Are you controlled by your Blackberry or Iphone? Are you governed by your meeting manager? Are you feeling productive? Do you work in an open environment? Do you feel you life is out of control?
Most of us these days are really controlled by our email, text messaging, instant messaging, and our calendar. Most of us are distracted by these things and find it difficult to do much focused productive work that requires continuous concentration.
Can you avoid answering the phone or looking at an email or text message on your wireless device? The challenge of time management is becoming increasing difficult as the sources of external distraction multiply. In addition the pace of change is accelerating.
Several years ago I really needed to clean up my garage but the task was overwhelming. Although it was very high priority, I found myself busy on many other things. I decided to use a different strategy. I decided to spend one hour on Saturday cleaning the garage and then reward myself doing something I really liked. I was absolutely amazed at the amount I accomplish in one hour. I then decided to spend another hour on the next Saturday. You would be amazed how quickly my garage got cleaned up. This technique is the "Swiss Cheese Method' because to poke holes in the task until it is done.
Another time management principle that is very disarming is that if you have a high priority item that you do not want to do, you will become productive at everything else. I guess that is call busy work. I think we all have been there.
In order to make the best use of our time we need to use this valuable commodity wisely. We all have twenty-four hours in every day and the challenge is how to use them to our best advantage.
I will continue this discussion on future blogs.
