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Time Management
15 Minutes to Workplace Sanity
May 16th
Ever have one of those days when you’re just completely overwhelmed? Too much to do, not enough time. Deadlines looming (or whizzing past), phone ringing, emails pinging.
Just everyday life for a lot of us.
And most days we manage to roll with it, deal with things as they come up, and get along just fine.
Some days, though, the clamor of multiple competing demands on our time, energy, and attention can be just too much to bear. We feel overwhelmed and out of control. It can paralyze us — dozens of things to do, and we do none of them, because we don’t know where to start. We fight the urge to just quit — crawl under our desk and hide, hoping it will all go away.
Quitting isn’t an option, though, and fortunately, it’s not necessary. In fifteen minutes or less you can take a few simple steps to retake control, overcome the panic, move forward, and regain workplace sanity. So when it’s all too much but you must get it done, try this:
- Close your eyes for one minute and just breathe. Grab hold of your mind, block out the screaming voices of panic, and purposely focus on just breathing in and out. Notice where you’re feeling tense, and intentionally relax those muscles. Slow your breathing, calm your mind. Just take those sixty seconds to reclaim quiet and peace.
- Clear your workspace. When we get too busy, our workspace usually reflects the clutter of our minds. Our carefully prepared organizational systems go by the wayside; we leave papers on our desk or on the kitchen counter as reminders to do something, and pretty soon the desk or counter is a mass of piles and sticky notes and reminders. Whether or not you consciously recognize it, the chaos of those piles distracts you and makes it nearly impossible to focus on anything. So take five minutes to clear off your workspace. Don’t sort or file anything unless you can do it in seconds. Toss the trash, drop the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, and stash the piles of papers in a nearby drawer or shelf for later attention. If you’re afraid you’ll forget something important, take a second to schedule an appointment to tend to those stashed piles. Your immediate objective is to create a clear, clean, distraction-free space for focused working.
- Take five minutes to write down everything that needs to get done. Use whatever method works best for you to capture everything. I rely heavily on technology, but when I’m in this situation, I prefer old-fashioned pen and legal pad. Don’t try to organize or prioritize the tasks; just do a brain dump. Part of the anxiety you feel is a fear that you’re forgetting something, so get it all there on paper in front of you.
- Scan the list. Is there anything there that somebody else could do? Your secretary or assistant? A colleague? Your spouse or child? This is no time to be too proud to ask for help — remember, we’re in crisis mode here. Take five minutes to offload anything that reasonably can be delegated.
- Is there anything on the list that can be put off until tomorrow (or the next day) without knocking the earth off its axis? Take one minute to check off those tasks that don’t truly have to be done right this minute. Circle the ones that do need immediate attention.
- Choose one of the circled tasks. Don’t spend a lot of time agonizing over priority. Just pick one. If there’s something that can be done in a couple of minutes — responding to an email or returning a phone call, maybe? — do that and enjoy the catharsis of seeing your list begin to dwindle immediately. But the main thing is to just pick one.
- Clear everything else away, and do it. Gather the materials you need for that task, then sit down and get it done. If it will take more than half an hour or so, considering using the Pomodoro technique: set a timer for 25 minutes and work steadily until the timer goes off. Then take a five-minute break — stretch, walk, get a drink of water — and then get back to work, with the timer set for another 25-minute segment. Keep up that approach until you’ve finished the task.
- When you finish that task, cross it off the list and choose another. One item at a time, work through the list until you’re caught up.
I know this approach works, because it’s saved my workplace sanity numerous times in my own professional life. I’d love it if you’d give it a try and then let me know how it works for you.
Related Lifehack articles:
- 10 Apps That Help You Stay on Time and Remember Things
- 29 Ways to Beat Procrastination Once and For All
(Photo credit: Meditating in Office via Shutterstock)
Laura McClellan is a lawyer, a writer, a productivity fanatic, and a tech geek. Married for 30+ years to her high school sweetheart, with whom she's raised five amazing kids, she's passionate about encouraging women in their individual journeys as people, wives, mothers, citizens. While she prepares to launch her new website, Laura blogs at I Was Just Thinking . . . and Real Estate Law Blog and is working on her first novel. Connect with Laura on Twitter as @LauraMcMom.
21 Things You Could Do In Just 5 Minutes
May 9th
Life moves pretty fast.
Often, we let it slip by.
Bit-by-bit. Minute-by-minute.
Are you letting your time slip by?
The Potential of Just a Few Minutes
Want more time in your day?
I can’t help you there.
We all get the same amount each day.
But, you can make more of the time you have.
You can be more productive. Not letting life’s little moments slip by.
The few minutes before a meeting. The short time waiting for something or someone.
“5 minutes is more than enough time to get a small task done.
And small tasks add up to big productivity.”
Don’t underestimate the power to make the most of even five minutes.
You can get something done or even just enjoy being where you are.
What Can You Fit Into Life’s Little Moments?
It is not always the big time periods.
Sometimes, what matters most, is what you do with the little times.
Here is a list of 21 Things You Could Do in Just 5 Minutes…
- Answer 5 emails.
- Return a phone call.
- Read a few pages of a book. (On your phone or iPad.)
- Tell someone how much you appreciate them.
- Listen to someone tell you a story. (And just be there.)
- Write in your journal. It doesn’t have to be long. A few notes here and there add up quick.
- Pay someone a compliment.
- Do a favor for someone. (Even a stranger…)
- Review your calendar.
- Affirm your goals. (They are written down, right?)
- Listen to a motivation song.
- Check your todo list. (If you don’t look at it, it can’t have your back.)
- Clean your workspace.
- Go for a walk, around the office.
- Text someone just to say you love or miss them.
- Do a quick task. (Or even a couple.)
- Delegate an item that you have been holding up.
- Slow down and catch your breath.
- Add a new phone number to your address book.
- Do some preventative maintenance. (Before there is an issue!)
- Enjoy where you are… you will never be in that exact moment again.
Just 5 Minutes
It’s not about cramming more and more into the day.
It’s not about constantly running yourself ragged.
However, it is about making the most of your time.
It is about enjoying yourself and not letting life’s small minutes slip by.
So, what are you going to do with those 5 minutes?
Question: What do you get done when you find yourself with just a few minutes?
Why Time Doesn’t Heal All Wounds
May 8th
(Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post by Francine Shapiro, PhD, author of Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy. Shapiro is a senior research fellow at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, director of the EMDR Institute, and founder of the non-profit EMDR-Humanitarian Assistance Programs. As the originator of EMDR, she is a recipient of the International Sigmund Freud Award for Psychotherapy of the City of Vienna, the American Psychological Association Trauma Psychology Division Award for Outstanding Contributions to Practice in Trauma Psychology, and the Distinguished Scientific Achievement in Psychology Award, from the California Psychological Association. As a result of her work, over 70,000 clinicians have treated millions of people during the past 20 years. For more information please visit http://www.emdr.com)
If we cut ourselves, unless there is an obstacle, we tend to heal. If we remove the block, the body goes back to healing. That’s why we’re willing, to let ourselves be cut open during surgery. We expect incisions to heal.
The brain is part of the body. In addition to the millions of memory networks I’ve just described, we all have hardwired into our brains a mechanism — an information processing system — for healing. It is geared to take any sort of emotional turmoil to a level of mental health or what I call a level of adaptive resolution. This means a resolution that include the useful information that allows us to be more fit for survival in our lives. The information processing system is meant to make connections to what is useful, and let go of the rest.
Here’s how it works: Imagine that you’ve had an argument with a coworker. You can feel upset, angry or fearful with all the physical reactions that go along with these different emotions. You can also have negative thoughts about the person and yourself. You might imagine how you’d like to exact revenge, but let’s hope you resist those behaviors; among other things they would probably get you fired. So you walk away. You think about it. You talk about it. You go to sleep and maybe dream about it. And the next day you might not feel so bad. You’ve basically “digested” the experience and now have a better sense of what to do. That’s the brain’s information processing system taking a disturbing experience and allowing learning to take place. Much of it goes on during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Scientists believe that during this stage of sleep the brain processes wishes, survival information and the learning that took place that day. Basically, whatever is important to us. The bottom line is that the brain is hardwired to do that.
After uninterrupted information processing, the memory of the argument has generally linked up with more useful information already stored in your brain. This can include past experiences you’ve had with this coworker and others. You may now be able to say, “Oh, that’s just the way John is. I’ve handled something like this before with him, and it came out fine.” As these other memories link up with the current disturbing incident, your experience of the event changes. You learn what is useful from the argument and your brain lets go of what’s not. Because the negative feelings and the self-talk are no longer useful, they’re gone. But what you needed to learn remains, and now your brain stores the memory of the event in a form where it is able to successfully guide you in the future.
As a result, you have a better sense of what you’re supposed to do. You can talk to your coworker without the intense emotional turmoil you had the day before. That’s the brain’s adaptive information processing system taking a disturbing experience and allowing learning to take place. It’s doing just what it’s geared to do.
Sadly, disturbing experiences, whether major traumas or other kinds of upsetting events, can overwhelm the system. When that happens, the intense emotional and physical disturbance caused by the situation prevents the information processing system from making the internal connections needed to take it to a resolution. Instead, the memory of the situation becomes stored in the brain as you experienced it. What you saw and felt, the image, the emotions, the physical sensations and the thoughts become encoded in memory in their original, unprocessed form. So, whenever you see the coworker you argued with, rather than being able to have a calm chat, the anger or fear comes flooding back. You may try to manage your feelings out of self-preservation, but whenever the person appears, your distress goes up.
When reactions such as these refuse to go away in the present, it’s often because they are also linking into unprocessed memories from the past. These unconscious connections occur automatically. For instance, your immediate dislike of a person you just met may come from memories of someone in some way similar who hurt you before. Also, consider the case of a woman who was raped. Years later, she is in bed with someone she knows is a very loving partner. But when he touches her in a certain way, her emotions and body respond automatically. The terror and feelings of powerlessness she had during the rape flood her. If the information processing system did not function properly after the attack, a touch similar to the rapist’s can link into the memory network and “trigger” the emotions and the physical sensations that are part of that stored unprocessed memory.
The disrupted information processing system has stored the memory in isolation — unintegrated within the more general memory networks. It can’t change since it is unable to link up with anything more useful and adaptive. That’s why time doesn’t heal all wounds, and you may still feel anger, resentment, pain, sorrow or a number of other emotions about events that took place years ago. They are frozen in time, and the unprocessed memories can become the foundation for emotional, and some times physical, problems. Even though you might not have had a major trauma in your life, research has shown that other kinds of life experiences can cause the same types of problems. And since the memory connections happen automatically, below conscious level, you may have no idea what’s really running your show.
(Photo credit: MousyBoyWithGlasses via Flickr – CC BY-SA 2.0)
Waste of Time? 7 Ways Time Management Can Improve Your Work Performance
May 7th
Your interactions with others consume as much time, if not more, than any other part of your day. You can eliminate waste of time by learning time management strategies that can help you build more efficient interaction with others. You can also maximize work performance by improving the quality of your communications.
Miscommunication is a Waste of Time
A major waste of time is caused by misunderstandings between people about roles, goals, and responsibilities. People do not know what they are expected to do, how to do it, and by what time.
Misunderstandings lead to inefficiencies, anger, frustration, and unhappiness. It often requires an enormous amount of time to clear up a misunderstanding and get matters back to normal.
Most of your problems in life talk back. They come with hair on top. Perhaps 85 percent of your happiness, or unhappiness, in life involves other people in some way. Miscommunications with other people can create a major waste of time and lower work performance, but this can easily be fixed through proper time management.
Unclear Priorities and Work Performance
Misunderstandings about priorities often lead to your working at the wrong job, at the wrong time, for the wrong reason, and perhaps aiming at the wrong level of quality. Or the problem may be that you are working for the wrong person.
The single most important cause of high levels of motivation in work for increased work performance is defined as “knowing exactly what is expected.” On the other hand, the number-one complaint, or demotivator, of employees is to “not know what is expected.”
In order to eliminate waste of time and increase work performance, you need absolute clarity about your job and what you are expected to do. You need clarity with regard to results required and standards of performance. You need clarity with regard to schedules and deadlines. You need clarity with regard to the rewards for doing a good job and the consequences of failing to do good work. If you are serious about improving your time management, clarity is everything.
Ineffective Delegation and Poor Time Management
Poor delegation to others, or from others, leads to mistakes and frustration on the part of both the boss and the employee. It is a major waste of time and a good time management technique to work on.
One of the rules for success in life and work is to “assume the best intentions of everyone.” You can generally assume that each person does the very best he can at the job he thinks he is supposed to do. But poor delegation causes even the most sincere talented people to have poor work performance or the wrong jobs. Therefore, they end up feeling frustrated and unhappy.
Unclear Lines of Authority
Unclear lines of authority and responsibility leads to waste of time. People do not know who is supposed to do what job, when is it be done, and to what standard of quality. People are left to wonder, who is supposed to report to whom? Who’s in charge? Who’s the boss?
Incomplete Information
Another major waste of time in business is poor or incomplete information, which leads to erroneous assumptions and conclusions that decrease work performance. It is amazing how often people jump to conclusions or make false assumptions on the basis of wrong information.
The very best managers take the time to ask questions, and they listen carefully to the answers before they make a decision. If there is a key piece of information that suggests a problem or difficulty, they double-check on this piece of information to make sure that it is accurate.
Aimless or Too Frequent Meetings
Too many meetings, or aimless meetings that proceed without an agenda, direction, or closure, are an enormous waste of time at work. These are meetings that start and stop without any particular resolution. No problems are solved, no decisions are made, and no responsibilities are assigned. No deadlines are agreed upon for action.
Lack of Clarity Concerning One’s Job
Lack of information or unclear communications on important matters affecting a person’s work can create a major waste of time. In one survey on employee motivation and work performance, the best companies were defined as places where each person felt that he was an insider and “in the know” about what was going on in the company. The worst places to work were described as those where no one was sure about what was really going on. In this type of situation, people were unclear about their responsibilities, unsure about their jobs, and cautious about taking any risks. When people don’t know what is going on, it leads to demotivation, poor work performance, lack of time management, and “playing it safe.”
People need to know everything that is happening in the company that affects their particular jobs. The very best companies are open and honest with all employees concerning those matters affecting the health of the company.
Employees need to know what is going on and how their jobs fit into the big picture. When employees are unclear or unsure, an enormous amount of time is lost as the result of conversations, discussions, and gossip, which lead to ineffective work behaviors and poor work performance.
I hope you enjoyed this article about increasing work performance and time management to eliminate waste of time. Please comment below and share with your friends!
Topics included in this article include
Work Performance
Time Management
Waste of Time
Measure Twice, Cut Once: The Importance of Project Planning
May 7th
Over the weekend, I completed a repair on an XBOX 360 with red rings. The project was a success and I thought a lot about how I approached this project — and how it could have gone better.
Take stock of your tools
Do you have what you need? Just as a good chef looks over the entire recipe before they begin, it is important to look through the entire process before you start.
In my case, I neglected to see if we had any solvent around so when I got to the step where I needed to remove old thermal paste, I was unable to proceed without a trip for rubbing alcohol.
The other danger is there could be a step that says “let this sit for a couple hours*.” In cooking, it can be a step reading “place in the fridge for 8 hours” but in my case, I needed to re-flow the motherboard with a heat gun then allow the board to cool undisturbed
Many times a project will have a step that requires you to do nothing more than wait. It could be waiting for glue or paint to dry, a motherboard to cool down, or your cake to rise. It’s important to know where the delays are and plan accordingly.
Allow plenty of time
This is one I always struggle with. I am tempted to start projects at 10pm or midnight thinking it won’t take that long. Then, around 2am, when I’m overtired and frustrated, I make stupid mistakes.
Resist the urge to start a project planning late in the day. Start fresh the next morning and make the time to complete it successfully. I completed my project over the course of about a week. I started on a Saturday afternoon and dismantled the console, then ran into my problem of no rubbing alcohol so I had to stop. Then I got busy and didn’t return to it until the next weekend. I picked the project back up Sunday afternoon when I had 4 hours free and completed the project without needing to rush.
Have a clean and stable place to work
I cannot stress the importance of this step. I needed to leave the Xbox dismantled for five days on our kitchen table. If I was trying to do this on my desk, or on the dining room floor I could have lost pieces or it could have gotten broken. It is vital to have a safe, secure place to work that won’t be disturbed.
Take special consideration if you have kids or pets. There is no assured defense against children and cats are infamous for their love of sitting places where they’re not wanted. To say nothing of those tiny screws making perfect play things.
Organize your parts
When taking apart something with multiple sets of screws or other small pieces, have a system for separating and organizing them. Many small screws can look nearly identical, until you get halfway through the project and realize you’ve used the wrong screw in the wrong place and now have to back track and replace them.
I have a screw organizer, but you can use anything with different compartments. I’ve even used an empty egg carton in a pinch. If you don’t have anything handy, grab a piece of paper, and apply some double-sided tape or make a loop of tape and stick your screws to it, especially if they’re very small.
For this project, there were only three steps requiring screws so I used a blank sheet of paper and drew circles and wrote down the step number of the walkthrough I was following and placed the screws in that circle.
With a little project planning, you can save yourself a lot of extra time, effort and making a silly mistake which could cost you. Make the time and plan out your next project. I always hear my father’s advice in my ears when I start any new project:
“Measure twice, cut once.”
(Photo credit: Measure Twice, Cut Once via sxc.hu)
Carl T. Holscher is a writer, tinkerer, owner of too many computers
and husband. He holds a Creative Advertising degree which fuels a
healthy disdain for it. Check out his writing at Tech in the Trenches or follow him on twitter.
Big Things Are Important, But Little Things Count
May 4th
The small todos that don’t get done.
We all have them.
You know, the little things that always seem to slip through the cracks.
We tell ourselves that the small things will take care of themselves.
But, what happens when they don’t?
What’s Not Getting Done?
Normally, it is about getting the big things done.
After all, we have to stick to our priorities, right?
However, if we let enough little things by… they start to add up.
Before we know it, the flood waters have reached our waist.
And then there is a lot more work to do.
Little things unattended become big things.
Tasks undone create more work.”
We intend to do these seemingly simple and innocuous tasks, but we never get to them.
Why can’t we get the small things done?
Catching the Little Things
The small tasks are often the hardest to get done.
They are the ones that linger on our todo list indefinitely.
Here are some tips to ensure that you “Do the Little Things:”
- Have a System – If you hope to catch the small things, you must have a method to do it. Many people miss the small things simply because they are not tracking them. Keep a list. It doesn’t matter whether it is on paper, or on your smartphone, but ensure you have a way to track your todos.
- Capture Them – Small tasks are easily forgotten. When one presents itself, don’t let it slip by. Write down even the tiniest of tasks down immediately.
- Review Regularly – Your todo list can’t have your back if you don’t look at it. Ever find that abandoned list in your desk drawer of the things you were going to do? Look at your list regularly, and keep it in a prominent easy-to-see place.
- Do Them Bit-by-Bit - When the list of “small things” piles up, it can become quite daunting. A todo list with 100+ items can leave you wondering where to begin. However, small tasks are easily whittled down. Attack that list bit-by-bit. Soon it will be under control again.
- Fit Them In – Small tasks are just that… small. You can fit them in during even the smallest of opportunities. Instead of wasting that 5 minutes before the meeting playing “Words with Friends,” use the time to get a small task done. Return a call, answer an email, or prepare for your next appointment.
- Delegate Them – Small tasks are often the best ones for delegating. They can often be done by others without much explanation. So, keep the tasks that require your expertise and delegate the smaller ones that a team member or colleague could address.
- Do One Thing You Wouldn’t Have Done Today – Small tasks are ones that don’t scream for our attention. So, you need to give them extra effort when appropriate. Do one extra small task each day that has been lingering on your list.
- Group Them – Small tasks don’t take much time. When you have a small time block, do 3-5, or even 8-10 little tasks in a bunch. Knocking out small tasks in groups is not only productive, but feels great! This motivation can help drive your bigger priorities, as well.
Adding Up the Small Things
Getting the most important tasks done is normally our priority.
However, you can’t ignore the little things.
If you do, they will catch up to you.
So, take a look at your list and make an extra effort to do a few small things today.
Question: What small things regularly slip by you?
One Simple Thing You Can Do To Instantly Improve Your Day
May 4th
“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.” – Etty Hillesum
Are you familiar with those days where you feel like you have too much going on – way too much work, a dozen errands, e-mails to check, voicemails to listen to, and a growing list of things you really need to handle?
Or what about those days where you feel like you’re on autopilot and just going through the motions? Nothing is really wrong, but for one reason or another you just feel…blah.
I am way too familiar with all of those types of days. In fact, I spent years having crazy days, blah days and all the other type of mentally draining days in between. It wasn’t that I didn’t have those “great” days, but they absolutely didn’t show up as consistently as I would have liked.
I thought, “There has to be a better way. There must be something I can do differently.”
I knew I wasn’t supposed to rush through my day. I also knew that I was supposed to really live and experience the day — and sometimes I was able to actually do that. I had glimpses of how good the day could really feel, but I just wasn’t able to consistently not get sucked into the day.
But, one day I figured out stumbled into “Time Ins” and life hasn’t been the same since.
Take Some “Time In”
A “Time In” is simply a conscious decision you make to take a break from all that you have going on and give yourself just 60 seconds to relax, recharge and most importantly enjoy silence.
You can be anywhere — work, in the shower, at a stop light, waiting for an elevator. The key is just to stop what you are doing, make a conscious decision to unplug from the world for just one minute and to focus on taking some deep breaths.
I think one of the greatest things about any day is that we can choose to make little changes and instantly see things improve. It doesn’t take much to make the day better, but it does take intent.
And, all that is required is that you choose today to change your routine up a little and add some “Time Ins” to your day.
3 Tips For Integrating “Time Ins” Into Your Day:
- Do it 3 Times A Day. Aim to take a “Time In” three times a day for 60 seconds. Ideally, you will take a “Time in” in the morning, the middle of the day and the evening. You can certainly take more if you remember, but three is a good number to start with. After you continually take “Time Ins” day after day, you will most likely want to take more than three. This is definitely a situation of “the more, the better” – so take as many as you can.
- Use All 60 Seconds. Take the entire minute to unplug. Just relax and focus on taking deep breaths for 60 seconds. Really focus on slowing down your mind and enjoying the “Time In”. Enjoy the silence and let go of whatever you were thinking about for just 60 seconds. Use a “Time In” When Needed. If you notice your energy draining or that you are getting worked up, stop what you are doing and take a “Time In”.
- Use the “Time In” to recenter and reenergize yourself before you jump back into whatever you were doing. It’s amazing how taking just sixty seconds to yourself will instantly relax and recharge you.
Start taking your “Time Ins” today. I promise it will be one of the best things you have ever done for yourself.
(Photo credit: Painting Sky via Shutterstock)
How to Make a Difference as a Time Management Coach
May 2nd
Many managers and coaches feel an immediate burden when they review an employee or client’s performance and think to themselves, “They need some better time management skills.” As they review their limited options, they quickly conclude that none of them fits their needs and none of them are likely to work. The fact is, in order to make a lasting difference, they need to go beyond the options that currently exist and create a much larger context for the employee to succeed.
Let’s start by looking at the options that you have as a time management coach.
Toss Them a Bunch of Tips
This approach is the simplest. Just observe the employee closely, and when you can find a pearl of wisdom that applies to an observed shortcoming, toss it their way. For example, “Hey Andrea, ever hear of a To-Do list?” Some look for websites like Lifehack with lots of relevant tips and forward posts in the hope that the employee/client will be able to go ahead and “just do it.”
This rarely works because the skill of “time management” is a complex one that’s made up of a number of intricate habits, practices and rituals assembled over several years. It isn’t the kind of skill that’s improved much by shortcuts, tips and tricks; there are no miraculous, instantaneous results. Instead, successful improvements come from shifting ingrained patterns of behavior in a systematic way over time. It helps to know this before you attempt the first coaching session.
Buy Them a Book
A better option than “tossing tips” is to buy them a good time management book. At the moment however, all the well-known authors say essentially the same thing:
“Follow the methods in this book exactly as I have laid them out and you’ll be successful.”
The problem is that very few professionals are actually able to achieve this goal. If you compare notes with others who have read the same time management book, you quickly realize that you both have cherry-picked ideas from here and there, to the point where your individual systems may bear little resemblance to each other. This is actually a good thing, but it means that when you buy your employee your favorite productivity book, don’t expect him/her to end up doing things the way you do.
This is due, in part, to human nature. There can never be any one-size-fits-all approach to anything but the most simple of habit patterns. When it comes to complex patterns, we are just too different from each other in too many ways to use a single approach effectively. Instead, we all need custom methods that suit our individual goals and idiosyncrasies.
Furthermore, when you consider the impact of new technology, it’s hard to imagine how an author could claim to have stumbled upon the ultimate solution.
Dezhi Wu’s research also shows that we have different needs at different points in our careers. In her book, “Temporal Structures in Individual Time Management”, she has found that college students manage their time better than their professors and administrators. One reason might be that they are forced to deal with more information and therefore develop fresh systems that are able to cope with more inputs. Unfortunately, her research implies that once today’s students become tomorrow’s professors and administrators, they too will be surpassed in time management skill by their students – probably because they, like the rest of us, rest on their laurels and stop coming up with fresh new methods to deal with technology shifts and life changes.
In short, don’t expect your employee or client to use the book the way you did.
Send Them to a Program
In my first year of employment at AT&T, some of my colleagues attended a time management program based on a popular daily planner. They all came away with shiny new 3-ring binders with custom refills and I remember what one attendee told me:
“The binder was the best part. All the other stuff they tried to teach us was nonsense.”
Most programs take the same one-size-fits-all approach that books take, which is a drawback, but the benefit comes when participants learn the truth from each other – they aren’t going to be doing “all this stuff” anytime soon. While this may run contrary to the expectations of the time management coach, participants take comfort in confirming their suspicion that each person plans to do their own thing. It reinforces the fact that what professionals need is not another prescription to be blindly followed, but skilled training in how to put together their own custom system.
What’s annoying is that the time management coaches seem oblivious to this fact. They might mention that “no-one actually uses all this stuff”, but they give little help in assisting trainees in learning the more challenging skill of self-designing a custom system. They are on their own.
They also ignore the most recent research on habit change, which regular readers of Stepcase Lifehack will recognize readily. Changing habits, practices and rituals is often slow, painstaking work that requires setting up a savvy set of supports. The best approach is to take small steps, focusing on a few at a time.
In the program, what’s inevitable is that your employee will be handed a slew of great ideas to implement…all at once, with no hint of the fact that they need a support system.
The lack of help in focusing on a few habits within a good support system dooms most participants to failure, It’s no accident that many graduates of these programs revert to their old, familiar practices after only a few days.
A New Mentality
As a manager, you can make up for these shortcomings. Knowing that they exist is a big plus and they can be introduced into conversations quite early in the game with a time management coach. Understanding the bigger picture frees you both to narrow your focus down to a handful of habits or practices to work on. You should also show clients or employees how to upgrade whenever the need arises and teach them to expect this to happen several times in their careers.
Fortunately, recent research shows that your unique relationship with your trainee is often the best form of support and you can leverage this fact to hold the employee or client accountable for taking the small steps that can eventually add up to a huge improvement.
Employees and clients who are armed with these insights are then free to find ideas from the Internet, books and programs in order to discover the latest improvement opportunities. Instead of struggling, they can take charge of driving their own improvements, using you as their guide.
(Photo credit: Silver Whistle Next to Play via Shutterstock)
I'm an advocate of Time Management 2.0 - the idea that all professionals need unique methods to be personally productive, and need to keep upgrading them throughout our professional careers. My focus for 2012 is on helping coaches, managers and professional organizers to improve the productivity of others.
10 Ways to Save Time With Dropbox
May 2nd
There has a lot of talk lately about Dropbox.
Or more specifically, about many of the competitors out there.
Seems everyone supposedly has a “Dropbox Killer.”
In my opinion, Dropbox is still the leader in this category.
Their UI presents a simpler, better experience. As well, Dropbox works on almost all platforms.
(iCloud works only on iPhones and iPad. Google Drive only on Android phones.)
So, go with the one that just works.
Living the Cloud Life
Our digital lives have become more and more dispersed and fractured.
Smartphones. Laptops. iPads. Desktop computers.
We have our data spread across many locations.
You may find yourself asking…
- “Where did I put that file?”
- “Drat. Is that file on my home computer?”
- “Did I sync the latest version of this file after my trip?”
Dropbox solves this problem by giving you an Internet-based location to put all your files. It is accessible from all of your devices from desktop to smartphone.
“Stop emailing yourself to transfer documents.
Stop wasting time looking for files on multiple computers.
Stop syncing every time you get home from a business trip.”
Make your life easier by putting your files in one location… in the cloud.
Get a Dropbox and start saving yourself time and effort today.
Saving Time in the Cloud
Technology tools are there to save us time. Otherwise, they are just toys.
Here are 10 Ways to Save Time Using Dropbox:
- Stop Emailing Yourself - Ever email yourself a document to transfer it to another computer? Just stop it!
With Dropbox you can keep files out of email attachments. Instead, simply drop it in your Dropbox and you can access it from any of your computers. - Reference Files Wherever You Are – Ever been on the road or at an appointment and not had that important file with you? I was recently at my accountant and realized I had forgotten a reference document. Within a few moments, I had sent the file via my iPhone Dropbox app to my accountant’s desktop. The recipient can download the file or even view it right in their browser.
- Sync Your Work – A friend recently related to me that every time he returns from a business trip, he has to sync all of his work to his home computer. He currently does this tedious task by hand. Let Dropbox do this for your automatically. When you turn on your home computer, all your new Dropbox files will appear! It even tracks versions in case you did something accidentally.
- Photos in the Cloud – Most people are bad about getting their pictures off their mobile device. They are even worse about backing them up. Dropbox will now upload your photos to your Dropbox for safe keeping or sharing. You can do this from your phone or your desktop.
- Simple as Drag and Drop – You can set up a Dropbox folder in your file system to make it easy to transfer files to the cloud. However, the Dropbox UI also allows you to simply drag-and-drop to the web interface. Talk about easy!
- Avoid Lost Devices - How many USB sticks have you lost over the years? What was on those devices? Stop carrying portable media and keep your files in one place in the cloud.
- Collaborate with Others - Dropbox makes it easy to share a folder with another person or group of people. I share individual folders with different individuals that I am working with. For example, my book designer has access to my draft files in one folder, while a friend has access to documents for a joint project in a different folder.
- Mobile File System - Most of our mobile devices lack a true file system. (Smartphones, tablets, etc.) Dropbox fills that gap and can be your mobile filing system. Additionally, mobile apps can sync across this system. For example, my journal app syncs via Dropbox from my iPad to my desktop.
- One Link Sharing – Need to share a file quick? With Dropbox you can immediately share a single file with anyone via email. I was recently on the road and a colleague texted me in a panic that he had lost a file. I was able to simply mail him a link from my phone within minutes.
- Safe in Multiple Places – Dropbox syncs your files between all your systems. It is not a complete backup solution. However, it will save your important files when your laptop hard drive suddenly crashes. It is a good feeling to know that you can immediately access your Dropbox files on another machine.
Get Your Own Cloud
Stop emailing yourself. Stop wasting time looking for that file that you left at home. And stop worrying about losing important files if one of your devices has a problem or is lost.
Start your own cloud. Send your files to Dropbox so that you can access them from anywhere.
I use Dropbox myself and recommend that you get your our own Dropbox today.
Question: What do you need Dropbox for? Or if you already use it, what is your best story about Dropbox saving you time?
7 Ways to Leverage Your Time to Increase Your Productivity
Apr 30th
We’re all busy people. Some people, though, are busier than we’d ever imagine, yet are somehow are able to stay on top of things so well they seem to go about their life in a lackadaisical manner, while we struggle to produce good work and maintain a household.
What’s their secret? Why do they seem to have everything figured out; always unstressed and ready to go?
Leverage.
Sure, tactics like maintaining “to-do” lists (or “done” lists), setting goals, and decreasing the amount and time of meetings can all help. But really, these are all tactics that fall into a strategical category of leveraging our time.
Leverage is an awesome force–it allows us to multiply our abilities by applying a little pressure to something.
In life, we can leverage our time, and here are seven ways to do just that:
- Get it out of your head. If it’s in your head, chances are it’s taking up valuable storage space that you can be using to get things done. Every time you think of a task, to-do item, or idea, write it down. Getting it out of your head not only lets you focus energy elsewhere, rather than trying to remember things, it also helps you clear your mind so you’ll be more effective when you do try to tackle that massive list of chores.
- Organize your day. Do you go to work and just “jump in” to all the work that’s in front of you? Try this instead: organize your day into chunks of time–10-15 minutes for emails, an hour for that large project due at the end of the month, etc. Focus on knocking out the most important things on the list, earlier in the day to increase your productivity. As your day draws to a close, the easier or shorter items on the list will require less effort, allowing you to de-stress at the same time.
- Use other people’s time. One of my favorite entrepreneurial tactics is leveraging other people. This doesn’t mean using other people–no one likes that. Leveraging other people means empowering and allowing coworkers and employees, or even outsourced help, to help you with some of your routine tasks throughout the day. If you run a website, consider hiring someone to maintain the server, site, comments, and emails.
- Focus on the prize, but work in “chunks.” Don’t let the looming pressures of finishing that massive report get you down. Focus on how awesome it will be, but actively seek to “chunk” it into manageable parts that you can work on steadily. Give yourself a small reward every time you finish a chunk, and yes–give yourself a large reward when you finish the final project!
- Allow time for yourself. One of the most overlooked aspects of the American working life, leading to stressful people who are spread too thin, is giving time to yourself. Plan and write down a segment of each day that you can take 10-15 minutes (at least) to just unwind and do nothing. Don’t think, don’t check email, don’t call your friend. Just sit, relax, and let your mind recharge. You’ll come back refreshed and more able to leverage the time you have. In addition, take a breather for one day a week or every other week if possible to increase your productivity. Do some easier tasks or the “fun” parts of your work, but don’t let yourself get carried away turning Sunday afternoon into another workday.
- Use technology. Technology is an evil temptress for productivity–it can suck us in with promises of simple task management, planning, and keeping us in the loop. But we can easily get caught in the vortex of more, more, more tech. Use a simple task manager if it suits your work style, but give yourself limits on social networking sites, checking email, and even text messaging (if that’s your thing). Ironically, there are really cool apps and software packages that help increase your productivity, so be careful and mindful of how you’re leveraging their help.
- Keep learning. The day you stop learning is the day you stop producing good stuff. Keep reading, trying new things, and implementing them. To leverage your ability to read, start listening to audiobooks in the car to and from work, and during workouts. Don’t let your RSS feed reader bog you down during the day, but make sure you keep tabs on your favorite blogs and news sites a few times a week, if for no other reason than inspiration.
Leverage is only useful to us if we’re using it in the right direction: if we let the pressures of our lives get to us so much that we feel like we’re drowning, leverage is to blame. But it’s leverage in the wrong direction.
Use leverage the right way and you can free yourself from the mundane things that you never want to do, allowing yourself the ability to create the things that motivate you, inspire you, and keep you pushing toward the weekend.
Or a better tomorrow!
What about you? What are some other ways you’ve been able to leverage your time at work, at home, or elsewhere in your life to give you more “you” time?
(Photo credit: Close Up of Newton’s Cradle via Shutterstock)
Nick Thacker is a writer from Texas, and he's interested in hacking life to make it better. His posts are helpful for writers, bloggers, and pretty much anyone who wants to hack their life! Check him out on his website, www.nickthacker.com.