I used to work through lunch. By the end of the day, I’d be worn out, but I needed that hour to get through all the work that I had ahead of me… Or did I? Remaining committed to our goals—whether it means walking away from the desk or following through to handle a customer’s request—continues to build our reputation and credibility, and thus impacts our success relative to our organization and time management. I started to commit to reserving my lunch time for non-work activity. The actual time may vary each day, but I make sure that I get away.

I typically like to go for a run to clear my head, but the message here is to commit to doing what you want to do. I find that when I come back to the desk, I have a fresh perspective and new energy to drive through the rest of the day productively. Running is just one example of keeping a clear head by balancing my personal and professional needs. The key is to move your focus away from work, even for a short period of time, and to bring back a laser-focused approach upon your return. Today’s professional environment and all the technology therein mean that work and life are interlaced. As much as we want to separate the two, it’s almost impossible. So instead of fighting it, it’s time to embrace it.

You can start by blending your personal and professional schedules together. If it’s not permitted at work, then at least counterbalance them, and view them side by side to ensure that you are looking at both worlds together. Your commitment to balancing work and life will bring more control to both. Schedule your lunches, or they will never happen. Block off time for dentist appointments or they will be forgotten. Include time on your calendar needed to pick up your children from school or let the dog out so that you won’t schedule one event to inadvertently create a conflict with the other.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Down the Chute: A Toboggan Tale (children’s book)
• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

I set an alarm to wake up in the morning, but it rarely goes off since my internal clock always wakes me up about fifteen minutes before the scheduled time. On the few days it does beep in my ear, my day usually doesn’t start out calmly because I’ve learned to rely on the extra fifteen minutes. I become rushed and stressed, and find that this mentality carries over into the rest of the day.

I’ve watched colleagues rush through the door late for work (every morning!) while carrying a bag of donuts or a cup of coffee. Although I understand that breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day, I personally wondered about the decision to make the extra stop if they knew they were close to their start time and would most likely be late. But let’s not harp on that. The important thing to focus on is that this rushed and harried feeling sets the tone for each of us, and influences how clearly we think, how productive we are, and yes, our organizational skills for the rest of the day.

As king of the obvious, I want you to get up earlier—base the new time on how it fits in your schedule, but buy at least fifteen minutes of fluff time. If it means going to bed earlier, then work that piece into your overall schedule as well. Give yourself some breathing room before your shift or day starts so that you aren’t rushed. Try to set a calming tone to your day. For those individuals who like to play games with themselves by setting a clock or watch earlier or later, I recommend
against it. Besides the fact that you’re no longer synchronized with the rest of the people in your time zone, you’re actually self-initiating stress as you are constantly converting to the real time.

It’s important to start our day right with an easy wake-up and plenty of time to get ready. Our starting attitudes and productivity as we calmly walk through the door with plenty of time to spare will send positive messages to your brain that you intend to handle the day in a fully capable manner!

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Down the Chute: A Toboggan Tale (children’s book)
• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

According to bizcommunity.com, 306 billion emails are sent each day, with about seventy-five percent estimated to be spam according to the Radicati Group (2020). Getting through the seventy-five percent, plus the twenty-five percent you need for actual work, takes up valuable time. I read an article recently that stated about 30% of employees have over 1,000 emails in their inbox at any given time while another article mentioned that emails have increased 5% since the pandemic.

Now, imagine that every time you receive a new message, a bell sounds or a preview notice of incoming mail comes into view. When that happens,
it grabs your attention and starts to pull you toward multitasking. We live in a very reactive work environment now. Sending and receiving
emails has made us slaves to this form of communication, and keeps us leashed to whatever device gets us that information. Take back control
and be proactive in dealing with ancillary email impacts. Let’s start to implement concrete email strategies.

• Block off and dedicate time to manage your email. Whether you do it in the morning, before lunch, late afternoon, or all of the above, you should have dedicated time for it and not take
them on one at a time, throughout the day.
• Ignore new messages. Rather than behaving like Pavlov’s dog and responding to every bell that rings telling you that “You have mail,” become proactive and take control of when you
choose to spend time reading email.
• Deal with it one time. Remember to touch an email once. Take action on the emails such as moving it to another location or scheduling a meeting or a phone call, but don’t read it and keep
it there. This causes you to read it multiple times.
• Resist the immediate temptation to grab your smart phone. Don’t read emails immediately when you wake up. This will create an instant heavy workload and frustrated state of mind. Give yourself a chance to adjust to your day prior to checking your email.
• Turn off the feature that confirms you have a new email or provides a preview; you don’t want the distraction of knowing that an email came in. If you’re blocking off time and have set
expectations with those you work with, you don’t need these features.
• Avoid unnecessary ‘thank you’ emails. They often create an avalanche of somewhat meaningless emails that go back and forth. If it is truly worthy, call or write a heartfelt note. In
my first six months at a new job, I had over thirteen hundred emails saying some version of thank you. There were some that were heartfelt, but there were others that were less sincere and
simply read “thx.” The emails caught my attention and forced me to stop what I was doing to delete them.
• Simplify your organization. I recommend against setting up auto-filtering to organize emails by categories, senders, etc. It creates the need to look in multiple places when researching or
looking for something. You should do your organizing through file management, since you get information from many sources, not just email. Build strong online file management systems to
assist in searching for pertinent material.

Taking a proactive, methodical, and strategic approach to email management will allow you to take back your day and become a more productive professional.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Down the Chute: A Toboggan Tale (children’s book)
• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

There was a peer of mine whom I would often call and have to leave messages. She would never return my calls. As soon as I sent her an instant message, she was prompt with her communication and we were always able to get things done. By tailoring our communication styles to her preferences, we were both more efficient.

Who you’re communicating with, what you’re communicating, and how you’re communicating it will positively or negatively impact your time. Confidence, influencing others, persuasion skills, setting clear expectations, being clear and concise—all are tied to effective communication and time management. All are a must when it comes to being productive, not to mention building stronger relationships. If you sit in meetings that have consistently been a waste of time, are you confident enough to offer solutions to make them more effective, or strong enough to say they should be held less frequently, or even stopped altogether? Whether it is speaking up during the meeting or after it to let the host know, communication does drive
time management.

How effective are your listening skills? Are you truly paying attention and listening to people? Think back to the number of times when questions had to unnecessarily be addressed again because
one person wasn’t listening? Listening is another key component of communication and, again, time management.

I can’t state it enough: communication is an extremely important facet of effective time management. Assess your communication strategies, then go out and commit to and share best practices around communication and time management. Take time to:

• Understand communication preferences for those you work with the most. If you don’t know, then ask.
• Use the right channel based on priority. Is an email and instant message (IM) the right channel based on the urgency or expected actions? Don’t send an email to deal with fire drills
needing immediate attention—you can’t expect everyone to be on email at all times of the day. You might send an instant message to get someone’s attention, but you want to avoid
ping-ponging the message back and forth when details can be discussed quickly on the phone.
• Be conscientious of the audience when sending emails. Give summaries and highpoints, if necessary, and details to only those who really need them. It saves you time in writing and
other people’s time in reading. Also, be concise by not writing the email version of War and Peace to ask a simple question.
• Know who needs and wants to know. Don’t reply to everyone on the email distribution (reply all) unless it is truly needed and impacts all—it cuts down on potential unnecessary email
return responses.

Communication plays an important role when establishing priorities and making all of us conscientious about being productive and not wasting time. Looking at how you’ve chosen to communicate in the past and establishing new reliable strategies will enhance your efficiency.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Down the Chute: A Toboggan Tale (children’s book)
• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com