Thankgiving's over and now it's time to get back to work.

While Thanksgiving has passed, I think today would be a great day to observe a different kind of 'Turkey Day' and remove some other leftovers in your professional life.

If you're like most, you have a hard time saying 'no' to a good idea or project. When the boss (or anyone else) asks you to help out, you do. The ultimate volunteer, you're now involved in just about everything.

The end result: You do many things. But not really the RIGHT things.

Even worse, those things you're doing may have little to do with being successful. Take a few moments today to 'toss out the turkeys' and determine where you should focus most of your time and resources.

• What new initiatives were launched this year? What new projects did you become involved with? How are they performing? Should they remain, or could some 'disappear' without affecting your organization's success?
• How do you spend most of your time? Odds are, you don't know. Conduct a time audit to find out. The time audit may be the best use of your time.
• YOU are your most important resource. Do everything in your power to allocate yourself more effectively.

Take a moment to identify the 3-5 most important functions of your position. Define each one clearly and then define what it means to be successful. Are you achieving that level of success? If not, what can you do to dedicate more of yourself and your resources to these functions?

As you find activities that are important, but not on your list of 3-5 top functions, consider delegating those to others in your organization. They'd likely enjoy the responsibility and opportunity, and you get the chance to focus on the most important aspects of your job.

However, as you look at those extra projects, committee meetings, extracurricular activites and anything else that chips away at your time, look for the turkeys. Anything that isn't adding value to you or your organization is a turkey. Don't delegate that work, just stop doing it.

Happy Turkey Day! It's time to throw out the leftovers.

By the way, I know using turkey in a blog in November is trite. Be thankful I didn't use 'gobble gobble' over and over!!

Thanksgiving was last week. Now it's Turkey Day!