The concept of time is manmade, yet as the centuries passed,
the lone town church bell that marked the end of another
work day somehow became the need to manage every second
of every day. As a result, we have blurred the lines between work and
life. We have a choice every day in what to do with the twenty-four
hours that are staring us in the face. I’ve been anal retentive and a consummate
time management teacher—and student—for many years.
Yet, I don’t wear a watch. No, I don’t use sun-dials, but we are surrounded
by apparatus that tell us the time. It’s on cell phones, computers,
and even in my small New England church bell tower, which
chimes every hour.

To me, time is the present, not a device. We can’t live in the past,
we are only in this very moment, and we can make the future better by
managing our present effectively. Time management is all mental. It’s
about commitment, routine, flexibility, adjustment, and planning. I
gave a person I mentor specific instructions to do something to develop
herself. She agreed it was reasonable, and committed to doing it. She
didn’t do it. Her exact words were, “I didn’t do it because I didn’t have
time.” That’s too bad. It doesn’t hurt me, but it also doesn’t develop
her. I can’t force her to do it, but she couldn’t commit to finding herself
thirty minutes a month for her own growth. We create our own self-limitations.
We say we’ll do tomorrow what we really want to do today.

It’s time to take back your work day. Today is about self-reflection
in order to understand what else you need to control your work day.
This comes from understanding what’s holding you back, thinking it
through, having the right conversations, and taking action to improve.
Time management is a requirement for all levels in an organization.
If you think you don’t have enough time to invest in improving your
own time management, think again. There are only twenty-four hours
in the day. They should not all be devoted to work, but if you don’t
manage the work piece, you can’t balance the personal piece. Start
immediately.

In time management terms, that’s now.

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

• 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

Do you know about Avanoo.com?  Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.

When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself

Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

As an immature manager who hadn’t realized how important
the people working for him were, I would come home every
night saying that I should be paid extra for babysitting. I even
moved my computer from the front of my desk to the back corner in
an attempt to reduce the volume of questions. It didn’t help, but I did
quickly gain a reputation for being unapproachable (I will remind you
that I wasn’t ready to manage people). I was moved out of the role, but
that’s a story for another day—it does end well (see The Transformation
of a Doubting Thomas for details).

Why was I so frustrated with people asking me questions to solve
customer problems or wanting my attention in order to build a stronger
employee-manager relationship? It took some soul searching, but I did
figure it out. What I found was that I allowed one-hundred percent of
my time to be swallowed up by others who were dependent on me, and
I found myself not knowing when or how I would get everything else
done. If you’re a parent or even have pets, you may know the feeling
that we sometimes just need a little time alone to do what we need for
ourselves.

What I learned was that I simply had to create that time. It didn’t
have to be long periods. Whether it was a quick five-minute breather
or going to a quiet office to write a performance appraisal, that time
made me concentrate on the task at hand. As a result, I became more
productive and could then give one-hundred percent concentration
when I returned. The built-up frustration of wanting to do something
only to encounter obstacles because of the pull from those depending
on us hurts our relationship building, and our time management.

When it makes sense, put up your own “Do Not Disturb” sign when
you absolutely have to get work done. This can be literal or figurative,
done with an online indicator for instant messaging, for example, or
by walking away from your desk. Either way, proactively let people
know that you’re temporarily not available. If you’re on vacation, turn
on your out-of-office message. You can also practice just letting your
phone go to voicemail and allowing emails to come in without an
immediate response. Next, turn off the distractions that can take away
from your actual work. Don’t sneak a peek at Facebook—your friends
will still be there later.

You can be more productive and reduce frustration and
interruptions by simply being obvious about your availability—people
will respect it. Let people know that you’re temporarily not available,
but that when you return they will have your undivided attention.

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

• 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

Do you know about Avanoo.com?  Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.

When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself

Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

I received a panicked phone call from a colleague one day who said
she had taken on additional responsibilities and that she felt she
was drowning, her nose barely above water. She was crumbling
under the weight of her responsibilities. After she’d calmed down, she
asked the simplest question of all: “Can you help me?” Whether she
called me or someone else, she had become self-aware enough to know
her work performance was suffering. Self-awareness is a powerful tool.

Too many people wait until it’s too late to ask for assistance. You
don’t need to complain, you need to look for solutions. If you find
that these solutions or other time management tools you’ve tried aren’t
working for you—keep searching. Telling someone it will get done still
doesn’t get it done, until you find the time to do it. If you’re falling
behind, be strong enough to get assistance. You don’t want to wait
for a time study to figure out what you do all day! If you don’t know,
ask a peer, ask a boss, ask a mentor, even ask a stranger, but make sure
that you ask. I realize we’re in a do-more-with-less business world. We
hesitate to talk with people about the time crunches we’re under. We
don’t want to be considered weak, inefficient, unproductive, or other
negative connotations that can hurt our professional growth. Work not
getting done, however, will be a much bigger problem over time.

It’s time to do some soul searching. Is today the day to ask for help
with your own organization and time management skills? Even if you
want more time to implement these strategies, set an actual deadline to
do another assessment. If you reach that date and are not at the level
you expected, make that the day to ask for help. As stated in an earlier
chapter, the concept of building a strong enough relationship with
someone to have this type of conversation is critical. Invest the time
now to build strong relationships with those people around you who
can help. Discuss challenges with your manager and other co-workers,
and even people you mentor with to get sound advice. Silence will
only hurt you. Communicate with your manager and the appropriate
people within your organization relating to what’s on your plate. It may
take time to reach a solution, but it always begins with self-awareness.

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

• 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

Do you know about Avanoo.com?  Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.

When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself

Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

I used to work in a credit acquisition department where we were
making lending decisions for customers every day. The customer
would send in an application, and we had to make a credit decision
based on multiple factors like previous credit and financial history.
Every effort was made to build consistency, but there were always
situations when we would be on the fence due to the subjective nature
of the job. Do we approve it, decline it, or ask for more information
from the customer? The easy decision was to ask for more information,
but even then, some information that came back still left us in the fog.
Our job was to make sound decisions that didn’t put the bank at risk,
but we still had regulations and certain internal deadlines that forced
us to make some kind of determination. We called these final decisions
endlines. We had to endline and stop waffling. Right or wrong, we had
to make an educated and informed decision before the application was
considered past due.

In your professional life, it’s important to realize that procrastination
is not an option. There are decisions that have to be made. Effective
today, you will learn to make endline decisions. You obviously want
to gather important facts to make important decisions. However,
there are some decisions that aren’t important. Certain emails may
be sitting in your inbox that you’ve read twenty-five times in the hope
that something can be done to deal with it. Have you engaged the right
people, have you escalated the situation, have you gathered the right
facts? In the touch-it-once mentality, leaving it in your inbox doesn’t
solve the problem. A decision still needs to be made. Being decisive
and attacking problems head-on will always save you time and effort.
If you’re in the habit of leaving items unattended because you find it
difficult deciding what to do, now is the time to commit to changing
that habit. An unofficial rule of thumb for me is to consider a maximum
of five business days before simply making an endline decision—give or
take, based on the circumstances. Even if you choose to delete it with
no actions, you still have to make a decision. It’s been a week already!
As long as you understand the ramifications of your decisions, you will
start to build the right habits and reduce the volume of these endline
decisions significantly.

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

• 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

Do you know about Avanoo.com?  Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.

When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself

Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

I used to have a person work for me who managed a small group of
employees. She was great with people, but lacked effective organization
skills. We had been working on these skills, and I had seen
some improvement. I then sat down at her desk one day and looked
behind her. Her credenza had been left open, and obviously was not
intended for me to see.

She was a file hoarder. She had mountains of unfiled paperwork,
personnel files, and who knows what else, hidden in the pile. She said
she would get around to it. So, we set a deadline. I came back the day
after the deadline had passed; her credenza looked very much the same.
She said she’d tried, but it was too much and she didn’t have time.
As stated throughout this book, we do have time; it’s just a matter of
what we do with it. The simplicity of putting the files behind her to
get to them later turned into a pressure-filled ticking time bomb that
still had to be addressed versus a series of quick actions. The mess was
a big concern. Think about the fact that personal information in the
files was accessible, potential follow-up items were left unattended, and
that there were possible audit issues depending on what was in the pile.

She saw a stack of work that became psychologically difficult to
attack. Her strategy was avoidance. I’ve rarely seen this strategy work.
I saw a series of immediate and small tasks that could be completed
quickly, enabling her to gain efficiency in the future. We tackled it
together—in less than thirty minutes. In daily life, we often put off
things that appear to be burdensome tasks, which can take away from
our attention to detail and may even cause our stress to increase. Try
shifting your mindset, so that you approach tasks as they come up with
the same urgency you associate with tasks after you’ve let them build.
If you have always filed and saved immediately, you’re on the right
path. If you don’t, then today is the day to start.
When something needs to be filed, do it immediately—or, depending
on your position, delegate it immediately—whether it is a paper, email
content, or anything online that needs to be saved, recorded, and/
or filed. In order to maximize your efficiency, it’s important that you
know where things are at all times. Knowing that it’s under the third
pile to the left may work sometimes, but this is about consistency. How
you file and where you choose to put things is up to you. The goal is to
have an organized methodology.

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

• 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

Do you know about Avanoo.com?  Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.

When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself

Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

I had only been in the real world working for about six months. I
was doing decently on the phones, and was promoted to a job with
more responsibilities. I was still on the phones, but we had more
meetings to discuss strategies. I showed up to my first meeting without
a notebook, paper, or any other way to retain the information. My
boss called me out on it; I have never gone to a meeting again without
something to keep notes.

According to culturalorientation.net, retention rates for adult
learning varies based on the teaching method, but dips as low as five
percent for lectures. Individuals learn best when they are actively
engaged and taking notes. Culturalorientation.net noted in their article
that, “As Confucius said nearly twenty-five hundred years ago, ‘I hear
and I forget. I see and I remember.’”

Since that day, I’ve been a consummate note taker. What does this
have to do with organization and time management? It has to do with
follow-up, prioritization, and execution; adding everything to your
calendar and ensuring that you’re actually doing what was discussed
right the first time!

If you have not consistently brought something to take notes
with during meetings, start immediately. Always take a notebook to
meetings, and actually use it. The value isn’t the notes staring blankly
back at you. The significance comes into play when you invest the
time to go back and read them—and take action. Just as you would
when taking action on emails, it’s important to do the same with notes.
Go back and refer to them to determine whether any actions need
to be taken. Do you have questions that still need to be asked, or is
clarification or confirmation still needed? Do you know if you were
specifically asked to do something? If yes, mark it accordingly, and
immediately add it to your calendar to get it done. I use markings
for items that require immediate action to ensure that they stand out.
Then, I immediately begin the transfer from paper or even tablet to
a calendar. For those who prefer note taking directly online, you’re even
further ahead. I prefer actual written notes because I’ve found that the
writing and transferring of information has helped my retention rates
significantly, but use what works best for you. What is important is
that you don’t simply take notes and then ignore them—that would be
a waste of time.

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

• 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

Do you know about Avanoo.com?  Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.

When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself

Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

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):

• 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

Do you know about Avanoo.com?  Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.

When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself

Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

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):

• 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

Do you know about Avanoo.com?  Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.

When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself

Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

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):

• 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

Do you know about Avanoo.com?  Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.

When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself

Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

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):

• 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

Do you know about Avanoo.com?  Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.

When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself

Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby