Controlling your workload

Controlling the diary is a major stumbling block for time management. I’ve seen totally blank pages apart from the odd meeting yet the owner is rushed off their feet!

Here are 5 quick tips:-

1. Assign time for all your tasks, whether appointments or not.

2. Limit the number of people who can put things in your diary.

3. Limit when other people can book meetings in your diary and keep a note of when it suits you best to block off your diary for your personal tasks and what your typical day or week looks like when it suits you best.

4. Book one enjoyable thing in your diary each week, and savour the time you spend doing it: and remember you are able to enjoy this because you’re learning to follow a plan.

5. Block out as late as possible today, time equal to the amount of time you spent yesterday (or today last week if you prefer) over and above the total time you actually wanted to work.

Perhaps you worked late for one hour. Then say you need one hour today. You need this buffer until you get better at planning (or to take your typical interruptions.) If it turns out you don’t need it, then leave early or use the time constructively e.g to review how you’ve spent your time today, or to plan tomorrow, or to catch up on something you’re behind on (e.g. reading material)

What are your experiences?

Having just been on holiday, I’ve had the chance to read something completely different. I chose a book from the background reading list given to my daughter, who is just about to start university: The Goal, a book about management thinking.

Specifically it is about the management of a manufacturing plant, which comes down to locating and exploiting bottlenecks in the system.

Perhaps a rather strange choice for a holiday read, but it is a written as a novel and rather enjoyable.

The improved analysis all became possible because the plant manager began to look at what was important for overall success. Throughput (sales), inventory (invested items that will be sold) and operating expense all needed to be balanced well for a successful plant. (Previously efficiency measurements had been taken on specific areas and as plant changes developed, the measurements hadn’t. Delivery times were always late, and expediters were always busy juggling tasks to rush orders through. Sounds similar to juggling personal workload when deadlines loom! )

As a result, the plant began to deliver on time and was able to take more orders due to more precise controls with less pressure, because plans weren’t being changed regularly. Wouldn’t it be nice to always to deliver on time with no pressure?
Relating this to personal workload style, I’m sure that how we balance long projects (more inventory?) and short projects (quicker throughput?), and whether we invest in developing ourselves or others we can ultimately delegate to (adding to operating expense?) needs to be tuned to our overall goal.

How do you decide your relative time spent on each of your activity types?

Several posts have shown my frustration in people not telling me what they want. I’ve learned from a great coach, that we often criticise what we recognise in ourselves!

I’m sure then my frustration is a reflection of me not saying what I want!

Here’s a tip I’ve decided to go for myself - does it apply to you? Make a list of what you need, no matter how crazy, and practice telling yourself what/why in the mirror, then tell at least one other person about at least 2 of them. (The top 2?)

(By the way, my collage is still a little thin…..I believe I think more than I need visuals! How is your collage?)

Shirley Thompson - The Desk Coach
Time Management and Motivation Specialist
Tel: 01425 480631 Email: info@desk-coach.co.uk

Have you read ‘Are you good enough?’ by McFarlan and Yellowlees? It’s a self-help book on building inner confidence using a story based around 15 points to analyse, which come as magical text messages on a phone (arriving and disappearing to/from nowhere).

For me this week, a strong subliminal message through blogs (mine and others) seems to have been ask for feedback.

1. To get blog responses, ask people to comment

2. Only 360 degree feedback will tell you how others see you.

3. Test an idea on others and see the response rather than just go for it

4. If you want to give someone feedback, create an environment for them to ask for it first.

Is it your natural style to ask others for their thoughts and ideas? What’s the right balance for your success?

Shirley Thompson - The Desk Coach
Time Management and Motivation Specialist
Tel: 01425 480631 Email: info@desk-coach.co.uk

It doesn’t matter whether you speak for 1 minute or an hour, my recommendation stands - find yourself an opportunity to speak about something important to you.  This morning I had a 25min slot at a breakfast meeting, and whatever the audience got out of it is a wonderful bonus to my own benefits. (Fortunately they said I made them think!)

I got to really know how I felt about things (managing my time in this case). I got mental reminders  about the relevance of certain experiences, a formulated  approach for a business offering and increased confidence I can make people think and give them something of value. Pretty good contribution to my self-development I think!

If you’re nervous, recommend you find your local Toastmasters to practice. (In Bournemouth that’s Cottonwood Speakers. Or try a workshop - there are a few active coaches locally.)

Last week’s tip was looking forwards to how you want to be.

Equally important is knowing how you are in the present moment. There’s been lots of comment activity this week around values, beliefs and how we think and act. And the intent of this whole blog is to highlight the benefits of understanding oneself.

The answer to ‘How are you?’ has long since become a habit.

Yet, knowing how you are makes it easier to clarify how you want to be. Knowing both can motivate any change we want to make.

The tip really relates to persistent effects, but just in case your thoughts and feelings went to your mood (as mine did), Anthony Robbins demonstrates to his (huge) audiences that your mood can change in an ‘instant’. So if you’re ever sad you can change your thoughts to be happy ones - if you want to - with a resultant change in your demeanour. Don’t believe it? Ask me more!

Shirley Thompson - The Desk Coach
Time Management and Motivation Specialist
Tel: 01425 480631  Email: info@desk-coach.co.uk

Based on this week’s comments, it was tempting to have ‘assess risks as part of your planning’ as tip of the week. However that can feel so negative it can stop us from making any progress at all, so let’s reserve that for another time!

Let’s think about high level planning - what is your vision? How do you know who you want to be and what you aspire to? Do  you visualise, listen to others, meditate, write things  down,  wait for good gut feeling about something? How?
I recently went on a Dawn Breslin course, which encouraged making a collage of all that you desire.  (Dawn Breslin is a life-coach who was inspired to help others after she suffered deep depression, probably as a result of having a baby. She relates how it was such a shock to her when she’d had a high powered job and been at the top of her game; she could not understand how she felt that all she could do was sit and watch day-time TV! Dawn used her collage to rediscover herself,  with a photo of her  aged 8 at its centre.)

I’ve recommended this to myself this month, having promised to do one  with two buddies, so I pass on the tip to you!  Or, find anything that truly represents an immediate goal or desire and have it visible at all times. I’ve a friend with a wonderful collage in her home office,  of famous and elegant women well above 50 years old! That’s  inspiration to her to be active and beautiful!

Perhaps a collage will only appeal to you if you like pictures. Do you have photos, posters, anything artistic around you at work?  What/who are they pictures of?  Are they inspiring you?

My daughter seems to like words,  littering space around her with sayings, usually something uplifting for self or friends. I believe this inspires her emotional intelligence and self-confidence.

My intention was to write a tip on each Friday of every week, ideally based on comments during the week. Activity has been lower this week, so let me tell you about an underlining belief relating to the rationale that we all grow by understanding ourselves (& our style) better.

Here’s a strategy that has worked for me today (and quite often recently) - trusting myself to walk away from helping people too much.

In one situation I seem to have sowed a benefit seed for a proposal, a conditional carrot if you like, and maintained the conversation without again referring to it. At the point of ‘walking away’ from that conversation, the benefit seed was mentioned by the other person. I suspect someone reading this will tell me that is a named sales style. (Oh, I hope it is my natural one, but it hadn’t been my conscious intention! ) It is so much more inspiring to have a win-win situation where the other person wants to hear what you have to talk about.
In another situation, I had to avoid being ‘piggy-in-the middle’ between two people who were arguing and voices were raised. Of course they were both so right in their own opinion, from their own perspective, so left them to it, pointing out it was best for them to resolve their disagreement, or together explain what value an independent perspective would bring!

Of course all you parents out there know this tip already - or are you, like me, occasionally tempted to give your children the homework answer they’re (we’re) too ‘lazy’ to think a way through?

Well done ’saratoga’, for the best tip this week. In my view, this has to be to periodically tidy your desk!

I’ll definitely be tidying my briefcase this weekend! (Bet there’s a few ‘important’ items in there!) I’m even inspired to clean the inside of the windscreen in my car. I might naturally exhibit an untidy style, but there’s a point I can become really motivated: safety standards or sunny weather showing me up!

If you want someone else to tidy up (children?) then do think of encouraging his/her friends around - it can be great a great incentive!

Or it might even work for you, invite an important client to your office and see the effect?

Of course, ‘periodically’ can mean every day or ‘once in a blue moon’: what is ‘normal’ for you is part of your style. What will motivate us to change? Do you want to change? If so, and you find it a challenge, ask me to help to check out your motivation style and we’ll find what ‘carrot’ you need.

Thanks to everyone for their participation this week.