Are You A Pack Rat?

Focus: Get organized so you can find things quickly!
Wc:  276

Audio lesson: 2 mins. 15 secs.

Well, I have a question for you today, are you a pack rat?  In fact, there is a website devoted specifically to pack rats, www.packratsanonymous.com. 

I went to that website quite a while ago because I teach classes on how to get more organized.  And always in the quest to being more organized myself, I ran across this website with some really great tips I’d like to share with you. 

First, let me start off with the definition of how they define a pack rat.  A pack rat is a person who has the irresistible urge to buy and store more than they need or can expect to use. 

One can be a little eccentric or full-blown obsessive compulsive.  If you keep old newspapers until they are a fire hazard because you want an article, this is dysfunctional.  

The best therapy is to confront your demons with the help of a friend or professional. 

Ever notice how easy it is to save everything but money?  Well, here are three rules to follow that might help you be just a bit more organized. 

0  Number one, never acquire anything that you can’t find a home for and that place should not be the floor.  I bet you have some colleagues who violate that regularly.

0  Number two, if you do acquire something, something that takes up an equal or greater amount of space must be discarded.

0  And finally, number three, if you haven’t used or touched an object in one year, its necessity is questionable. 

           

I think these are some realistic considerations in trying to clear out our space, three tips from www.packratsanonymous.com.               

If you need help with this topic or anything related to time and organizational management, consider the new release Organizational Strategies for the Overwhelmed.  It comes in a variety of formats. To learn more - click here: www.joanncorley.com

Effective Management - Choices in Time Usage

Focus: Management Success, Time Management

Audio: 1 min. 49 secs.

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2. Read along with the transcript below or print and read for later

3. Right click the MP3 FILE link MP3 File to download and "save as" to your hard drive for continuous listening or to transfer to your mobile device.

For additional lessons use the Search Box (top left).

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Being Effective in Management
wc: 599
Transcript - print now

This lesson is in compliment to others on the topic of  time and priority management. In other audios in the library, we talk about the principle of being efficient. And we talk about the differences between being efficient and being effective. 

In this audio, we’re going to talk about being effective in the context of being a manager. You know, it’s amazing how you can get a lot of things done, and then, have essential elements of our job performance either fall through the cracks or not get the attention that it actually needs. And not giving attention to those things actually takes up more time in the long run and that speaks to being effective. 

Here’s an example. Let’s say that a manager has a couple of members of their team that are not performing up to par. And instead of that manager taking the time to coach them, to give them attention, to help them in their performance, they, in fact, are sort of left dangling themselves. Yet that manager’s still very busy and getting a lot of things done. 

In the long run, however, that’s going to cost the manager time because, let’s say, the manager does take the time to coach those employees, to help them improve their performance, or even find out that they’re not going to improve their performance. That is really being more effective; taking the time to do that though it might not be an immediate pressing issue. 

So really the challenge of being effective is that sometimes the things that feel very urgent are keeping us from doing the things that we need to do to help us be more effective. 

Effective is then defined as doing the best things at the best times. Or the right things at the right time so that you can, in an overall strategy, save time, improve your performance, and be able to get the outcomes that you want as well. So that’s a distinction between being efficient and being effective.

Effective Execution vs. the Illusion of Being Busy

Focus: Personal Productivity, Time Management, Performance Success

Audio duration: 3 mins. 26 secs. 
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2. Read along with the transcript below or print and read for later.

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or to transfer to your mobile device for portable learning.

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5. Remember, the audios are loosely scripted to sound more natural

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Effective Execution vs. the Illusion of Being Busy

Wc: 398 
Transcript - print now

Are you in the “habit” of getting things done….getting the right things done at the right time? One of the marks of an effective professional is the ability to get things done.

At the end of last year, USA Today surveyed several freshman senators and house members to find out what piece of advice they would give incoming colleagues. Interestingly, over half of those whose advice was recorded in the article addressed the issue of time management, scheduling, etc.

Many of you know that Management-in-Minutes™ is in essence a new start-up and for me I’ve had to create new behaviors in order for this new business to get off the ground. I’ve had a complete shift in time usage, going from extensive travel and being in a conducting workshop mode to being in one location, sitting, and doing a lot of planning, thinking, and writing.

This shift has made me acutely aware that I absolutely have to have targeted OUTCOMES...EXECUTION is critical. There are some days when I have felt really busy, and yet at the end of the day thought, “gee, what did I actually get done today?” I’m sure many of you can relate!

So here are some considerations:

1. You can be efficient and not necessarily be effective.
2. Effective is getting the right things done at the right time. For example, you can get a lot done in a week and still have critical activity fall through the cracks.
3. Being effective means one has to take the time to PLAN and determine what’s most important what’s critical or ABSOLUTE.

SO, what’s critical…well it’s the activities that MATTER THE MOST to the business strategy or your role or the goals of your team.

ACTION TIP: One thing that has helped tremendously is to develop something called DAILY ABSOLUTE OUTCOMES. This concept has helped maintain focus and motivation. 

It’s absolute because it is a critical outcome to the success of the business. So the focus is on what’s absolutely necessary - what REALLY MATTERS. 

HOW TO: HAVE in front of you a time sheet that maps out all the working hours in your day divided into half hours – “DAY AT A GLANCE”. Determine your absolutes for the day and literally plug them into your schedule, making appointments with them; committing a certain amount of time to them. 

What you’ll notice…how much time YOU DON’T HAVE!...that will fuel your motivation and create your laser focus.. (By the way…in many cases, it’ll help you say NO…more often as well!)

MY ADVICE – BE KNOWN as someone who gets things done and the right things done at the right time.

The Heart of Time & Priority Management

Focus: Time Management, Personal Productivity

Audio Lesson  - Duration: 4 mins. 1 sec.

1.  Double click arrow to LISTEN NOW:

2.  Read along with the transcript below or print and read for later.

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     your hard drive for continuous listening or to transfer to your mobile device.

4.  For additional lessons use the Search Box (top left).

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The Heart of Time and Priority Management
Transcript - print now

Wc: 458

Read time: 2 mins.

The art and activity of managing your time, organizing your stuff and space and determining your priorities begins on the inside. It’s so important to recognize this.

Whenever you attempt to plan what you’re going to do, when you’re going to do it with what ever planning tools you’re using, you go through an “internal dialogue.” That dialogue begins with a way of thinking that generates certain kinds of emotions that then influence what you will decide. That decision then determines how you will behave or another way of putting it, what action you will take – when.

In much time management seminars this is not discussed AND YET, this is the most essential part, because this impacts everything else. It’s a chain reaction.

Thinking = impacts feelings = how you plan = what you do

Here’s an example:

Let’s say that you have the kind of personality that makes it hard to say no…yep I know that there are some of you out there. Let’s also say that you get a request from a co-worker to help them with a project. You don’t know for sure if you have the time, but you say yes to the request because you want to be helpful and genuinely want to be seen as a team player.

In fact, you will either consciously or subconsciously go through that thought process in your head….”well I don’t know if I have time, but I’m a team player…so….” All those thoughts are generating a variety of feelings. Depending on your personality, the relationship with that team member and other factors, you may experience these kinds of feelings: desire/motivation, stress, guilt, fear, joy to name a few. Those feelings determine WHY you said yes. This is crucial to be aware of. 

WHY?...because managing your internal dialogue - the process given above is the foundation to managing time and priorities effectively. 

Let’s continue the example. Let’s say that although you said yes, the reality is you are swamped and really don’t have time to help. Saying yes, creates a commitment and an expectation for yourself and the other person and now your integrity in on the line.

In many cases you will push and stress yourself to help and that will impact other items on your plate. Ironically, some of those items may actually be more important and your taking on additional activity may affect the quality of those items or they may even fall through the cracks.

You may subsequently feel stress, and then even angry at the person for even asking in the first place or at yourself for saying yes. No matter what, this is an example of ineffective time management and it all began with your internal dialogue.

Bite-size Tip: Become acutely aware of your internal dialogue as you work and also as you begin implementing the principles being offered in this series.

Remember, time and priority management begins on the inside.

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Are You a Pack Rat?

Focus: Personal Productivity, Getting Organized, Performance Success

Audio lesson: 2 mins. 15 secs. 

1.....Double click arrow to LISTEN NOW:

2.....Read along with the transcript below or print and read for later

3.....Right click the MP3 FILE link MP3 File  to download and "save as" to your hard drive for continuous listening or to transfer to your mobile device.

4.....For additional lessons use the Search Box (top left).

_______________________________________________________________

Are You a Pack – Rat?

Transcript - print now

Wc: 276

Read time: appx. 1 min.  
Well, I have a question for you today, are you a pack rat? In fact, there is a website devoted specifically to pack rats, www.packratsanonymous.com. 

I went to that website quite a while ago because I teach classes on how to get more organized. And always in the quest to being more organized myself, I ran across this website with some really great tips I’d like to share with you. 

First, let me start off with the definition of how they define a pack rat. A pack rat is a person who has the irresistible urge to buy and store more than they need or can expect to use. 

One can be a little eccentric or full-blown obsessive compulsive. If you keep old newspapers until they are a fire hazard because you want an article, this is dysfunctional. The best therapy is to confront your demons with the help of a friend or professional. 

Ever notice how easy it is to save everything but money? Well, here are three rules to follow that might help you be just a bit more organized:

• Number one, never acquire anything that you can’t find a home for and that place should not be the floor. I bet you have some colleagues who violate that regularly. 
  
  
• Number two, if you do acquire something, something that takes up an equal or greater amount of space must discarded.
  
  
• And finally, number three, if you haven’t used or touched an object in one year, its neessity is questionable.  
In summary: These are some cool considers from a great website. You may want to pass the url on to a "friend."

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Efficiency - Going Beyond Execution

Focus: Time Managment, Personal Productivity

Audio lesson: 4 mins. 1 sec.

1.......Double click arrow to LISTEN NOW:
2.......Read along with the transcript below or print and read for later

3.......Download to your hard drive for continuous listening or to transfer to your mobile device....click MP3 link: MP3 File

4.......For additional lessons use the Search Box (top left)

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Efficiency - Going Beyond Execution

Transcript - print now

Wc: 280
Read time: 1-2 mins.

Do you know people who just seem to get a lot of things done? Well in the world of time and performance management, that’s called execution – the ability to get things done.

There are, however, two other important aspects of time and priority management that we need to consider that significantly affect our performance. Those two elements are being efficient and being effective.

This audio lesson will examine efficient. Webster’s defines efficient as being productive without waste. I know when I first started recording audio lessons for Management-in-Minutes, I had so much material in my head from all my years of conducting workshops, initially I thought it would be faster just to record off the top of my head. Well, what I discovered is I had to go through many takes to get the recording acceptable. Although I was getting them done – execution, the way in which I was doing it proved to be inefficient. 

So, I started writing an outline of what I wanted to say and oh my gosh what a difference…the words just flowed.   In this example, I executed and increased my efficiency.

I wonder in your world of work are there ways you can improve your efficiency? One way many professionals do is through increasing their knowledge of technology. Something as simple as using a template vs. creating documents from scratch each time is a step in increased efficiency or using keyboard shortcuts vs. pull down menus is another way.

The bottom line?....efficiency directly impacts your time… imagine the time wasted with inefficiency.

Coaching Tip: Examine areas of your work flow and determine if there is any areas where you could become more efficient. Take immediate action on one item. Do the action consistently until it becomes a habit.

Did you know…you only have to improve by 1% a day to double your effectiveness in 70 days?