Time Strategies

Time Management Expert Nomination

2009-12-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

I am not going to do my usual blog on time management tonight. That's because I've been given the incredible honor of being nominated as "Best Time Management Expert" of the year by my colleagues at NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers). I am nominated along side Julie Morgenstern, David Allen and Harold Taylor, three very well known names in time management. This award is the equivalent of the Academy Awards for organizers.

So, in lieu of a blog, I am asking you to please vote for me. The public is allowed to vote. I will give you the instructions below. They are easy and it will only take you about 2 minutes. I suggest that you read them before you click on the link so you will not end up on the NAPO mailing list (unless you want to). Here they are:

1. Click on this link: http://bit.ly/20P5b8
2. The link brings you to a sign on screen. Sign on as a new user. This is to prevent any one email address from voting more than once.
3. After signing in, you will be brought to the ballot.
4. Scroll down about 7 categories to "Best Time Management Expert." I am the first name listed. Click next to Christine Reiter.
5. Scroll down to the bottom of the ballot (feel free to vote for any other category for which you'd like to vote) and change the bottom 3 responses to "NO" if you don't want to be on the NAPO mailing list.

I would appreciate your vote. Feel free to ask your family and friends to vote as well. Every vote is appreciated.

Many thanks!

Stop Trying To Do Too Much

2009-11-25T00:15:00.000-08:00

In my previous blog I talked about the various reasons why people do too much. In this entry, I will talk about ways to break the cycle of doing too much.

One of the most common excuses people give is that they work best under pressure. The reality is that it is exceedingly difficult to do good work when under pressure. Doing a project under pressure almost becomes an excuse for not doing the best job possible. There will always be loose ends and overlooked details when working under pressure.

Don't try to do others' work, even if you see they are not doing their job. They are responsible for doing it, not you.

Not everything on your list needs to be done. Learn how to prioritize and only do the top items.

Do a self inventory. Is part of your problem due to a lack of organizational skills?

Learn when enough is just enough. Everything doesn't have to be perfect. Be discriminating about when it is worth the extra effort to make something perfect.

Which one of these suggestions applies to you? Will you try to implement it today? Have you tried any of these? Let me know, I'd love to hear from you.

Why Isn't There Enough Time To Do It All?

2009-11-19T23:14:00.000-08:00

We all know that most people are squeezed for time. In other words, there are not enough minutes in the day for all that needs to be done. Why do we do this?

There are a number of reasons. We are probably familiar with most, if not all of them. Sometimes it's good to revisit the reasons because the exercise enables us to step back and look at what we're doing. By taking a little bit of time to gain some perspective, we can explore ways to eliminate or reduce the behaviors that contribute to an overscheduled day.

1. We take on more than we should in order to satisfy a need to achieve. This often grows out of a personal sense of insecurity and a need to prove our worth.
2. Lack of delegation skills or a failure to delegate. Sometimes a failure to delegate springs from a sense of not trusting others to complete a task as well as you, or because you feel it is just faster to do the task yourself.
3. Inability to estimate the amount of time that will be needed to do something resulting in planning too much for the available time.
4. Inability to say no. Many people can't say no because of a desire to please or the inability to be assertive.
5. Piles of paper on the desk because of weak organizational skills.
6. A pursuit of perfection. A lack of a sense of when something is good enough.

Now that we've looked some reasons of why we are too busy, what can we do about it? I'll propose some answers to that question in my next blog.

Which of the above issues are your time challenges? Have you figured out any techniques that help you keep your time under control? I'd love to hear from you!

Benefits of Planning

2009-11-17T22:57:00.000-08:00

I had a conversation with a man yesterday who likes to manage his day. By manage, he prefers to have a calendar (paper) where he can see the whole week in order to pace himself. At the end of each day he reviews the current day and plan the following day. He then writes down his goals and everything that he needs to do.

The benefits to his personal management system are that things don't fall through the cracks, he responds to his customers in a timely manner, and he paces himself in order to keep stress to a minimum. He also manages to spend a certain amount of each day reading books for personal growth and business knowledge. Having his goals written down enables him to keep his priorities straight.

He said he has a couple of friends who don't like writing anything down. His question to me was if I knew anyone who works in this kind of "freeform" fashion. My answer was yes. We all know people like this. They are the ones who appear to be busy but seldom accomplish anything. They drop things through cracks, fail to meet deadlines, and most important of all, they seldom win the business or a promotion.

The moral of this story is that it may take a little extra time to plan, but the benefits of spending that time far outweigh negatives in terms of personal satisfaction, success, and overall sense of accomplishment.

Breaking the Stress Cycle of Your Day

2009-11-11T22:44:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you realize you are totally stressed out and it's only 10 o'clock in the morning?

When I met with my client this afternoon, she told me she was totally stressed out. There was too much to do and the pace was hectic. By the time we were done with our meeting, she stated that she was feeling much better and more focused to move through the remainder of the day.

We had not done any relaxation techniques or focus exercises. What do you think made the difference for her? What do you do midday to help release some of the tension in your head and shoulders?

Today, the difference was that she took a break from the day's pace to meet with me. We focused on the projects she was dealing with and determined why she felt they weren't moving forward. We were able to put a plan in place for her. By the time our meeting ended, the difference in her demeanor was remarkable. Her face was relaxed and her shoulders were unhunched. Her energy level appeared to be much better.

She wasn't more relaxed because of anything I had done or said. Her stress level was eased by the fact that she took a break, took time to rethink her projects from a different perspective, and talked through a couple of sticking points. She walked out of the room with a new attitude toward her work. Because of our appointment, she had to do what she would not have ordinarily done. She would not have stopped to think through her projects. She would not have taken the time to step away from her desk to change her visual and intellectual focus. She would have continued to "spin her wheels" and accomplish significantly less.

Do you ever find that you lose focus and continue to plow through a day without ever truely being productive? When do you realize you have been rushing around, looking busy? Do you ever step back to consciously examine what you're doing and figure out a plan to complete your work? Let me know what you do to cut the stress cycle. Do you have any special rituals, or do you just continue to work without results until it's time to go home?

Multitasking Creates A Bottleneck In The Brain

2009-11-02T22:12:00.000-08:00

Many people still believe they are good at multitasking in spite of many studies that prove them wrong. They insist that they are capable of doing several things at the same time. Witness the people who still hold a cell phone to their ear while driving and suddenly reduce their speed by 10-15 mph, or the people who text while driving.

Another study about the brain and multitasking caught my eye today in the November/December 2009 edition of Scientific American Mind. It was run by Paul Dux, a cognitive neuroscientist.

He discovered more about the brain when it is attempting to multitask. The latest findings suggest that slow processing in the prefrontal cortex, the brain's central executive, is where the limits on multitasking arise. A bottleneck is created because the brain can't process the information from different tasks at the same time. The brain can only deal with the tasks one at a time.

The proof of the bottleneck was verified when the researchers used functional MRI on people juggling two assignments. The prefrontal cortex appeared to deal with the tasks one at a time.

When study participants "trained" the prefrontal cortex, by repeating the tasks until they could be done much faster, the activation time in the brain became shorter. It increased the speed of processing by about 10 times. That was the good news. The bad news is that the benefits of training only applied to the tasks which were practiced. What it really means is that with practice, study participants were able to do each task that was practiced more quickly, but not at the same time -- i.e., multitasking. The practice did not improve the speed of other tasks that were not practiced.

So, those of you who still insist that you are good at multitasking, science has once again proved that we only think we are multitasking well. The reality is that we really are taking more time to complete the tasks.

The Three Things You Need To Decide About Paper

2009-10-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

There are only three things that can be done with a piece of paper, whether it is a physical piece of paper or a virtual one in an electronic document or email. You can file it, act on it, or toss it. In order to determine which of these three courses of action you need to take, you have to decide what needs to be done with it. What are the criteria you can use to make your decision?

If you decide to file it, you need to determine if it will go in to a reference file or an active file for a current project. If it is to go in to a reference file, ask yourself if the information can be found somewhere else: on the internet, in someone else's files, or ...? Is it needed for legal purposes, such as a contract or tax purposes?

If the paper needs something to be done, you must act on it. Perhaps you need to respond in an email, a phone call, delegate it or pass it on to someone you know who needs the information.

If you decide to toss it out, great! If you have any doubts about tossing it, just ask yourself what is the worst thing that can happen if you throw it away? If the answer is nothing, or I'd need to pay for a copy from the source, such as bank documents, or I'd have to track it down, then drop it in to the trash can or shredder. You can always locate it if needed.

Each of these steps is quite simple. However, to some people, the concept is easier said than done. Just remember that for every piece of paper sitting on your desk, the floor, on a shelf, in a file drawer without a home (a file folder and a storage location), it represents an unmade decision. It is a symbol of procrastination, and it can be a reflection of how you work, how capable you are, and how effective you are. Everyone in the corporate world has worked with a manager or coworker whose desk is known to be a "black hole," where things go in but nothing comes out. These are the people who impact their workgroups, teams, and ultimately, the company.

If you agonize over what to do with your paper, make a conscious effort to decide what to do with it before placing it into a pile.

Are You On Magazine Overload?

2009-10-21T22:22:00.000-07:00

Are you a magazine collector? Not necessarily the kind of collector who is a gourmet cook and who collects back issues of Gourmet Magazine, or an antiques collector who doesn't throw away magazines that document antiques. I am talking about those of us who "collect" magazines because there hasn't been an opportunity to read them yet. There are stacks of magazines on the floor, surfaces, baskets, magazine racks, boxes. Most of them are months or even years old.

The usual excuse I hear is that there is an article that hasn't been read yet or there is an article that is to be saved because it is interesting or because it might be used for future reference.

These are easy issues to solve.

If you have a subscription and find that there isn't enough time to read the issues when they arrive, cancel the subscription and pick up the individual issues that interest you. Mark interesting articles in the table of contents with a highlighter. Check them off as you read them. By the end of the month, tear out the runread articles, staple the pages, and put them in a Read folder in your briefcase or totebag. There are always one or two opportunities a day where we are waiting -- in a doctor's office, to pick up a child, waiting for an appointment, etc. These are the perfect times to read an article or two.

If you want to save an article, just save the article, not the whole magazine. It takes much less space. If you want to save it for reference, reflect for a minute about the last time you looked in a file drawer for reference material. The quickest place to look is the internet, and the information is more current than a two year old article. Chances are, the articles in file drawers and notebooks have been forgotten because the first instinct is to do an internet search.

Schedule time to discard old magazines. Take a moment when the project is complete to admire the clear surfaces that have been created. Let me know how you feel when you've finished. Did you cancel subscriptions? Did you create a Read file? How many articles did you file?

Procrastinating Adds Stress To Your Life

2009-10-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

Has it ever occurred to you that procrastinating about doing a task is stressful? Think about it and be honest with yourself. Whenever you have a task that is on your To Do list for too long, it begins to nag at you. You end up wasting even more time by doing anything and everything but that task. You won't start on a different task on your list because you know you have to do the task that is nagging at you.

Participants in my time management classes have told me they: watch TV, play video or PC games, talk on the phone, text friends, go shopping, roller skate, eat, etc., etc rather than just doing the task. They have also told me there is an edge of guilt that steals some of their enjoyment of the substituted activity, all of which should be enjoyable -- if done at an appropriate time.

Get the picture? Not only does putting off, or procrastinating, steal some enjoyment from your life, it also causes you to fall behind on your other tasks. The domino effect prevails and you suddenly are behind on everything else on your list.

The solution is to use the Nike slogan: "Just Do It!" Bite the bullet, set aside the time, and plan the reward you will give yourself for accomplishing that nasty task. You will probably discover it wasn't as bad as you thought it would be.

Tell me about a task you've put off. How did you feel when you finally did it?

Paper Piles and Procrastination

2009-10-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

When you look at your desk with piles of papers on your, do you ask yourself how it got that way?

Have you ever considered that most of the paper in those piles are the result of procrastination? Take a look through one of your piles. How many pieces in the pile are flyers or brochures for a class or conference you thought you might attend (and the date is long gone)? How many pages relate to responses or tasks someone has asked you to do and you put them aside until you had more time (without scheduling time to do the task on your calendar)? How many are pages you want to file but just don't know what to name your folder?

Every one of the pieces of paper you've just sorted through represent a moment when you've procrastinated. You put off a decision until later and later never came.

This is just one aspect of procrastination. Making an effort to do something about that paper at the moment it is in your hand only takes a second. Whether it is the effort to pencil in the conference date and the corresponding last registration date on your calendar, or scheduling some time on your calendar to respond to or handle a task someone has asked you to do, making an effort to handle it NOW can make a huge difference in the size of your piles.

How often do you procrastinate when handling your paperwork? I challenge you to make an effort for the following week to do something with that paper -- decide, calendar, file or just throw it away. Just do something! Let me know at the end of next week if it made a difference. Did you reduce the size of your piles? Did they stay the same size? Did you make better decisions? Let me know.

Maintain Focus By Manageing Interruptions

2009-10-13T21:31:00.000-07:00

My client sent me an email telling me she was feeling overwhelmed in spite of the fact that she was busy doing a lot of stuff.

Knowing her situation, I'm sure she was busy and she was doing a lot of stuff. My guess is she was feeling overwhelmed because she lost her focus on what she needed to accomplish. She lost sight of her priorities. Instead, she was allowing her focus to be hijacked by everyone else's priorities that they were shifting to her.

When interruptions rear their ugly heads, it is very easy to be caught up in the emotions of the moment. Perhaps taking on the interrupter's feelings of urgency. Maybe the good feeling of being needed.

With every interruption we face, we are forced to choose. We must choose between quickly responding if the interruption requires a response at the time or asking the interrupter to make an appointment to discuss the problem later. When we ask the person to make an appointment, we are keeping our focus on our own goals for the day. We are not allowing that person's priorities to become our own.

It is difficult to learn to ask people to respect your time, which is what you are doing when you ask the interrupter to make an appointment to meet with you at a time convenient to both of you. By the time of the appointment, it is very likely the problem has been solved. Over time, people learn that by waiting, that they can often solve the problem themselves.

But the most important thing of all, that by maintaining focus on one's goals and priorities, everyone ends up being more productive, happier and less stressed at the end of the day.

Setting Boundaries Around Interruptions

2009-10-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

I have a client who is constantly interrupted during the day by people who want to update her, want her advice, or who just have trivial questions that they could answer themselves. She is a manager with many responsibilities, who by allowing these interruptions, is also doing the jobs her people should be doing.

We have talked many times about setting aside specific times during the day for people to talk with her. By setting aside appointment times, she would have more productive, uninterrupted time to get things done. She is reluctant to do this, even though she sees day after day get away from her by the number of interruptions she deals with.

Anyone who watches Dr. Phil has heard him say we teach people how to treat us. By not setting boundaries around her time, she is allowing her employees to run her day. More often than not, by setting a standard of requiring appointments to be made to discuss issues, people will approach their appointment with solutions and a very clear presentation of the issues. For the smaller issues, most people will end up solving their problem while waiting for their appointment. The bottom line is that ultimately, her people will become more independent and learn to make decisions on their own. She will reap the benefit of periods of uninterrupted time to get her own work done.

Accomplish More By Limiting Your To Do List

2009-10-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

What do Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, and Lawrence W. Kellner, chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines have in common? They both found that limiting the size of their to do lists enables them to focus on the truly important activities each day.

It is easy to get caught up in an endless to do list. Mary Kay and Lawrence Keller found that asking the question, "What are the three (Keller's list) or five (Ash's list) most important things I need to do today?" Once the list is determined, the items are prioritized and time estimates are made. By doing this exercise each day, they have determined the most value-added things that they will do. It also enables them to block out the necessary time needed to complete their lists.

The key is to tackle these key tasks early in the day. That way, if the day spins out of control, you can leave the office knowing you have done the most important items. Any extra time can be used to work on the other, less critical tasks.

If you have implemented a similar plan for tackling your to do list, how has it helped your career? Has it helped you to achieve your personal goals? Let me know.

Judging the Validity of Multitasking

2009-09-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

I picked up a book recently titled "The Myth of Multitasking (How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done)" by Dave Crenshaw. He had an interesting exercise that clearly demonstrates the fallacy of multitasking. He calls it the "Switchtasking Exercise."

Try his exercise:
1. Take a sheet of paper and write "Multitasking is worse than a lie."
2. Create two rows under the phrase. Label row 1 with an M, row 2 with a 1.
3. Ideally, you should have someone time you, if not, have a stopwatch ready to go.
4. At "GO," write the phrase "Multitasking is worse than a lie in row M. BUT as you write each letter, place a number directly below the letter in row M in your row 1. You will be alternating a letter with a number. By the time you reach the "e" in "lie," you will have reached the number "27" because there are 27 letters in the phrase.
5. When you reach number 27, stop your timer.

Do the exercise again.
1. Write the phrase "Multitasking is worse than a lie."
2. Create two rows under the phrase. Label row 1 with an M and the row below it 1.
3. Get your timer ready.
4. At "GO," but this time, write the whole phrase "Multitasking is worse than a lie" in row M. Then move to the row below M labeled 1 and write the numbers 1 to 27.
5. Compare the time used to complete exercise 1 with exercise 2.

You will find that the time needed to complete exercise 2 is about half the time needed to complete exercise 1.

I think this is a wonderful demonstration to dispel our belief that we can multitask with the same speed or faster than if we do projects one at a time.

Give this exercise a try. Let me know how you do. Did the second exercise take half the time?

Planning -- The Key To Getting To Where You Want To Go

2009-09-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of the best ways to have a productive week is to plan it. The simple act of spending time at the end of each day before leaving work to review your day, evaluate how it went, determine what follow up needs to be done, view the next day's appointments and gather the materials needed for them allows you to hit the ground running when you arrive at the office the next morning.

On a higher level, it is also critical to spend time each week and at the beginning of each month to plan and schedule your activities as they pertain to your long- and short-range goals. The best way to achieve your goals is to write them down, visit them regularly, determine the activites needed to accomplish your goals in the designated time frame and include them in your monthly and weekly plans.

There are always interruptions, emergencies and critical events that will prevent you from accomplishing what you set out to do. The key to getting back on track is to go back to your plans and pick up where you left off. Your plans are the equivalent of a "triptik," where you have highlighted your route, planned your stops and packed what you need. If your car breaks down you might lose a day, but you can resume your trip quickly because you have your plans in place.

Try setting an alarm on your cell phone to remind you each afternoon that it is time to plan. Once you establish the habit and reap the benefits of planning, it will become one of your most important things to do.

Have you developed the habit of planning on a daily basis? Weekly? Monthly? How has it helped you achieve your goals? Tell me about it.

Preparedness Day October 15

2009-09-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

An important piece of information was added as a comment to my last entry. The comment added a website, http://www.shakeout.org/, for readers to view. I think it is an exceedingly important website for everyone to view. Take a look around. There is lots of information. Pass this web address on to your friends, neighbors and family. I can't stress enough how important it is to be prepared for a disaster, whether it is a fire, earthquake or any other unexpected and life changing event. If you belong to a Neighborhood Watch, call a meeting to discuss how you and your neighbors can be prepared. If you don't have a Neighborhood Watch, gather your closest neighbors to make plans. Hold your own drill on October 15.

Planning for a disaster can happen on a number of levels. Planning is needed from the simplest process of gathering important papers and materials critical in helping you establish proof for insurance, financial and government purposes to gathering food, tools and materials you'll need to survive for several days until help arrives.

Start to plan NOW. October 15 is only three weeks away.

Are You Prepared for a Disaster?

2009-09-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

October is Disaster Preparedness Month. In view of the recent fires in California and potential for "The Big One" earthquake, I hope most people are prepared. Sadly, I know very few are.

The first thing evacuees are asked when interviewed by the press is what did you pack? Since the amount of warning is a huge variable -- perhaps an hour, maybe 15 minutes -- or less, the answer is usually the pets, a couple of valuable items, and maybe important things like legal papers (passport, insurance policies, computer, hard drive). When the interviewee has lost her home and therefore, everything inside it, regret is usually voiced about leaving photos and valuable sentimental items and grandma's tea set. Decisions about what to take when panicked and limited in time are usually not the best. There is a tendancy to grab anything in sight without much thought.

Would you know what to throw in your car if told to evacuate? Have you even thought about it? If you have, what have you done to make it as easy as possible to gather your valuable and sentimental belongings? I'd love to hear your experiences.

How Taking Breaks Can Be Healthy For You

2009-08-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

While reading an article today on how to stay healthy at the office, it occurred to me that good time management fits in to the equation quite well.

Of course, there were the standard suggestions like hand washing frequently, eating fruit not doughnuts or pastries during your morning break, lobbying for bike racks at your office so you can bike to work or during breaks, using stairways rather than elevators. You might even decorate the stairways to make them more interesting. You can have walking meetings vs. sitting around a table - just bring a recorder to take notes and play funny DVDs or CDs in the break room.

So what does this have to do with time management? Many of these suggestions have to do with taking breaks. As I've said in previous blogs, taking breaks is a must. They provide needed respite for moving your blood, taking a stretch, changing your focus, clearing your brain. All of these benefits fit into the concept of staying healthy. But in order to do these things, you must plan to take your breaks. Make breaks an integral part of your day. You'll be happier, healthier and more productive and less prone to boredom and morale problems.

Have you tried any of these techniques for making your breaks more interesting? Do you have trouble breaking away to take a break? What works for you?

Too Many Magazines

2009-08-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

When I am called upon to help a client organize their office (either a home office or a business office), I have found, almost without exception, that there are stacks of unread magazines. Most are months old. The question I am always asked is, "How long should I keep these?"

My response is a simple one. I say only keep two months' worth. Anything older than that if you haven't read it by now, you'll never read it. The predictable response from my client is that there are good articles that haven't been read.

There is a simple compromise to the solution of only keeping two months' worth. That is to tear out the articles you want to read, staple the pages and put them in your read file. You can always keep a few in a folder in your briefcase to read during a wait time -- waiting for your child to get out of school, waiting for your doctor's appointment, reading under the hairdryer -- you name it. The best part about this solution is that saving a few pages takes less space than a stack of magazines.

Now there is only one more problem to solve. That is, what do you do when the "read" file gets too tall? Decide the maximum size your "read" file will be when you set it up. Always put the most recent article on the top. When the file reaches its max, remove an article or two from the bottom of the stack. Once again the rule is if it hasn't been read in a period long enough to reach your maximum predetermined size, the article probably wasn't that interesting to you or the information has been superseded by a more current article.

This is an easy system to implement. You'll probably end up reading more than you would have if you dragged the whole magazine around with you.

What do you do with all the reading material that accumulates in your office? Your home? Do you have a system you've developed you'd like to share?

Take A Break!

2009-08-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like taking a break. Whether the break is ten minutes in the middle of the afternoon, ten minutes after an intense meeting, or an evening with friends in the middle of the week.

After spending a delightful evening under the stars at the Hollywood Bowl this evening, I couldn't help but relax, enjoy the beautiful music and some time with good friends. Yes, this is a Tuesday night and it will mean a late night, but I know I won't be quite as tired on less sleep tomorrow because I took some time off. The work can wait. I know the time I took tonight enables me to be more creative in solving problems and certainly more relaxed as I approach the rest of the week. My guess is that the result of taking tonight off will generate similiar benefits to those who be returning to work tomorrow morning.

Have you noticed how taking a break enables you to work more effectively? Or has taking a break enabled you to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem when you return from your break? I'd love to have you share your thoughts about taking a break has helped you.

Could You Take a Blackberry Break On Your Weekend?

2009-08-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

In the New York Times on Sunday, August 9, 2009, Gary E. McCullough, president and chief executive of the Career Education Corporation, was asked if he is a gadget person. His response was a common one in today's gadget age. He said he lives by his Blackberry, but he makes a point of turning it off on Friday night and does not turn it back on again until Sunday morning.

He does this because he likes to make a conscious separation from his work and because he wants his people to have a life. If he responds to an email early Saturday, he quickly gets a response. The cycle of responses begins, and therefore continues through the weekend. By setting an example of not using his Blackberry to continue to work on the weekend, his people know that he genuinely believes weekends are for having a private life. He also knows that if anything critical develops, his board members and leadership team knows how to reach him.

There is nothing more important than actually taking time away from work to regenerate. Regeneration is a necessity if one is to approach one's work with a fresh eye, a sense of creativity and improved productivity. Even though these aren't stated objectives of Mr. McCullough's to separate the work week from the weekend, my guess is that his employees are significantly more productive and satisfied with their job performance than those who work for companies where a 24/7 work week is expected and demanded.

Clearly, Mr. McCullough and his employees are all winners in this scenario.

What are your thoughts about Mr. McCullough's actions? Have you worked in both a 24/7 environment and one where recreation is encouraged? What was the difference in your attitude toward your work?

A Less Obvious Time Saver

2009-08-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

There is another aspect of technology that can save you time. It isn't obvious, but if you take the time to find or make a chart of keyboard shortcuts for each of your programs and use them until they are automatic for you, you will find that keying in text and data will take less time. For the most part, many of them are common to many of your programs. Shortcuts to perform such tasks as cut, copy, paste, bold in Windows and create email, create contact, create task, or save and close task in Outlook are just a few that can shorten the amount of time you spend entering data and navigating your programs. In addition, you can create macros which will eliminate many keystrokes and streamline the keying of repetitive phrases or procedures.

This is such a simple solution to help trim minutes off a task. We seldom think about incorporating it in to our daily PC use. There isn't a book on the shelf that does not contain a page of shortcuts to increase ease of use. Take a few minutes to look them up -- and use them!

Change Your Perspective To Solve A Problem

2009-07-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

While leading a workshop last week, a person who is in sales asked what he should do to get a customer to make a decision to purchase his product. The customer had asked him for information regarding his product, which was promptly given to him. He had justified the purchase of the product for his client, yet no response. He had called when the customer asked him to. Still no response. Other than the usual nine contacts with a customer is needed to produce a sale, what should he do? He didn't want to alienate his customer by "bugging" him, yet he really wanted to make the sale.

The class bounced his dilemma around. He had already tried many of the suggestions. Finally, one participant came up with an 'aha' comment which resonated with the class. The individual said, "You don't know how much is already on his plate." Because we had been discussing how to manage one's time in today's environment where everyone is doing the work of two people, technology is increasing the pace and length of the day, everyone immediately identified both with the questioner and with his proposed dilemma.

Sometimes, in order to solve a problem, we need to view it from another's perspective. In this case, the potential customer's. With that view, it can be easier to figure out a solution. The entire class began to view the problem from a new perspective, and the person who asked the question decided he needed to approach his customer in an entirely new way.

Things aren't always what they appear to be. When things aren't going our way, it helps to step out of our own way and step in to the shoes of the other person. With fresh eyes, fresh ideas can florish.

What dilemmas have you solved by changing your point of view? Please share your comments.

How to Make a Virtual Meeting More Productive

2009-07-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

In an effort to save money, many companies now hold virtual meetings. Virtual meetings are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they save time, effort and money because participants don't have to travel. On the other hand, unless the teleconference also has a visual component, attendees may be at the meeting but not at the meeting because they are surfing the net, reading e-mail, playing games or thumbing through physical reports. When that happens, everyone is wasting time because no one is actually attending -- their minds are elsewhere and not on the meeting.

What can be done about this situation? First, keep the meeting as simple as possible. Choose tasks and topics that can easily be addressed in a phone call such as news briefs, updates, simple solutions. Don't plan activities that require a lot of interaction, longer amounts of time, or complex group activities and decisions. It goes without saying that an agenda with a clear goal for the meeting is mandatory, as well as distributing it a day or two before the meeting. Also, only invite individuals who can directly contribute to the meeting. Keep the group small in order to keep participants active. Keep the meeting as short as possible.

Before calling a virtual meeting, ask yourself if any of the agenda items can be accomplished by an e-mail or a phone call to an individual.

By following these suggestions and those in my previous blog, it is possible to have a successful and productive virtual meeting.

Too Many Pointless Meetings?

2009-07-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

Meetings are the bane of everyone's existence. There are too many of them, too often, and seemingly without a purpose. Sometimes I think some people call meetings to grandstand.

Meetings can be very worthwhile -- if a few requirements are met:
1. There must be an agenda which has been distributed to attendees well before the meeting.
2. A clear start time that is kept (not 1 or 2 or 5 minutes late).
3. All electronic devices should be left outside the door.
4. The meeting leader must stick to the agenda, lead discussions back to point when they stray.
5. Attendees must come prepared -- having researched the topics, completed staff assignments assigned from previous meetings, and prepared for discussion and contribution.
6. The end time must be observed as strictly as the start time.
7. There must be a clear reason for the meeting and the objectives or outcomes stated.

Too often meetings take a free form. Discussions wander, the reason for the meetings are not clear, and participants are not prepared with their assignments.

The best way to have successful meetings is to observe the requirements listed above. In an environment where structure is a foreign word or a disliked word, it might take some time to make all of the elements work. Once everyone can see the benefits in terms of the reduced amount of time and meetings and clear outcomes of more organized meetings, this structure will be appreciated and welcomed.