1. Don't answer the
phone unless available to talk for a few minutes.
2. If I only have a few
minutes to meet or discuss an idea, I state this up front.
3. Leave messages or
send a brief email to follow-up on an idea with someone.
4. Ask people to
identify issues and/or solutions prior to a meeting or conference call.
5. Disappear from the
office or phone to build creative time into a daily schedule.
6. Ask for what I
want. Urgency matters - when others sense you are urgent, they become
that way to match your pace. This is an area where we can go
overboard, so it is important to remember the friendly touch, too.
7. Avoid negative
people or people who are having a bad day. It isn't my job to bail out
coworkers from their jams. However, if this will help them to help me
later, it is definitely worth doing. Otherwise, consider this act as a
"gift" and nothing more. Gifts are a form of our energy, so
they should come from the heart and not be expected from us as an automatic
response.
II.
Dealing with machines and other things requiring maintenance.
1. Cars break
down. Keeping our car maintained will cost less than fixing it when it
breaks. Plus, we can proactively schedule the maintenance,
instead of having the repair ruin a day or having to cancel an important
meeting due to "car failure."
2. Computers
break. Thank God for Iomega drives! Or, we can back-up our PC to
the network drive.
3. Organize by files,
by how you think. I find that a system needs to be one that works,
that is simple, yet flows the way we seek information. I use file
names like "personal" for any document relating to personal
issues. Within a "personal" file, I might have
"employment," "budget," "letters," or other
similar categories. I've seen many different ways of organizing data
so I only suggest considering alternatives, evaluate annually, and use what
works best for the individual.
4. Use only machines or
software that help you, rather than slow you down. An example of
this is ACT activity/contact/time management software. I found that
ACT actually stole time from me, and although I had a more thorough database
of information, it really didn't help all that much for me to sell more or
manage my time any better. So, I dumped it, and went to a simple Palm-based organization
system. That has worked better for me. Some people swear by the
old-fashioned day-timer system. I still believe that is also a good
way to manage a day, but like the handiness of having post-it notes,
calendar, activity and everything in the pocket of a jacket that can also
synchronize with my PC.
5. Use the internet to
find services. I recently utilized a service called
IMANDI,
which helped me locate a new programmer for AspireNow. I received a
quick and professional response and saved immeasurable time.
6. Use voicemail and
email wisely. These tools are like letters. We don't open our
mailbox eight times a day, do we? Then why would we check email or
voicemail that often? It is unrealistic for anyone to expect more than a couple
of times a day. I used to state on my business line to leave a message
and I'd return the call within four business hours. People would joke
with me and state, "ok, Scott, the timer starts now!" but on the
whole I was pretty good at getting back within 4 business hours. Of
course, if your boss wants his/her call returned within an hour, you might
have to keep closer tabs on your voicemail and email.
III.
Schedules.
If we do not schedule
something, it may not get done. The biggest challenge I run into is when I
start to get creative, I blow off my schedule of to-do tasks. This is a
challenge to me as my creativity, in this instance, creates
procrastination. One goal I have this year
is to stay on task and do a better job of scheduling creative time and personal
time so that when I am focused on goals I achieve them on schedule.
If you do not write down
your goals or are uncertain if your method of setting goals is working for you,
consider reading the article on "Mapping
Goals to Values," which also appears on AspireNow this month in the Discover
Your Purpose section of the site.
When it comes to
schedules at work, I think it is important to take the issue at hand and do it
now, finish it now, delegate it now (and schedule the response date) or delete
it off of our schedule.
It is also important to
handle the most difficult tasks during our peak time. If our peak time is
at 7:00 a.m., then this is our time to take on the world. If it is at 3:00
p.m., on the other hand, well, then we can set that time aside in our day for
the tough jobs. I also utilize a system of blowing things off when my mood
is not right for the task at hand. Might as well approach it when I am
fresh and excited than down-and-out (rare, but it happens).
I like to ask several
questions when scheduling:
1. Is it really worth
doing?
2. Is it worth doing
now or should I revisit in a month or quarter from now?
3. Is it time to cut
bait and move to a new fishing hole?
4. Can I make a
decision about this issue and delegate it or remove it now?
5. Is this meeting
going to help my business be more successful?
IV.
Meetings
On the topic of
meetings, I believe we can eliminate distractions by doing the following:
1. Ask if this meeting
is going to make our business more successful (if not, why are we meeting?)
2. State the purpose of
the meeting, topics we expect to cover, and request issues to be planned for
in advance (it always blew me away when a sales manager would call a meeting
and not tell me what it was about).
3. Focus on one topic
at a time and resolve issues prior to moving on if possible.
4. State time frames
for a meeting at 1/2 to 1/4 what you previous scheduled, on the quarter
hour. People tend to be on time for meetings at 8:15 a.m. more than
they are for a meeting at 8:00 a.m. The late stragglers will
remember this time better, too. I like to state that a call will last
15 minutes, then when I schedule the conference call with Sprint, I schedule
it for 30 minutes. This way, if I go over, I am ok, but I plan to be
under that time frame from the start.
5. If you have a
problem being on time, start planning on being there 30 minutes early and
bring a book. This helped me keep my business meeting schedules, even
on hectic days.
6. If someone is known
to be disruptive, acknowledge their issue, write it down, then return to it
at the end (if time allows) if it wasn't covered during the meeting.
Last, consider your time
to be worth double what it is. For an example of what your time is really
worth, see the article The Value of our
Time. When we consider our time valuable, we are more focused and
highly successful at eliminating distractions.
Learn more about the business challenges we're helping
leaders resolve
Scott
Andrews is CEO and Founder of AspireNow (www.AspireNow.com),
a leading business productivity and personal development firm based in
California. AspireNow recently spun our business solutions into ARRiiVE
Business Solutions (www.ARRiiVE.com)
through whom we help organizations launch new products and
services, maximize sales, and innovatively change businesses through
cutting-edge and empowering business models and processes. For more
information, contact info@ARRiiVe.com.
