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

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

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

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