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Post from Transformation Tom™-Creating Our Own Pressures: Chapter from “Time Management Manifesto”

June 26, 2023 / tomdowd / News
0

creating-our-own-pressures

I was juggling quite a few projects at one time. I was balancing important and not important, urgent and not urgent, I was putting in the hours and efforts, and still one of my projects went beyond the deadline. Yet, it passed without a word from my boss, or anyone else for that matter. As much as I try to do everything I can to communicate progress to the powers that be, in this case, it slipped through the cracks and I didn’t provide any heads-up. For the record, as previously stated, I will emphasize that communication is critical in these matters. Somehow, in this case, it wasn’t done. I had what I thought were the right priorities—a strong relationship with my boss and no intentions of hiding anything—so I let him know that the deadline had passed, and told him my plans for completion. His response? “Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Get it to me when you can. No hurry.”

Let’s go back to the comment that communication is critical to time management. When originally told about the initiative, I should have asked the following question: “What happens if the deadline is missed?” I should have ensured that our priorities were the same. We sometimes have our own internal pressures that are far greater than reality. Do you put more pressure on yourself than anyone else? Reign in some of the pressure and give yourself a break.

It’s time to add the appropriate questions to your arsenal when asked to complete a project. Start by asking when the deadline is, and follow it up with a version of the question, “What happens if the deadline isn’t met?” Getting an idea of the true urgency is important in order to match priorities with the requestor. If he or she says you’ll be fired if you don’t meet the deadline, then I think you understand the priorities. But in all seriousness, if you form the habit of asking questions about prioritization and urgency from the actual requester, you’ll build trust with your colleagues and supervisors and ensure that everyone is consistently attuned to the same goals.

 

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

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Post from Transformation Tom™-Accounting for Personal Conversations: Chapter from “Time Management Manifesto”

June 19, 2023 / tomdowd / News
0

accounting-for-personal-conversations

I used to work with a friend who had the same schedule, so we always walked out together each day. But, I found that his end time of five o’clock p.m. and my end time of five p.m. weren’t the same. The clocks read the same, and we would often start packing up for the evening at the same time, but we were never ready at the same time. Sure, a customer might call, or colleagues needed our attention at the moment we’d planned on originally leaving. This is understood; it happens sometimes. However, what I found was that it happened to him consistently.

He was a social butterfly. He would go from person to person and spend what seemed like hours talking away about nothing important. As someone who teaches networking and the importance of relationships, I get it. However, there is a balancing act. He often complained that there just weren’t enough hours in the day to do everything he wanted, personally and professionally. There are enough hours—the question is, where do you want to spend them? Once I made him conscious of my observation of his nonproductive wanderings, he assessed himself and readjusted accordingly. His hallway conversations still met the needs of building relationships. His conversations didn’t have to be terse, but he found a nice balance and actually was recognized for his productivity a few months later.

Assess how much of your day is spent on a random personal conversation, and determine if it is negatively impacting your ability to get things done. This does not mean you can’t be personal. It simply means, don’t spend forty-five minutes talking about the weekend and then complain that you don’t have enough time in the day to do your tasks. It might mean a five-minute chat and a genuine, “Great to see you” before you move on. What’s more important at work: relationship building or time management? If you find the right balance, this
becomes an and statement, not an or, enabling you to navigate through the important social and professional aspects of your job.

 

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

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Post from Transformation Tom™-Understanding Priorities: Chapter from “Time Management Manifesto”

June 12, 2023 / tomdowd / News
0

understanding-priorities

Each morning a peer of mine would settle into her desk, log in to her system, then walk down to the café, chat with friends, and slowly make her way back to the office to start her day. She had the flexibility to do this after her eight a.m. start time, so I’m not making judgments on how she started her day. The judgment comes into play when she would complain—almost daily—that she didn’t have time to do anything, insisting that her “plate was full.” All
of our plates are full. The question is, what bite do we need to take first to clear it? If her top priority is to get coffee, she has made a decision that this is more important, and in some cases, more urgent than other matters. Each day is full of decisions and judgments. Each one has repercussions and downstream effects. When we better understand the differences between urgent versus non-urgent and important versus not important, we start to make better decisions.

A boss may say, “I need you to do something right away.” Is it important and is it urgent? You may still have to assess and ask questions such as the due date, competing priorities, and similar requests made in the past.

You may have two very urgent and important items, yet one will always outweigh the other. Make assessments; ask questions. In our assessment, we need to ask real or rhetorical questions until we’re prepared to make a decision about which one comes first. Another aspect to consider and respect is that what might be urgent and/or important to you may not be important and/or urgent to others. Frequently, we make assumptions based on our own feelings and interpretations. Make no assumptions.

I want you to draw a square with four boxes inside. In each square, I want you to write urgent, not urgent, important, and not important in separate boxes. Then, take your schedule for the next week and start to plot out the expected work. Label them based on where they fall on this matrix. This will help you determine where to spend your time. The outcome doesn’t dictate that every urgent and important item takes precedent over non-urgent tasks all of the time. It simply lets you decide which items to tackle first and what items to reserve for later. We often take the opposite tack by gravitating toward the easiest tasks because they give us a sense of accomplishment. But in order to be successful at managing time, it’s critical to learn how to best combine
the important and the easier tasks.

 

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

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Post from Transformation Tom™-Being Curious: Chapter from “Time Management Manifesto”

June 5, 2023 / tomdowd / News
0

being-curious

When a colleague of mine initially started publishing a required report each day, he would get regular questions about it. As time passed, the number of questions subsided. He figured the report had run its course, but he was asked to keep producing it for no reason except that it had always been done
that way. He cleverly added a box on the report that read, “Space for Rent.” Over a year, not one person questioned it or even commented on it. He changed the frequency of sending the report to weekly before eventually stopping—and no one questioned it.

Don’t accept that “It’s always been that way.” Let’s take a trip back to our childhood. Why is the sky blue? Where do babies come from? Okay, let’s keep the last one out of it. The point is to get back to the natural childhood curiosity that many of us grew out of. As important as routines are for us to maintain stability in our day, when was the last time you brought your natural curiosity to work? Routines are only as good as our ability to understand their value.

Why is this report important to read each day? What am I gaining by attending this meeting if my peer is already there and can report back? Why am I working late? Is it because real work needs to be done, or is it because I’m trying to impress someone? The answers to these real questions can serve to help you find pockets of wasted time. There may be opportunities for collaboration, teamwork, or even just stopping a practice that is no longer effective. It’s time to be a curious child again. Starting today, question the whys to what you’re doing. Why do I need to travel to some meetings when I can be just as productive over the phone? Why have I allowed junk mail to clutter my inbox as opposed to unsubscribing? There are many questions that can and should be asked. You may find that the answers confirm that a particular task does indeed add value to the work you’re doing. That’s a good thing. Keep doing that task. What you’re looking for are the pockets of unproductive time that you can eliminate. You might surprise yourself and your co-workers with more time to concentrate on the more important tasks.

 

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

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