One primary television-watching energy drain is late night shows. Given our hectic schedules with running in the door to make dinner, running out the door to take the kids to soccer practice, and then running home to finally get the kids in bed, we literally have no time left for ourselves. We quite reasonably crave a little relaxation time, but all we have the energy to do is plop on the couch and turn on the tube. We tell ourselves, “I’ll only watch for 15 minutes, then go to bed.” But those alpha waves start humming, and Letterman is downright hilarious, and before you know it, 15 minutes have turned into two hours. So you get to bed by 12:30 a.m., and you have to wake up at 6 a.m. This pattern serves you a triple wallop. First, you’re going to … [Read more...]
Find More Time to Socialize: 8 Time-Savers for a Better Social Life
Here's a great article in Fitness Magazine.com on how to make time for your friends and family without getting overscheduled. Oh, wait! I'm quoted in it. :-) Enjoy! … [Read more...]
66 Rules to Boost Personal Productivity — Steve Pavlina
I recommend subscribing to Steve Pavlina's blog. He recently posted two fun articles on 33 Rules to Boost Your Productivity volumes 1 and 2 (66 total). His first tip "Nuke it" gives you a flavor of the list. (I call this one "Purposeful Abandonment"---it's an essential productivity tool---always asking yourself, "If I didn't do this at all, would anyone notice?") There isn't really any new thinking here (it's a compilation of common tips in book report style he's titled something different), but it's a good summary. Not all of his tips will work for you, of course, but approach it like a cafeteria: take what you like and leave the rest. … [Read more...]
Stop Being Late: Time Management for Tardy People
Here's a nice article on 5 Ways to Stop Being Late. Made me start thinking about punctuality. A quiet amusement of mine is to watch the expression of people who arrive late for my time management seminars. Tail between the legs, these people shuffle in sheepishly mumbling something about traffic, while their friends tease, “How can you be late for a time management class?” The number one complaint I receive from managers who hire me to coach their staff on performance is something around “the inability to meet deadlines, is always late, is constantly running behind, or he/she forgot.” There are actually three types of people I see: 1. “Late” people are typically perpetually late, for everything. 2. “On time” … [Read more...]
What To Do With Low Priority Items On Your To-Do List
You already know you should work on the most important things—duh—but are you doing it? The next big question becomes—what should you do with all the lower-priority items? Here are some questions to get you started thinking about what to do with the rest of your list: Can you give it to someone else to do? Your goal is to push the activity to the lowest pay possible without compromising the result. I used to pick up my mail every evening—an important task—and sort it and get it to the right people. Once I relinquished a bit of my obsessive control over the process, trained my assistant Dana how to do it, and resisted the urge to go to the mailbox at the end of the day, I saved about twenty minutes a day. She picks it up on her way into the office, and after several months, there hasn't … [Read more...]
Self-discipline and time management
When you promise someone you will complete a task by a certain timeframe, do you do it? Or does the deadline slip past once again, with you muttering to yourself, “Stupid! What is wrong with you?” Now you aren’t able to focus on anything, always aware of this dark cloud hanging over your head. Guilt sucks the energy right out of you! Instead, decide today that you are going to be a person of your word. Are you reliable? Can people count on you to do what you say you're going to do? Do you have integrity and keep the deadlines you promise? What's others' perception of you? Do you live out what you affirm? Do you do what you complain about in others? What things do people "jokingly" say about you and your … [Read more...]
Delegate instead of DO
When I first started my professional speaking business in 1992, I did everything myself. I hired my first employee in 1998, and after six years of flying solo, it was admittedly hard to let go. But I knew if the business was to grow, I was going to have to stop going to the post office, making copies, and getting the copy machine repaired. As you change positions in your company, your level of delegation must shift if you are to have any time to yourself. You must become a leader instead of a doer and get work accomplished through other people. If you try to do too many jobs at once, it’s like spinning china plates on sticks: the longer you keep it up, the greater the odds of a crash. The great philosopher Virgil said long ago, “We are all not capable of … [Read more...]
The Crackberry: A Corporate Noose or Time Leveraging Tool: Time Management and Blackberries
I enjoyed this post about how to be more productive with your Crackberry, I mean Blackberry. Especially true is Nakagawa's comment, "...the people who are the most productive don’t seem to have them." I'm sure you have your beefs about Blackberry usage in your organization (or by your spouse, for that matter). If you were king or queen of the world, what "rules" would you create about Blackberry usage? In addition to the 10 the author lists, I'll add the following from personal experience: 1. Do not pretend you are listening to someone by brainlessly mumbling "uh-huh" while you are answering an email on your Crackberry. 2. Pay attention to the presenter during training sessions rather than using the time as your personal … [Read more...]
Handling interruptions: scheduling time for drop-in visitors
Schedule your interruptions. Perhaps one of the reasons you’re being interrupted so frequently is you’re never around and available. This is especially true of people who travel for a living or spent most of the day wrapped up in meetings. It’s understandable that you’ll be pounced upon by your assistant when you suddenly emerge, and she’s been waiting to ask you some questions for two days. Here are some ways you can actually plan for and around interruptions: · Schedule regular check-in times. If you have an assistant, you’ll want to set up a regular time (or several times) each day or week to touch base. Have your assistant “save up” all questions he or she has and ask them all at once during your regularly scheduled … [Read more...]
Time Management in Space? Productivity for Astronauts?
I recently met a former astronaut, Rick Searfoss, who told me he brings on the lessons of teamwork, leadership, innovation and peak performance lessons of human spaceflight down to earth for all to enjoy (www.astronautspeaker.com). I bit and asked him what he learned about time management by being an astronaut and if there was such a thing as productivity in space. His quotes on how the principles of productivity apply in space fascinated me, and I hope you gain some insights from his experiences as well: “There’s nothing so bad that you can’t make it worse.” He spent hundreds of hours in a simulator, training on what to do in an emergency, and working on procedures he may never have to use. From a technical perspective, the rookie pilot the left has the most … [Read more...]
