Crazed metaphors: dogs and time
Continuing our consideration of everyday concepts in metaphorical terms, time can be seen as a familiar animal in the domestic scene: the beloved and sometimes feared dog. We cannot stop dogs from barking; in the same way, we cannot prevent time from passing, no matter what we are doing or not doing. But we can tame that dog and make it our best friend. However, we can allow him to grow hungrier and hungrier, more and more ferocious until he becomes a formidable enemy.
As the ancient Greeks assured us, we need “moderation in all things.” Yes, time puts considerable pressure on us to get things done, especially in a busy workplace and/or a home full of children. The challenges, coming from everyday demands, from employees or family members, from technological developments, from social obligations, from the global environment driven by competition, are enormous. The past no longer offers the comfort of the past, not in today’s rapidly changing climate.
Just as businesses have come to view themselves as highly responsive, evolving, integrated systems, so too are people expected to integrate various elements; respond easily, clearly, quickly; continually evolve as learners, leaders, and responsible adults. If we are unable to adapt when the moment calls for a change of direction, time will be wasted and projects may be doomed. Smart and timely use of agility and resilience are survival tools for the climate in which most of us live.
Agility is a way to save time. Choosing to be agile is just one of the choices before us regarding how we spend the time of our lives. Quite simply, if you choose to keep doing things that waste your time, you are willingly consigning to the trash can of life moments that you will never get back: unproductive moments, idle moments, moments that add little or nothing to the quality of your life. and your work.
Let yourself be inspired by the words of management guru Peter Drucker: “Everything takes time. It’s the only truly universal condition. All work takes place in time and consumes time. Yet most people take this resource for granted.” unique, irreplaceable and necessary. Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender and loving care of time.” Commit to guarding time like effective executives do. Identify your wasted time and commit to finding cures for these causes of lost minutes, hours, years and lives.
While the top five time wasters below relate to the workplace, they extend to our personal and professional lives. Implement the cures, and then use the time you have saved to beneficial use with your loved ones, including yourself.
Waste of time: causes and cures
1. Firefighting
Think about the work that is required of you both in the short term and in the long term. Then plan a schedule for your next work day.
two. interruptions
Even if you choose not to be as assertive as Napoleon who promised, “You can ask me anything you want… except time,” you will have to find the words that allow you to keep working when others try to interrupt. Your first task in this category is to create (and promise to use) five sentences to subvert interruptions. Your second task is to read the following list aloud at the beginning of each work day.
1. I am disciplined enough to simply make a list of all the people and things that may demand my time instead of stopping my work to attend to those people and things.
2. I am interested enough to examine the list at the end of each day (for at least a week) to see what kind of interruptions are hindering my achievements.
3. I am tactful enough to warn my co-workers when I cannot be interrupted.
4. I am realistic enough to know that I am able to eliminate some of the distractions that currently plague me.
5. I’m professional enough to get on with all the distractions I temporarily put aside to make some serious tooth on a complicated project.
3. poor planning
Are your strategic plans worthless? They are, according to the futurist John Naisbitt, if they have been written without a strategic vision in mind. While your plans may not be strategic in terms of the organization’s vision, they should nevertheless reflect your personal improvement goals. These are just some of the questions to consider as you make plans to better use your time and improve your contribution to the organization.
√ What am I doing and doing well?
√ What am I doing and am I not doing well?
√ What measures will measure my success?
√ What evidence do I have that I am thinking globally (organizationally) and acting
locally (applying broad themes to my own spheres of operation and influence).
√ What am I not doing that I should be doing?
√ Which of my results will have the greatest impact on the departmental or organizational mission?
√ What do our customers want, need, deserve or expect?
√ What mistakes have recently been made by those in comparable positions?
√ How would you define the realities we face?
√ What combinations/alliances could optimize the time spent on planning and
effort invested in the final implementation of the plans made?
Incorporate the answers to any of the three questions above into a plan to improve productivity or make better use of organizational time.
Four. perfectionism
It’s just as true on the macrocosmic level (Franklin Delano Roosevelt pointing out that perfectionism can block pathways to international peace) as it is on the microcosmic level (an obsessive need to have everything exactly in order): the need to be perfect can make you a fool. poor time manager
Ideally, you’ll refer to the answers to the following questions whenever you’re tempted to throw all your time and energy into a project:
1. Which of your assignments require absolute perfection?
2. For which of your tasks could excellence replace perfectionism?
3. For what tasks is good enough good enough?
4. What are the negative aspects associated with perfectionism?
5. Inability to say “No”“
Good communications involve both the content and the context of a message. It is possible, for example, to profess ignorance and at the same time sound intelligent. It is also possible to fire someone and ask them to thank you, instead of reacting violently. And it’s entirely possible to say “no” to a request and sound fancy doing it.