A colleague of mine, Jonathan Creaghan, has provided me with a series of articles on leadership, sales and time management. I will be running these articles periodically - so check in for updates. For more information on Jonathan - see his bio at the end of this article. JF
Article #1 – Solutions for the Human Side of Business - By: Jonathan Creaghan
“Focusing on mind management has a
significant impact on your productivity”
What if you could save accumulated minutes to find hours during the
week, how would you use that extra time?
In our “get’er done now” world of limited resources, it’s time to come at the
problem of managing time from a completely different perspective.
Finding tiny moments of lost time are the key to getting more done.
Sure you will have your list of things you want to accomplish each day. But
that presupposes that what is on your list needs to be there. So let’s get
deeper with things.
Look
for lost minutes
You’re deep into a project
when you hear your email go off, you look up absentmindedly and see that it’s
from someone you have not got along with lately. Annoyed, you read the email and interpret it
as “snarky”, and spend the next couple of minutes re-reading it just to confirm
your thoughts. Lost minutes: 5
As you don’t want to be too
impetuous, you spend the few minutes formulating your response, letting it sit
on the screen as you read it over. Lost
minutes: 5
You suddenly, and
impetuously, hit
<send>, which you
instantly regret. The guilt and other emotions that you have tied up, mean that getting
back to work takes a little time. Say 5 or more minutes
The email sits in the back
of your mind as you try and refocus on your project. You eventually do return
to your original task, but it takes time. Say another couple of minutes.
Total
time so far: at least17 minutes. That’s
seventeen minutes you will never get back simply because you perceived an email
poorly. Your mind got the better of you.
I shared this story with a
VP of Sales the other day, he said I was being kind and little too conservative
with the time. He has taken emails home with
him and stewed on them all night. In
which case we
are looking at hours of lost time, but I appreciated his honesty.
So HOW do you save minutes to find hours?
·
Change your perception and find time
Make sure you see what is
going on around you clearly and accurately. As the story shows, there is a
connection between misperception, storytelling, interpretation of situations, and
time.
·
Change your thinking and find time
Believe it or not, but a
thought takes time. Sometimes being fixated causes poor thinking and can
distract you, disconnecting you from what you are doing, wasting more time.
This is easily demonstrated if you are in discussion with someone and you get
lost in a thought, requiring that you ask them to repeat themselves. You wasted
time, they wasted time, and you slowed down the message being communicated.
·
Stay present to the situation
Staying in the moment you
get more done. Your mind can focus efficiently which translates into effective behaviors
and performance improves. If you have
ever played sports, you know how important being in the
moment can be, and not letting your ‘chattering mind’ get in the way.
·
The end result
People who practice mind
management, have more time at the end of the week for activities and for others
who are important to them.
Focusing on mind management has
a significant impact on workplace effectiveness.
Go to ‘Getting More Done’ and
‘Mind Management’ to learn more
Copyright © 2014, Jonathan Creaghan all rights reserved
Jonathan
Creaghan helps clients transform themselves and
their workplaces. He believes that
businesses ultimately succeed or fail because of the human factor. He teaches people to think differently, to
see reality with fresh eyes when solving issues that impede them, whether
personal or business. Jonathan provides
“Solutions for the Human Side of Business”.
Jonathan is the author of several books including
Duxter’s Leap! and the Thinking Differently® Leadership series which includes Thinking
Differently® about… Getting More Done. His books are published around the globe in several languages.
For more information on Jonathan Creaghan:
-
519.472.2562
