Just Say “No!”

“I wouldn’t have any problem getting my work done if people would just stop interrupting me!” This is probably the number one universal complaint when it comes to time management. It certainly makes sense that it would be easier to complete our to do lists if people would stop giving us more to do. However, it is a little more complicated than that. You need to start by asking yourself, “Why do I keep allowing people to give me more stuff to do?” Without a doubt, a big reason these interruptions steal our time is because many of us don’t know how to “NO.”

Some people find it hard to say no because their highest emotional priority is making sure other people are happy. This emotional priority has nothing to do with the activities connected to important goals in their professional or personal life, but it does override their commitment to accomplish those stated goals. They are driven by an inner “meta-message” – you might call it a “master goal” that defines how they manage all of their other goals – which says, “My main mission in life is to accommodate the needs of those around me.” When they receive a request from someone else, the fear of letting others down or being thought ill of — or concern over some vague, possible future consequences — forces them to say yes even if they would prefer to say no. They will say yes, KNOWING that it will steal time away from a higher priority activity with an impending deadline, and keep getting farther and farther behind as a result.

So, who is the real time bandit here, the person who interrupts with a new request, or the person who says yes when they really need to say no? One thing is absolutely certain: if you keep saying yes, people will keep giving you more work to do. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the wave of requests and interruptions confronting you every day, you probably need to learn how to cordially, firmly and gracefully say no.

Learning to say “no” gracefully is a four-step process:

Work: The Respectable Addiction

Time management is good for a lot of things. It can help you identify your most important tasks, and then help you plan your life so those most important things get done. Time management can help you delegate more effectively, work more efficiently and become more productive, all while helping you to balance all aspects of your life in a more satisfying way. Time management is great for a lot of things, but it can only help you if you are willing to be helped. I run into plenty of people these days who seem to prefer that their lives stay jam-packed with high stress, late hours, multitasking, work-related activities. If they take time management training at all, it is only so that they can squeeze more efficiency out of their already hard driven days. They believe living this way is not only necessary, it is normal. These people are sick.

Arresting the Time Bandits

No, not those Time Bandits.

How often do you look up from your desk, see that it is almost closing time, and feel frustrated that, yet again, you weren’t able to complete one or more of the important tasks that needed to be finished today? If you regularly find yourself wondering where your time goes every day, you need to be on the look out for these five time bandits. Once you see them coming, you can arrest them so they will never bother you again.

I’m Pro-crastination

Chances are, if you are not a procrastinator, then you work with one.  You know, that person that is always putting stuff off until later?

To this end, I recently read an article from The Sideroad with some tips on how to deal with them. Here’s an excerpt:

1. Lack of Interest
If your priorities and theirs do not match, explain to them why this is important to you and what the consequences are in not doing it.

2. Lack of Time
When they typically underestimate how long something will take, and then end up with incomplete work, teach them “back-timing,” where you go from the final deadline through the steps to the must-start date.

3. Perfection
If they delay because they are not sure they will produce a perfect result, use the “What if…” scenario, evaluating possible outcomes and consequences of each to recognize what an acceptable outcome could be.

4. Others’ Opinions
If you think that the procrastinator is worried about possible failure and subsequent rejection, help him or her understand it is natural. Share your own fears.

5. Uncertainty
When they are not sure what is expected, encourage them to go back and seek clarification from those involved so that they can fully understand what will be needed to produce the result.

6. The Unknown
They fear new things and this risk factor causes avoidance. Recall things in the past that they accomplished, reminding them that conquering something new can also be stimulating and rewarding.

7. Poor Work Habits
To limit their multitasking habits, you can remove distractions. Keep the children out of the way or handle phone calls so that they can focus.

Elephant Hunting

I’ve heard two analogies that involve elephants and time management.  The first one is in the form of a riddle: “How do you eat an elephant?”  The answer is, “one bite at a time.”  In other words, you accomplish the really big things just a little bit at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed.

The other elephant analogy is called “elephant hunting.”  This is nothing more than doing the big things first before you focus on the little things.

I found a really neat tool recently to help you with your elephant hunting.  It’s a web to-do list called NowDoThis.  You list out your to-do’s and then it displays them one at a time.  When you’re done with one item, you click the Done button and then it displays the next item on the list.  Pretty simple and pretty effective.

Give it a shot.  And if you want something with a bit more to it, try out WhatShallIDoNow or Next.

User Error?

Is your Blackberry taking over your life?  Are you constantly online checking emails and the like?

A blog post I recently found makes the observation that it isn’t your Blackberry’s fault – it could be you!

If you are at a birthday party for ten year old boys and they are screaming up and down a soccer field, you are probably bored and emails look a little more enticing. This is not about addicted or not addicted; this is an issue of knowing when email is essential and when it’s a distraction.

You have probably been out to dinner with friends and they checked their Blackberry. This means you are not their most important priority at that time, just for that moment. You of course hope that your presence would make you most important, but in fact, it did not. Does that mean your friend is addicted to her Blackberry? No. It means your friend is prioritizing and she’s letting you know that you rank high enough for in-person, but you don’t trump everyone.

……

Blackberries are tools for the well-prioritized. If you feel like you’re being ruled by your Blackberry, you probably are. And the only way to free yourself from those shackles is to start prioritizing so that you know at any given moment what is the most important thing to do. Sometimes it will be the Blackberry, and sometimes it won’t. And the first step to doing this shift properly is recognizing that you can be on and off the Blackberry all day as a sign of empowerment.

So in other words, if you are having a hard time prioritizing without a tool, just throwing in fancy technology isn’t going to fix it – it might make it worse!

Click HERE to go read the full article.