Getting a Grip on Time

Other than the weather, more people talk about time than anything other than sex. And weather and time are two things we can do very little about and must ride the waves of what happens and then respond to it.

In my class on Time Management at SMU, I found myself saying to the participants, "wasting time doing what you enjoy is not wasting time." And in that thought, I began to realize how little dream time is available to us in our over scheduled lives, or at least mine. Do you have enough time to think and to create the work you were built to do?

If EQ or emotional intelligence is essentially effective self management, then TQ or Time Intelligence must be the effective use of time. What is effective use of time to you? Is it multi-tasking? Is it sitting and reading and thinking? Is it organizing others? Or all of the above?

As an executive coach and speaker, I look at the successful people in my world and they seem to have time to make the most of all they do. Bill Clinton was famous for using his listening skills to hone in on the messages that people wanted to tell him so that when they parted, they felt like their message had been completely listened to. This is actually a part of productivity because he was able to grasp the speakers message in the shortest time possible and then make the most of it.

One area I caution my coaching clients to avoid is multi-tasking. First, it annoys those who are trying to communicate with you. And two, the quality of work done while multi-tasking is usually not the best.

Look back in time and think of those who have come before. How did they use time before computers and even before typewriters? For a coaching project, I had to overnight write 50 definitations of the work I do. I felt like Mozart up in my room in the hotel, scratching out one after another. At the time, I was furious about this abuse of my time. Later, I have turned to those definations time after time with gratitude for the insights they have given me.

One helpful tool is to find out how you currently use your time. I have turned to the Inscape Publishing tools which has an excellent profile called Time Mastery. It identifies the approaches which keep me from the most effective use of my time including meetings, interruptions, etc. To see how one of my colleagues was able to weave this into a workshop for a team, look at https://www.inscape-exchange.com/downloads/products/case_studies/hickman1.pdf

The key word for today is time after time. Do you repeat the same patterns that rob you of your great gift to accomplish what drives you? What drives your time?

Are you Motivated in the Right Direction?

“My people are just not motivated,” a customer complains. “Deborah, can you put on a workshop to get them motivated and “fix them”?

If I ask for a further explanation as to why the customer thinks their employees are not motivated, it usually has something to do with not getting the things done they want done. They usually mention that their employees are not taking the initiative and working as fast as they expect or are spending time on things that don’t contribute to the organization’s goals.

When I explain that their employees are probably already motivated I get a confused look.

Let’s look at what motivation means. The word “motivation” describes the drive that compels people to take action. People are always moving toward the things they want and away from the things they don’t want.

So when people are perceived as not motivated, they are probably just going toward something they want and not necessarily what the company wants.

“If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there.”~Lewis Carroll – English Author (1832-1898)
So do your employees know what road to take to get what your organization wants to accomplish? Have you painted a vision of how exciting it will be to go down that road and what it accomplishes when we get there?

In thinking about our Blog’s purpose: for “others who want to become more effective and productive both personally and professionally” has led me to consider what it means to be productive.

Productive people in organizations get things done. Not just any “thing” but the “thing” that the organization wants to get done. When people are productive they are usually seen as motivated in the right direction. “Look at all he has accomplished!” “She is the most productive person we’ve ever had in the job!” managers may exclaim. Then we look around trying to figure out how to clone the person.

There are some folks who because of their experience, education or just intuition know exactly what to do. Some folks will realize they are a crossroads and ask what road to take. But there are still other folks can also be productive and motivated in the right direction if you show them the right road. It’s all about articulating expectations.

I’m convinced that at least 98% of your employees want to do the right thing. After all, have you ever known anyone who wakes up in the morning and says “I think I’ll do the exact opposite of what my manager wants today”? I hope you’ve never meet this person!

Success Law 2: The Law of Cause and Effect

Seven Laws that Guarantee Your Career and Business Success

In our first post in this series of seven laws, we discussed universal laws - mental laws that impact our lives each and every day. Aren’t you glad you did that? Now that you’re up to date and raring to go let’s begin the next law.

The Law of Causality as Socrates referred to it is also known to us as the Law of Cause and Effect. Some have called it ‘the Iron Law’ of the universe and it states that everything happens for a reason. Everything! There are no accidents because we live in a world governed by laws and this is one of the most important ones. Everything happens for a reason, not by chance but by law, even if we don’t recognize or understand it. There are specific causes for career and business success just as there are specific causes for career and business failure. Nothing happens by chance or luck. Period.

If there is an effect (an outcome) in your life that you want more of you simply trace it back to its causes and repeat the causes. As an example, if you have recently been singled out by your boss for a raise, a job promotion with recognition and awards you can look closely at what you’ve done over the past months or years to see what were the causes that led to these positive outcomes (effects). There will always be a reason or reasons (causes) that brought about these effects. Always!

A wonderful Scottish proverb says, “it is better to light one wee candle than to curse the darkness”. Just as the law works on the positive side it also works on the negative. If you are seeing effects or outcomes that are not what you want the same steps will work to help unveil and shed light on the problem (the causes). This will give you a recognition and clarity of what you need to change. This is not an easy examination, but the end results of changing the wrong causes can lead to a happy ending with new and better effects (outcomes). That’s what you want, isn’t it?

You are ‘the cause’ and your life is ‘the effect’. But let’s dig a little deeper into the cause. All causation is mental. Your thoughts are the causes for all of the conditions in your life. Some will argue vehemently against that truth but arguing doesn’t negate any law. It is what it is. If you have parts of your life (perhaps the whole thing) that really stink, well, look in the mirror or dig deep into your mind. There is a phrase, “stinking thinking”, that might just apply here.

Thoughts are causes and conditions are effects. Everything you are or ever will be is the result of your thoughts. Where your thoughts go and stay (the throne or the throne room), there too go you, be it good or bad. What you are reaping today is a result (an outcome or effect) of what you’ve sown in the past. When you change the quality or direction of your thinking, you’ll change the quality or direction of your life. This law of sowing and reaping is another subset of the greater law of cause and effect.

Thoughts are the seeds of your words and your deeds. When you think it, harbor it, incubate it and give it time, you’ll reap that result; you’ll see that fruit, right or wrong, positive or negative. Biblical wisdom says, “…for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Typically, what you sow (just like a seed), brings back more - much more of the same. When you put a kernel of corn in the ground you don’t expect to get just one kernel back. It comes back multiplied if it’s a healthy kernel and in good growing conditions. Sow a thought, reap an attitude. Sow an attitude, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a lifestyle. Thoughts are things, powerful things. What thoughts are you sowing today?

Thoughts are things, powerful things. What thoughts are you sowing to cause the effects you really want and not the effects you want to avoid?

We’ll discover more of these seven laws that build on these first two in our future posts. Remember to sow the seeds of a good cause (your career and business success) to reap the reward of a good effect (happiness, peace of mind, a lasting legacy). Happy sowing and reaping until our next post.

Are effective meetings and good time management the same?

For many years, I’ve been training and speaking on the topics of personal time management or how to have more productive meetings. So it was not a surprise to me when I sat down at my computer for blogging something helpful and enlightening to share that my brain pulled out one of the things I get asked about so often in these sessions. I found that this is not only my pet peeves, but often a mystery to others as well. Read on, see if the questions don’t stir emotions, and let’s find out if you think you have the answer to the conundrum.
Business Books by Shirley Fine Lee

Meetings and Time Management have most likely been around since before the industrial revolution. Are they complementary or exclusive business issues? A pet peeve of mine and others is often reflected towards people who are really good at managing their own time, but seem to allow loss of time control in meetings. Meetings should have a plan just as individuals have a to-do list and scheduled appointments. For meetings this plan is called an agenda, which is a group to-do list with appointed times for each item. Should not educated time managers consider meetings as group time management and act accordingly? What can we do to help each other have better meetings? What can we do to better understand the value of the time of other’s we work with?

Hopefully, voicing this pet peeve and my associated ramblings has gotten all of us to think about this business issue. Please compose your thoughts and answer my questions for yourself. Then if you feel like sharing your thoughts, add your comments to this blog. Remember – I’m interested in your perspective too.