Productivity

I thought I'll write down how I cope with running a centre, being an academic (teaching), being head of postgraduate studies, manage 3 grant projects and manage 4 full time and 3 part-time PhD students.
Coping with the stress
1. Clear my inbox. If an email comes in that can be delegated, I delegate it and then delete the email, believing that I will only have to take action when whoever I delegated the work to gets back to me. So it's gone from my mind and there is no need to think about it or work on it further.
2. If I am supposed to do something on a particular day, I put that onto my diary with a reminder and then I also delete it from my mind, believing that I need only to think about it at that time.
3. Focus on the present. Only work on things that need to be worked on today. Things that need to be worked on another day do not need to featured in today's load and would be erased from my mind.
4. Plan the timing. If something needs done, has a future deadline, and it takes time, I calculate how much time I might reasonably need up to the deadline and figure out the day/date I need to start working on it. I then put in the reminder on that day/date and erase it from my mind until the reminder comes in.
Coping with the work
1. Read productively. That means, if a PhD student sends me a lit review, or a research design, or something, make sure it's at the stage where it deserves to be read. For example, if it's a lit review and I see at the end that there isn't any hypothesis development or methodology, I send it back and say to complete it before I read it.
2. Be mindful of the most efficient use of time. I try not to do anything that isn't productive at a high level. That means I don't arrange meetings, decide venue, check if everyone is available and get all the documents in order for the meeting (my secretary does all that). I also don't update websites, write administrative reports, do summaries, etc. (my PA does that). I make decisions but someone else implements the decision made. I interject on the most important bits.
I think the model works. By doing it this way, I can cope better and do much more with my time!