Comments for Controlling your workload http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com Manage your tasks with ease Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:50:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.0 Comment on Tip: focus on your overall goal by deskcoach http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/09/21/tip-focus-on-your-overall-goal/#comment-135 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:15:32 +0000 http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/09/21/tip-focus-on-your-overall-goal/#comment-135 Yes, isn't it great to know when you are at your best. I wonder what happens when clearing your c job bottleneck goes into the post lunch period. Or perhaps you're saying that, because you know that's the best time for big jobs, you're really incented to clear the decks beforehand! Yes, isn’t it great to know when you are at your best.
I wonder what happens when clearing your c job bottleneck goes into the post lunch period. Or perhaps you’re saying that, because you know that’s the best time for big jobs, you’re really incented to clear the decks beforehand!

]]> Comment on Tip: focus on your overall goal by thehiddenedge http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/09/21/tip-focus-on-your-overall-goal/#comment-133 Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:09:45 +0000 http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/09/21/tip-focus-on-your-overall-goal/#comment-133 As you know my desk is a mess! I can live with that - but I can't do my best work when I have a messy mind. So I have learnt that to make the best use of my personal time is to clear the decks of all those quick and simple c jobs. The sooner I can do that the sooner I can devote some time to think creatively about the important activities than need some planning. I know now that my most productive time for those big jobs is after lunch, during the quiet graveyard shift. As you know my desk is a mess! I can live with that - but I can’t do my best work when I have a messy mind. So I have learnt that to make the best use of my personal time is to clear the decks of all those quick and simple c jobs. The sooner I can do that the sooner I can devote some time to think creatively about the important activities than need some planning. I know now that my most productive time for those big jobs is after lunch, during the quiet graveyard shift.

]]> Comment on Are you spinning too many plates? by thehiddenedge http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/08/18/are-you-spinning-too-many-plates/#comment-131 Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:16:23 +0000 http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/08/18/are-you-spinning-too-many-plates/#comment-131 I think I love your Robert A. Heinlein! Likewise I believe that variety is the spice of life. As a retailer in a previous life I was asked why I didn't become a trainer/coach as I was 'so good at it'! But at the time not only did I mentor, coach and direct branch managers and area managers but I also got to advise buyers and did product merchandising. I project managed store opening teams and arranged conferences. I developed business strategies, fed back financial information, and did competitor surveys. I wrote training programmes, delivered stock, arranged stocktakes, hired and fired staff at senior levels. I negotiated payment terms and payment deals, wrangled with the chairman, wheeled and dealed with creditors, and debtors. Engaged, enthused and entrenched staff - not all but most. What I do now is light weight but I bring with it a lot of experience. Most of which I forget I have. Hey ho! When you have to achieve so many KPIs you build an inherrent time management expertism. However, what works for me, (I am a monthly and annual programmer; not a detail planner) isn't necessarily what will work for you or any others. I strongly believe that one should work with ones primary strengths and build on secondary strengths as there is less personal resistance to them. I think I love your Robert A. Heinlein! Likewise I believe that variety is the spice of life.

As a retailer in a previous life I was asked why I didn’t become a trainer/coach as I was ’so good at it’! But at the time not only did I mentor, coach and direct branch managers and area managers but I also got to advise buyers and did product merchandising. I project managed store opening teams and arranged conferences. I developed business strategies, fed back financial information, and did competitor surveys. I wrote training programmes, delivered stock, arranged stocktakes, hired and fired staff at senior levels. I negotiated payment terms and payment deals, wrangled with the chairman, wheeled and dealed with creditors, and debtors. Engaged, enthused and entrenched staff - not all but most.

What I do now is light weight but I bring with it a lot of experience. Most of which I forget I have. Hey ho!

When you have to achieve so many KPIs you build an inherrent time management expertism. However, what works for me, (I am a monthly and annual programmer; not a detail planner) isn’t necessarily what will work for you or any others. I strongly believe that one should work with ones primary strengths and build on secondary strengths as there is less personal resistance to them.

]]> Comment on Understanding your psychology by thehiddenedge http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/08/02/understanding-your-psychology/#comment-130 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:11:03 +0000 http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/08/02/understanding-your-psychology/#comment-130 A good friend of mine has taught me how to relax at night. I start off with a tour around my garden. It's my 'safe' place. I then go through the fairy door - oh yes there really is one in my garden! The other side is a tunnel of trees that filters the glorious shineshine which falls like raindrops onto the moss green ground below. Small animals scamper as I move towards the other end of the tree tunnel. And at that end there is a natural amphitheater where I sit and watch my thoughts come and go. Whilst I can hear them; they can't hear me and so I don't try to engage with those thoughts. Then I am asleep! Thank you Harvey! A good friend of mine has taught me how to relax at night. I start off with a tour around my garden. It’s my ’safe’ place. I then go through the fairy door - oh yes there really is one in my garden! The other side is a tunnel of trees that filters the glorious shineshine which falls like raindrops onto the moss green ground below. Small animals scamper as I move towards the other end of the tree tunnel.

And at that end there is a natural amphitheater where I sit and watch my thoughts come and go. Whilst I can hear them; they can’t hear me and so I don’t try to engage with those thoughts. Then I am asleep!

Thank you Harvey!

]]> Comment on It’s good to talk - who’s listening? by thehiddenedge http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/07/16/its-good-to-talk-whos-listening/#comment-129 Sun, 29 Jul 2007 16:45:56 +0000 http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/07/16/its-good-to-talk-whos-listening/#comment-129 I would love to 'do' toastmasters - but Bournemouth at that hour is just too much for me. When the group is challenged to found another - please consider Dorchester and I'll sign up without a doubt! I found something interesting about toasting on this website ... http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-toa3.htm I would love to ‘do’ toastmasters - but Bournemouth at that hour is just too much for me. When the group is challenged to found another - please consider Dorchester and I’ll sign up without a doubt!

I found something interesting about toasting on this website …
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-toa3.htm

]]> Comment on Are all your decisions like buying a pair of shoes? by deskcoach http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/07/05/are-all-your-decisions-like-buying-a-pair-of-shoes/#comment-127 Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:58:51 +0000 http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/07/05/are-all-your-decisions-like-buying-a-pair-of-shoes/#comment-127 Ahhh. good tip! Writing an action note on each file is I'm sure intended to be a decision. Are you saying that you write something like a precis of the content? That sounds a bit of a 'cheating' approach; a deferring method, but done some work in the 1-2 mins allotted and you can deal with in next 1-2 minutes allocation. I'd guess David Allen would say you've made a project that is to be delayed, so put in a tickler file with the appropriate date, rather than back in the filing tray. Do you think a filing tray was originally intended as pile of items for filing? Ahhh. good tip! Writing an action note on each file is I’m sure intended to be a decision. Are you saying that you write something like a precis of the content? That sounds a bit of a ‘cheating’ approach; a deferring method, but done some work in the 1-2 mins allotted and you can deal with in next 1-2 minutes allocation. I’d guess David Allen would say you’ve made a project that is to be delayed, so put in a tickler file with the appropriate date, rather than back in the filing tray.
Do you think a filing tray was originally intended as pile of items for filing?

]]> Comment on Are all your decisions like buying a pair of shoes? by marketingthatworks http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/07/05/are-all-your-decisions-like-buying-a-pair-of-shoes/#comment-126 Sun, 15 Jul 2007 22:07:37 +0000 http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/07/05/are-all-your-decisions-like-buying-a-pair-of-shoes/#comment-126 One of the best tips I hhave heard is about the pile of paper we all have on our desks. Its often called a filing tray. Lots of people go through this pile daily, looking at each file and deciding whether to deal with it that same day or to just leave in the pile. To look at a file, you need to engage your brain, think about what it is you will need to do, and then, and only then, can you make a decision about doing it. The advise I heard was to "write an action note on each file, at the time you read it for the first time", that way, when you come back to the file, you only need to read your note, not the file. I know that this is just encouraging people to "not make decisions", but the reality is that we all have too much in our in-tray, and this strategy simply plays to that situation. One of the best tips I hhave heard is about the pile of paper we all have on our desks. Its often called a filing tray.
Lots of people go through this pile daily, looking at each file and deciding whether to deal with it that same day or to just leave in the pile.
To look at a file, you need to engage your brain, think about what it is you will need to do, and then, and only then, can you make a decision about doing it.
The advise I heard was to “write an action note on each file, at the time you read it for the first time”, that way, when you come back to the file, you only need to read your note, not the file.
I know that this is just encouraging people to “not make decisions”, but the reality is that we all have too much in our in-tray, and this strategy simply plays to that situation.

]]> Comment on Are all your decisions like buying a pair of shoes? by deskcoach http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/07/05/are-all-your-decisions-like-buying-a-pair-of-shoes/#comment-125 Sun, 15 Jul 2007 21:35:54 +0000 http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/07/05/are-all-your-decisions-like-buying-a-pair-of-shoes/#comment-125 Appreciative boss! Are you saying that you put things aside when you cannot make a decision about them? Sometimes we go around the loop a few times until we're sure; a bit like the idea that ladies go to several shops and then buy the 1st thing they tried on that they liked. (Of course it's not always true!) David Allen (author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280" rel="nofollow">'Getting Things Done'</a>) would say that anything deferred needs to be considered a project, a date put on it, and put in a 'tickler' file. We all have a preferred way of working - DINDIQ sure sounds useful for your environment! Appreciative boss!
Are you saying that you put things aside when you cannot make a decision about them? Sometimes we go around the loop a few times until we’re sure; a bit like the idea that ladies go to several shops and then buy the 1st thing they tried on that they liked. (Of course it’s not always true!)
David Allen (author of ‘Getting Things Done’) would say that anything deferred needs to be considered a project, a date put on it, and put in a ‘tickler’ file.
We all have a preferred way of working - DINDIQ sure sounds useful for your environment!

]]> Comment on Are all your decisions like buying a pair of shoes? by thehiddenedge http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/07/05/are-all-your-decisions-like-buying-a-pair-of-shoes/#comment-122 Sun, 08 Jul 2007 18:49:50 +0000 http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/07/05/are-all-your-decisions-like-buying-a-pair-of-shoes/#comment-122 This is another of your great stimulating questions. One of my ex bosses gave me a wonderful insight into my own time management style. He called it DINDIQ - do it now; do it quick. I have loved the mnemonic ever since. If you happen to be in a high volume: high responsive occupation then you may need to, like me, clear the queries as they arise rather than spend time prioritising them. If I find myself putting things aside because I think they can wait - often they get forgotten and more often never get tackled at all until they are too late from a customer delight point of view. I accept that these are not high impact decisions but never the less they do get things moving. This is another of your great stimulating questions. One of my ex bosses gave me a wonderful insight into my own time management style.

He called it DINDIQ - do it now; do it quick. I have loved the mnemonic ever since. If you happen to be in a high volume: high responsive occupation then you may need to, like me, clear the queries as they arise rather than spend time prioritising them.

If I find myself putting things aside because I think they can wait - often they get forgotten and more often never get tackled at all until they are too late from a customer delight point of view.

I accept that these are not high impact decisions but never the less they do get things moving.

]]> Comment on Active project mountain - how high is yours? by deskcoach http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/06/17/active-project-mountain-how-high-is-yours/#comment-89 Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:05:37 +0000 http://deskcoach.blogwessex.com/2007/06/17/active-project-mountain-how-high-is-yours/#comment-89 Nice comments..........amplifying I hope the intention of the blog theme - understanding yourself is key to success. Nice comments……….amplifying I hope the intention of the blog theme - understanding yourself is key to success.

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