Improve My Business

Everyone has heard the saying that nice guys always finish last. However, rather than referring to male/female relationships, I wonder if the quote applies to professional success and productivity. This adage was stuck in my head while I watched a movie called “Yes Man” a few days ago. If you haven’t seen it yet, go do so! – great humor and entertainment. It stars Jim Carrey as a bank employee who reluctantly decides to follow an outlandish program called “Yes!” Everyone that follows the program is encouraged to say yes to every single opportunity that presents itself because it’s supposed to allow you to live a richly satisfying and rewarding life. As a result, you get to witness a host of hilarious events throughout the movie. It’s not hard to guess what happens to Jim Carrey’s character during the plot’s rising action – utter chaos and disorganization.

It’s obvious that saying yes all the time doesn’t have good implications. However, maybe some of you (like me) still have trouble mustering up the courage to say no to more people, especially to family and friends.

If so, read this article I (coincidentally) came across a couple days after watching the movie - “Say ‘Yes’ to ‘No’!”

The article makes a valid point: We’re all too familiar with the regretful, and sometimes resentful, feeling we get after agreeing to do something for someone and it ends up taking way too much time. Granted it’s a very kind gesture, too much of it can definitely take a toll on our own personal goals. As the article states, “it’s important to remember that every time you say ‘yes’ to something or someone, you’re saying ‘no’ elsewhere in your life” and it’s likely that you’re saying no to yourself or your personal agenda. Once you realize how much you’re helping others with THEIR tasks, it’s silly to say no to your OWN tasks and not invest the same amount of effort to your own personal goals. At any rate, it’s imperative that we clearly understand what’s on our own plate at all times so that we can be prepared to say no to people and support it with solid reasons. After all, it’s nice to be honest! Moreover, people will respect your reasons and you can finish the tasks you have at hand. You shouldn’t have to be disorganized because of anything other than your own problems.

The lesson for you and I (and Jim Carrey’s character) is that you can still be a nice person if you occasionally say no and, furthermore, that nice people really can finish last with their work if they don’t take care of their own time. As for romantic relationships, I’m really not sure how credible that saying is…

Technorati Tags: efficiency, Getting Stuff Done, humor, Time Management, working smarter

Here are the remaining 3 tips from Randy Pausch’s time management list from the “I’m on My Honeymoon, But If You Need Me…” chapter:

Rethink the telephone. I live in a culture where I spend a lot of time on hold, listening to “Your call is very important to us.” Yeah, right. That’s like a guy slapping a girl in the face on a first date and saying, “I actually do love you.” Yet that’s how modern customer service works. And I reject that. I make sure I am never on hold with a phone against my ear. I always use a speaker phone, so my hands are free to do something else.

I’ve also collected techniques for keeping unnecessary calls shorter. If I’m sitting while on the phone, I never put my feet up. In fact, it’s better to stand when you’re on the phone. You’re more apt to speed things along. I also like to have something in view on my desk that I want to do, so I have the urge to wrap things up with the caller.

Over the years, I’ve picked up other phone tips. Want to quickly dispatch telemarketers? Hang up while you’re doing the talking and they’re listening. They’ll assume your connection went bad and they’ll move on to their next call. Want to have a short phone call with someone? Call them at 11:55 a.m., right before lunch. They’ll talk fast. You may think you are interesting, but you are not more interesting than lunch.

Delegate. As a professor, I learned early on that I could trust bright, nineteen-year-old students with the keys to my kingdom, and most of the time, they were responsible and impressive. It’s never too early to delegate. My daughter, Chloe, is just eighteen months old, but two of my favorite photos are of her in my arms. In the first, I’ve giving her a bottle. In the second, I’ve delegated the task to her. She looks satisfied. Me, too.

Take a time out. It’s not a real vacation if you’re reading email or calling in for messages. When Jai and I went on our honeymoon, we wanted to be left alone. My boss, however, felt I needed to provide a way for people to contact me. So I came up with the perfect phone message:

“Hi, this is Randy. I waited until I was thirty-nine to get married, so my wife and I are going away for a month. I hope you don’t have a problem with that, but my boss does. Apparently, I have to be reachable.” I then gave the names of Jai’s parents and the city where they live. “If you cal directory assistance, you can get their number. And then, if you can convince my new in-laws that your emergency merits interrupting their only daughter’s honeymoon, they have our number.”

We didn’t get any calls.

Some of my time management tips are dead-on serious and some are a bit tongue-in-cheek. But I believe all of them are worth considering.

Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.

That’s all for time management tips from Randy Pausch. If you enjoyed those, and want to read more of his stories and advice, they can be found in his book called “The Last Lecture.” Again, please feel free to add some of your own time management tips, and any other comments as well!

-Jenny

Technorati Tags: delegate, living your life, managing your time, telephone, Time Management, time out

Right now I’m reading this book called “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. It’s basically a collection of his life stories that he put together from his “last lecture” that he gave on “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” at Carnegie Mellon. Unlike many professors who give “The Last Lecture” talks, this really was going to be Randy’s last because he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and would only have several months left to live. Among many of his stories and advice, I ran across a section about time management-one of the characteristics and skills he emphasized with his graduate students and in own his life.

Excerpt on time management from the “I’m on My Honeymoon, But If You Need Me…” section by Randy Pausch:

All my life, I’ve been very aware that time is finite. I admit I’m overly logical about a lot of things, but I firmly believe that one of my most appropriate fixations has been to manage time well. I’ve railed about time management to my students. I’ve given lectures on it. And because I’ve gotten so good at it, I really do feel I was able to pack a whole lot of life into the shortened lifespan I’ve been handed.

Here’s what I know:

Time must be explicitly managed, like money. My students would sometimes roll their eyes at what they called “Pauschisms,” but I stand by them. Urging students not to invest time on irrelevant details, I’d tell them: “It doesn’t matter how well you polish the underside of the banister.”

You can always change your plan, but only if you have one. I’m a big believer in to-do lists. It helps us break life into small steps. I once put “get tenure” on my to-do list. That was naive. The most useful to-do list breaks tasks into small steps. It’s like when I encourage Logan (his two-year old son) to clean his room by picking up one thing at a time.”

Ask yourself: Are you spending your time on the right things? You may have causes, goals, interests. Are they even worth pursuing? I’ve long held on to a clipping from a newspaper in Roanoke, Virginia. It featured a photo of a pregnant woman who had lodged a protest against a local construction site. She worried that the sound of jackhammers was injuring her unborn child. But get this: In the photo, the woman is holding a cigarette. If she cared about her unborn child, the time she spend railing again jackhammers would have been better spent putting out that cigarette.

Develop a good filing system. When I told Jai (his wife) I wanted to have a place in the house where we could file everything in alphabetical order, she said I sounded way too compulsive for her tastes. I told her: “Filing in alphabetical order is better than running around and saying, ‘I know it was blue and I know I was eating something when I had it.’ ”

There are 3 more tips from Randy’s list which will be posted on the next blog.

Please feel free to add some of your own time management tips, whether humorous or serious!

-Jenny

Technorati Tags: living your life, managing your time, Time Management

We’re only 20 days into summer, 73 more days until the first day of fall, and here in Austin it is HOT! - 105° today! The weatherman says to stay inside, stay hydrated, and limit exposure to the heat. Seems like it would be easy to take the weatherman’s advice and use your time in the A/C to concentrate on your business, but still, this time of year the mind wanders to thoughts of vacation. The TV commercials for Sea World, Six Flags, and Schlitterbahn only exaggerate the feelings that you should be doing something else. Are you afraid that the summer will pass you by?

How about making that summer excursion the reward for reaching a goal? I’m sure you have some work project that’s 75% -85% done you just lack the motivation to finish. Go ahead and finish it up, or at least move it to the next step. Then have a little fun. You know you need to relieve the stress, and that you will come back felling refreshed and revived, with a new zest for getting stuff done. It’s a win-win situation! The sooner you finish that task, the sooner your mini-vacation will come!

Here’s my simple goal: I will fill out my work calendar and schedule for the next two months. My reward will be to schedule in the time to go see Shamu!

What will you do? Do you have any easy, but necessary tasks that deserve a reward? Please share your tasks and rewards, with a few good ideas to choose from maybe I’ll see you at the zoo, aquarium, movies, or outdoor concert!

Technorati Tags: reward yourself, summer, working smarter

I came across this great youtube video - when you watch it, notice the faces of the babies:

Technorati Tags: babies, humor, Streamlining, systems, systems thinking