The Best of L2L Blogazine 2008-2009 #9
Capturing Time
(April 27, 2009) by Kristi Royce
“If I could save time in a bottle…” was pondered by the late Jim Croce in his 1973 chart-topping song Time in a Bottle.
This song captures the thoughts of many who deeply desire to get a hold of things that they feel are slipping through their fingers. It beckons for a sense of control in ones life to capture things of value and not let them get away.
In later decades, this concept of capturing time for our benefit has been dubbed “time management” in the corporate world. It is meant to get better results from the time allotted to each person.
Problem
As great as the idea of “time management” seems as a concept, there is a really big problem with it. This is because we can’t really manage time. In a single day, time is finite. Beyond our life and scope, time is infinite. So rather than managing time, we should consider how we can manage ourselvesbetter. We really don’t have much of a choice, after all.
At work, this really shows up in multiple ways. Due to the constant incomingbarrage of interruptions and urgent issues in today’s information age, it has become increasingly difficult to focus on a single task for a prolonged period of time. As a result, the work day often becomes a whirlwind of action and fire fighting. We can often spend time high on activity and low on achievement.
Solution
Here are two techniques I have learned, from my own experience in guiding my clients, that can help:
- Break through the over-commitment and chaos we face every day.
- Gain the benefit of doing the work rather than dealing with obstacles to getting work done.
My clients, both billing professionals and folks with a desire to increase their personal effectiveness, have used these tips successfully. They often end up with “free time” to enjoy some fun! Imagine that?!?!
Understand Your Personal Time Profile
Most people think they know more about how they spend their time than they actually do. We tend to believe our memories are good enough for an accurate account of the hours and minutes we spend on a given task. Here’s the truth: no one can really master their time until they know how they spend their time.
If time seems to always be getting away from you, the Time Mastery Profile can help you understand how you manage your time. These insights can help you see where your time goes and then adjust your behaviors to give you more of what you want and need.
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Make Sense of Your Time by Capturing it Automatically
One common problem that I often hear from my clients who need to track their billable time is that they have a great deal of difficulty accounting for their time after the fact. In a perfect world, you’d be able to keep track of each and every thing you do, and make a note of it as you do it. We know, however, that this is not a realistic expectation. So what to do in such a busy life?
There are many quality software products geared towards helping you track your time as you go. You may want to try a software program calledChrometa which can actually do all of this automatically for you. It logs and categorizes everything you do on your computer as you work, making time reconciliation a snap.
Eliminate Time Wasting Habits
These are a couple of the ways you can more effectively manage your time. Now you need to do something with this knowledge and take the first step.
Identify the habit you want to change. The more you know aboutwhat, when and why you do something, the easier it is to identify habits that are detrimental.
Begin the new behavior as purposefully as possible. Once you’ve identified the new habit you want to develop, tell people about it so you’re not tempted to fall back into old behaviors. Establish new routines associated with the habit, put up signs to remind you of the new desired behaviors, and do what you can to change your environment so the new habit has a chance to take root and grow.
Time management can help you increase your productivity on the job and at home, help you enhance the quality of your work with less stress, and give you a sense of personal satisfaction and accomplishment. You never know, you might just find the time to reward yourself and do something you have never had the time for!
What are some “tricks” that you use to help you keep focused at work and at home? Have you had some success in shaving off unexpected and unwanted tasks as a result of a new habit or behavior? Let us know what has been working for you!
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Kristi Royse is CEO of KLR Consulting
She can be reached at [email protected]
Brett Owens contributed to this article
Image Source: worth1000.com
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The Best of L2L Blogazine 2008-2009 #10
One Leadership and Beer Goggles
(June 3, 2009) by Jennifer Cohen
What is the context in which you accomplish (or don’t accomplish) results?
The context is the background, the container, the larger space surrounding your life. And in large part, it is steering your life.
Here are some examples: Scarcity is a context. Love is a context. Fear is a context. “I will never let you hurt me again” is a context. Looking at life through “beer goggles” (a non-coherent perspective) is a context. There are several contexts operating at once in your life:
- The natural ecosystem in which you live.
- Your socio-economic-cultural-political environment.
- Your personal history (family tree, heritage).
- Your personal family environment.
- Your own story about yourself and your life (formed inside your family environment and often not updated from childhood).
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As we strive to articulate goals for the future, we often express ourselves in a context that is unconscious to us. Because we are unaware of this backdrop, we unintentionally can create many of our obstacles that fuel many of our breakdowns.
Do you hear those guiding contextual voices inside of your head and heart? Are you aware that they are there reminding you who you are, where you have been, and what you have become?
Most of the time we are living in one or more of these contexts and mistakenly assume that everyone else around us is “breathing that same air.” Unfortunately with this type of thinking, we actually couldn’t be farther from the truth. You see, people are different and have a different “contextual soup” coursing through their veins. And, unfortunately, when we discover that those around us are not living and breathing that same existence, we can often then assume that something is wrong with that other person. We can cause our self or others to stumble; or we create breakdowns because we feel that “different” is bad or somehow undesirable.
Being stuck in a contextual mindset may seriously negatively impact your level of influence with others. They see you as less than you could or should be.
When one doesn’t realize when they are locked into their own contextual mindset, it can play out in many unfortunate ways in organizational dynamics. For instance, think about how many hiring managers simply surround themselves with people just like them. Whether they do this on purpose or simply do this just to remain in a stable and comfortable environment, they are limiting the potential of their team by limiting the contextual diversity of their teammates. This can negatively impact results.
What is the context in which you live? What unexamined, unconscious attitudes and beliefs drive your actions and fuel your breakdowns?
Think about these questions. Then think about potential ways to re-think what you have been doing in your contextual world. Convince yourself to seek an improved way to conduct yourself for better performance. Begin to take the first step to recreating a context that supports your growth todiscover what has been invisible to you in your life. Once your contextual reality is out in the open and under examination, you can shift your story and invent a context that better fits your life and your leading. You can be more purposeful and intentional with better information at hand.
You can take off your beer goggles and see things more clearly.
In a larger view, the Leader’s job is to invent new contexts that are clear and easy to follow with purpose. This requires first shifting their own mindsets so that they are in sync with that larger vision. Then, after you have recalibrated your contextual landscape to be in league with that larger vision, you can lead others into something new with integrity.
So, what is lurking in the back of your mind that defines your contextual thought processes? How might you be unintentionally misusing that platform to make poor decisions? What can you do to become more aware of your “contextual soup” and make sure that you are being wise with your judgments? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Jennifer Cohen is Co-founder and Director at Seven Stones Leadership Group. She can be reached at [email protected]
Image Source: quitor.com
