Right Attitudes » Ideas for Impact
» by Nagesh Belludi

1. Clear the clutter around you

Disorder and clutter are the primary sources of the feeling of not being on “top of things.” Messy workspaces can quickly get out of hand and drag you down. Conquer clutter by processing each paper or object at your desk by asking, “Why is this here?” Consider throwing things away; ask, “What is the worst that could happen if I dispose of this?” Organize, simplify, and setup an environment that works for you.

2. Stretch at your desk or brisk walk

Interrupt your deskbound lifestyle by practicing a few exercises right at your desk, walking up a few flights by stairs, or brisk walking around your office block. Simple workouts can revive your energy, prevent afternoon slumps, help you think more clearly, and help control anxiety.

3. Get caught-up on your email and remain caught-up

Given the pervasiveness of email in our lives, regulating email, remaining responsive and productive about email are critical soft-skills for any knowledge worker. Empty your inbox everyday by using following productivity guru Merlin Mann’s ‘Process to Zero’ and ‘Inbox Zero’ techniques. Systematize your email habits by deleting, archiving, responding or delegating every email in your inbox.

4. Embark on a “10-Minute Dash” to conquer procrastination

Not finishing what you have started can be a source of stress and anxiety. Pick a task that you have been putting off, turn on your favorite music, sip your favorite beverage, and work on that task for just ten minutes without any interruption. You will probably find that the seemingly difficult task gets easier once you start working on it. This “10-minute dash” technique can build momentum, get you into the “flow,” and motivate you to work and complete the task.

5. Write a “thank-you” note

In today’s fast-paced world, it is easy to forget to repay kindness with gratitude. Thank-you notes not only help people feel appreciated for things they do to for you, but can also motivate them to do more for you in the future (this secondary reason should not be the key motivation for your attitude of gratitude.) When writing a thank-you note, mention what the other person did for you, how it was relevant, and how much you appreciate their help.

6. Tend to your network

Tending to your professional and social network is not as time-consuming as you might expect. Invest ten minutes each day to email or ring a friend or two, perhaps even to say a quick hello. Cultivate and maintain a strong network. Remember people’s birthdays and anniversaries and reach out to them on their special days. Avoid contacting people only when you need something from them.

7. Update your résumé or your list of achievements

Most professionals tend to procrastinate on keeping their résumés updated. Do not expect to pull your résumé together when you need one and expect it to work efficiently. Spend ten minutes updating your résumé by adding details from your latest projects and assignments. Try to review each section and question yourself, “Is this section relevant? Is there anything more worthwhile that I could replace this section with?” Keeping your résumé updated can reduce the anxiety of preparing an impressive résumé at short notice.

8. Walk the floor, talk to your customers, and seek their ideas

Companies and leaders who excel at customer service talk to customers on a regular basis and follow-up scrupulously. Simply walk the floor for ten minutes or pick-up the phone and talk to a customer or two. Ask customers how your product or service has been of value to them, seek to understand their needs, run your ideas past them, and incorporate their views to design/improve your product or service. Going the extra mile to reach out to a customer can have a big impact on customer loyalty.

9. Look for easy ways to simplify your life

Differentiate between activity and achievement. Rather than finding ways to squeeze more activities into your life, find ways to leave out some things. Focus on things that actually need to be done and eliminate anything that does not fit your immediate priorities. Ask for help, delegate, and lower your standards. Plan for the next day or the week ahead and prepare to-do lists to get things off your mind.

10. Take a break and chill out

When you feel overwhelmed, take ten minutes to rest, relax, and clear your mind. Meditate, listen to music, catch up on news or sports, play with your pet, take a short map, look out of the window, or do something else that can benefit you the most. Stepping out of the moment of busyness can lower your blood pressure, slow down your breathing and heart rate, and bring about psychological changes that can reduce the harmful effects of stress and worry.

Bonus: Put your own needs first

When you are overwhelmed with the demands on your time at work and at home, try to examine if you tend to succumb instinctively to the pressure and put others needs ahead of your own. While it is virtuous to be selfless and attend to the needs of others, devoting too much of your own time to others can become an impediment to your own happiness. Consider constructing boundaries on your time and try to think of at least one activity you can stop, or one task that you cancel at once. Do not become a victim of your own generosity. Taking care of your own needs first is not about being selfish; it is rather about being fair to yourself. Exercise your right to protect your own time and interests.

Suggested Reading

• Four telltale signs of an unhappy employee
• Self-assessment quiz: How stressed are you?
• Finding work-life balance
• Health and fitness for the sedentary professional
• 7 easy ways to get more done in less time

***See other articles related to productivity, getting things done, happiness, work-life balance

As the current crises at Toyota and BP highlight, how you respond to a problem or crisis is the ultimate test of your leadership character. Knowing how to step up your communications efforts to the right levels during disorder can be a powerful tool in managing a crisis. Here are seven key lessons for communicating during crises.

• Be visible. Communicate and lead from the front. In a crisis, your key constituencies (your board, management, team, government, or the public) insist on hearing from the leader. Stay engaged and maintain consistency of purpose and action. Keep all the lines of communication open.
• Communicate in real-time and explain your position. If you do not communicate frequently with your key constituents, somebody else will. In the absence of information, people will develop their own perceptions of the problem and its implications. Keeping your constituencies well informed diffuses many suspicions and uncertainties.
• Be transparent and forthright right from the beginning. Face the realities of the problem and its potential consequences. Acknowledge what you know about the problem or crisis and go into detail about what steps you are taking in response. Proactive communication is reassuring and prevents perceptions of negligence and evasion from becoming realities.
• Research thoroughly the challenges you face and your options for remedial actions. Be prepared to describe everything that matters at each moment. Carefully administer your communication plan with due consideration to possible litigations and penalties.
• Be objective and calm. Avoid engaging in finger pointing and playing pass-the-parcel. Avoid criticizing and discrediting the victims or critics. Continuously verbalize empathy and responsibility, and announce plans for early resolutions and restitution.
• Remember that your attitude sets the tone for the rest of your organization. If you take a defensive position, play victim or engage in finger pointing, the rest of your organization will react the same way. Through your communications, set a positive tone to build confidence within your organization and promote constructive responses.
• As soon as the crisis dissolves, research and communicate opportunities to make fundamental changes to improve your organization. Reiterate your core values and missions. Revamp internal practices as necessary and follow through on all initiatives to rebuild your credibility. Consider organizational changes and new processes for managing future crises.

Recommended Reading

• Develop a mature sense of respect for your competition
• Blaming the competition without cause constitutes poor taste

***See other articles related to Crisis management, leadership communications, problem solving, corporate communication, public relations

You have probably met corporate people who are five to ten years from retirement and have remained in their bottom-of-the-ladder “contributor” roles (as engineers, programmers, accountants, salespersons, etc.) for decades. Don’t they typically report to managers 10 to 15 years their juniors? Ever wonder why they never assumed managerial or leadership roles? Are they simply incompetent or unenthusiastic? Enquire around and you may be surprised to learn that they may have perhaps never desired to climb the corporate ladder. You will possibly learn that,

• They are not aimless. In reality, at some point in their careers, they made a conscious choice to not pursue the traditional career advancement paths and stay in their roles as “senior contributors.” Their dominant priorities lie elsewhere: usually with family, community, faith, and creative interests. They view their careers as means to other ends. They set goals for what they seek to achieve, create a plan, and relate to their values in the right way, everyday.
• They are quite influential in their organizations. They gain credibility not by virtue of positions or titles, but from years of experience, awareness of processes and historical perspectives. They seek to mentor young engineers and offer their opinions and judgments when consulted by management. They gain an immense sense of satisfaction by helping their organizations grow. They are widely respected.
• Their salaries are quite comparable to people who have identical spans of service in their organizations and have assumed leadership roles. They are highly valuable contributors.

The “senior contributors” are not the only ones who have shunned the corporate ladder. Many women choose to work three days a week once they have kids. Husbands of career-minded moms have relinquished their rewarding careers to become stay-at-home dads and support their wives’ careers. Frequently, executives decline international assignments that could keep them away from family. All these people tend to feel in command of their life and career — they are more contented in their careers and have a stronger sense of work-life balance. For sure, they can teach the rest of us a thing or two about setting the course of our lives.

The long-hours culture is not for everybody

You probably recollect the days when corporate people had reasonably secure jobs, showed up at work every workday, clocked in, worked eight hours, clocked out, stopped thinking about work until the next workday, and enjoyed four weeks of vacation a year. They could maintain a healthy separation between work and personal time. Alas, those days are long over.

In today’s workplace, the demands on our energy, time, and creativity constantly overwhelm us, despite access to technology, computers, and other productivity tools. We have so much on our plates that we only rarely complete things WHEN and AS we would wish to. The workday is longer, the pace of work is faster, and most projects tend to be open-ended. A successful corporate career demands a high-level of performance for sustained periods. At what cost, though? Unsurprisingly, the pressure to work harder and longer results in poor physical health, stress, anxiety, lesser time with family and friends, fewer opportunities to pursue hobbies and creative interests, and insufficient rest and relaxation.

Work or life or both — its your choice

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
* Henry David Thoreau

There is no magic potion or canned method for balancing your work and life. Finding balance is rather an exercise in finding a healthy perspective that works for you. Nobody but you can make the right choices and work out what is best for you to bring about a sense of satisfaction of physical, mental, financial, intellectual, professional, and social well-being.

Everyone has to find his or her own individual balance

The quest for work-life balance begins with defining what balance means to you. Reflect on what you value most in life and prioritize them. Include your family in your contemplations of choices and consequences. Establish a set of boundaries between an adequate amount of effort and return. Consider your personal and professional aspirations, the family and social life you desire, your hobbies and interests and your goals and dreams.

Ask yourself, “How much is adequate?” and, “How much success and money is good enough?” Set boundaries and limits between what you must do and what you want to achieve in the short term and in the long term. The choices you make and your ability to respect the limits your set for yourself should shape your work and career, not the other way around.

Explore alternate arrangements at work

After you reflect on what could constitute a sense of individual balance for you, examine your career objectives. Once you are clear about what you want, consider the potential consequences to your employer. Discuss your options and proposals with a trusted advisor, the human resources / personnel department, and your boss. Most companies care for their employees enough to offer options for part-time or flexible schedules, working from home or sabbaticals.

Lead a life to your own script, not to others’

The world will shape your life, if you let it. Establish what you want to achieve in your life; do not let others impose their proposals for you. Make the right choices and live true to your values. This is, in essence, the key to finding the illusive work-life balance.

Recommended Reading

• 7 easy ways to get more done in less time
• How hard you should work
• Make your weekends feel longer
• Who manages your career?

***See other articles related to happiness, time management, managing priorities, effectiveness, personal organization, getting things done, execution, work-life balance

Consider the all-too-familiar boss’s pet employee at an office. He uses flattery, goes out of his way to help the boss, curries personal favors, and constantly tows the boss’s line no matter how unreasonable it is. He never corrects the boss when necessary. He either sugarcoats or withholds information that the boss would rather not hear. Over time, he has perfected the art of stroking his boss’s exaggerated sense of self-worth.

How about leaders who go overboard on their intention to exceed customer expectations and turn out to be “customer compelled?” They bend over backward to fulfill every whim and fancy of their customers to the likely peril of their own organization’s values and priorities.

Sucking up or brown-nosing is widespread approach to win a boss’s approval solely with one’s own self-interest in mind. Consider the consequences of sucking up:

• An employee that sucks up to his boss loses the respect of his peers and employees. They assume positive discrimination and favoritism because of his ingratiatory behavior. The suck-up recursively promotes sucking up in his organization — he encourages others to establish themselves in his good graces.
• Suck-ups quickly get into a pattern of slavishly reacting to every impulse of the boss. Without realizing, they become vulnerable to obligations to support their boss. Neither can they set limits on favors, nor do they stand up for themselves or their employees.

Be Resourceful, Don’t Suck Up

“One does not make the strengths of the boss productive by toadying to him. One does it by starting out with what is right and presenting it in a form which is accessible to the superior.”
* Peter Drucker, in The Effective Executive

Contrary to popular opinion, a vast majority of promotions are not handed out to employees who are most willing to suck up. Research and empirical evidence proves that employees who are honest, sincere, open, straightforward, and helpful earn management’s respect and attention over time. They move up fast because of their demonstrated ability to make the right choices. In addition, most people can innately distinguish the brown-nosers and differentiate genuine compliments from insincere flattery.

Do not get me wrong. There is enormous value in being helpful to the boss. After all, making yourself resourceful can go a long way in staying in the boss’s good graces. It can open professional opportunities and increase your access to new ideas, initiatives, and restricted information. However, there is an obvious boundary between doing favors and sucking up. Running an urgent errand when the boss is busy preparing for an important meeting or watching over his pet when he is travelling are well within reason. Compromising your values and priorities just to get on the boss’s side will not get you anywhere in the long term. Try these suggestions:

• Be sincere and timely in your compliments. Refrain from making flattering remarks.
• Use facts and logic to support or challenge the boss’s ideas. Never praise, or comment on your boss or his plans in front of others.
• Ask your boss how you could help him achieve his goals and follow-up earnestly.

Recommended Reading

• Four keys to an excellent relationship with your boss
• Never surprise your boss
• How to seek proactive feedback from your manager
• Are you ready for a promotion?
• Talent is more than skin-deep

***See other articles related to Managing the boss, flattery, promotions, career planning, managing people, sucking up

Last week, Time Magazine discussed research that suggests that using curse words can help cope with physical pain. This reminds me of a 2007 research that implies that regular swearing helps employees better express their feelings in stressful circumstances and boosts team morale.

Such research is misleading in that the findings may be perceived as approving of profanity at work. As work environments have become more laid-back over the years, swearing is more commonplace than in the past, especially in blue-collar environments and certain other workplace cultures.

Harry S. Dennis III of The Executive Committee (TEC) in Wisconsin and Michigan explores two bases for the tolerance of profanity in workplaces.

• The laid-back we-are-all-in-this-together culture is almost like a fraternity environment. The use of profanity somehow communicates a symbolic unity. Employees believe that their degree of comfort with one another means it’s OK to let down their guard. It becomes a casual exchange and falsely suggests a degree of communication intimacy.
• In the hard-driving aggressive environment, employees use profanity to communicate urgency, a need for action. Most swear words are one syllable, so they carry a bullet-like impact and light a fire under the butt of the person on the receiving end so they get the job done. It is, in fact, a terrible negative motivator.

Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer at Microsoft, Bob Nardelli at Home Depot, Carol Betz at Yahoo! and other executives are reported to have cussed at work. When leaders and managers swear without restraint to express annoyance at an employee, colleague, competitor, customer or circumstance, the message they convey to their organizations is that profanity is acceptable. This is akin to potty-mouthed parents hinting that it is probably OK for their watchful kids to use curse words.

Swearing and poor language is not acceptable in any professional setting. Swearing is dysfunctional to the cohesiveness of teams. Many employees find use of expletives as discourteous and quickly lose respect for those using profane language. Managers’ abusive management style can quickly intimidate employees who may hesitate to speak out.

Bad language is unacceptable behavior. Organizations should require that employees exercise common sense and avoid using colorful language. HR must deal with issues of swearing in the workplace as they occur and institute disciplinary procedures to prevent charges of workplace bullying, abuse or discrimination. Leaders and managers should curb their own language and comply privately and publicly. Employees, even high-performing ones, who repeatedly disregard such requirements and undermine the trust and morale of workplace environments must go openly.

Recommended Reading

• What happens when a manager badmouths an employee
• Jack Welch’s four types of managers
• Forced ranking in performance management systems
• Four keys to an excellent relationship with your boss

***See other articles related to communication, work environments, managing people, human resources, workplace cultures

Here are six guidelines to delegate work to an employee who does not directly report to you. These guidelines are applicable even when you delegate to one of your employees’ employees.

• When requesting a routine work from an employee, copy her boss as a courtesy. Such requests must be components of the employee’s work plan or previously agreed to by her boss.
• When delegating special or time-consuming work to an employee, first write to her boss and request for the employee’s time. Do not go around the boss.
• Provide all the necessary inputs and describe what you expect, and how and when you expect results. Be specific. Ask for timely updates.
• If you have not gotten a response to an earlier delegation email, call or visit the person. Confirm that the employee understands your expectations. Ask for a status update.
• Do not “copy up” (copy the boss or, worse, HR) as a means of coercion. Work with the employee directly to resolve problems before elevating your concerns to her boss.
• Avoid prolonged debates or arguments over email. Problems are often easier to defuse using a more personal means of interaction. If you have difficulty in saying something via email, pick up the phone or walk up to the other and talk to her.

More on Effective Delegation

• Delegate outcomes, not just tasks
• On failing to distinguish accountability from responsibility
• Four telltale signs of an unhappy employee

***See other articles related to effective delegation, managerial skills, accountability, responsibility, managing people

Brad Feld on Work-Life Balance

Here is an excellent podcast (summary here) where Venture Capitalist Brad Feld discusses his thoughts on the concept of work-life balance. He also shares the changes he implemented to achieve more balance in his life. Also, see a previous article by Brad on this very topic. Here are key takeaways:

• The sense of busyness is not the same as the sense of achievement.
• Balance is an important issue to consider at all ages, as many make the mistake in believing they will “get the balance on the back half of life” and find it shorter than they hoped (”you don’t know when the lights are going to go out (when you are going to die.)”)
• Work-life balance is an important issue to everyone, yet each person’s approach will be different. There is no one-size fits all approach.

Work-Life Balance is an Individual Choice

Balancing the various demands on our time is by no means easy. It is unrealistic to establish a ratio between ‘work’ and ‘play’ time to pursue the sense of balance.

Balance is an individual choice you have to make based on your personal and professional values and associate relative priorities between these values. Here are five essential guidelines to make such choices.

• Don’t become a slave to your work. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Work is a means of living, it is not life itself.”
• Slow down your life and develop mindfulness. Simplify your life and inculcate discipline. Focus on the simple things. Control your wants and meet your core needs.
• Talk to your family and friends and explore ways to introduce more fun into your daily routine.
• Sleep more. Help around the home. Go on more vacations. Cultivate a hobby or two. Volunteer for a good cause. Do something meaningful with your spare time.
• Learn to control how you react to other people and their demands on your time, money, or both. Consider the cost on your own resources and become skilled at how to refuse unimportant demands.

Realizing the balance in your life is your prerogative.

Recommended Reading

• My three-step process for better time management: time logging, time analysis and time budgeting.
• Fighting Procrastination: ‘Ten-Minute Dash’ technique
• Working exercise into a busy day

***See other articles related to happiness, time management, managing priorities, effectiveness, personal organization, getting things done, execution, work-life balance

A skilled manager understands how to get work done through her staff under all circumstances. She makes herself available, delegates effectively and provides appropriate feedback. She works hard to sustain an effective work environment in which her staff feels motivated and takes pleasure in their achievements.

The skilled manager is talented at discerning what her employees think and feel about their work, and assessing their level of happiness on the job. She recognizes unhappy employees through these four noticeable changes in behaviors over time.

• Tardiness: The unhappy employee tends to arrive late, leave early and takes longer breaks. He is often elusive and hard to pin down.
• Disdain: The unhappy employee can be grouchy, whining, or exceedingly complaining. He tends to be oversensitive: he sulks at even the slightest criticism, gets defensive, or accuses supervisors of picking on him.
• Indifference: The unhappy employee cannot focus on his responsibilities. Consequently, his work tends to be disorganized and incomprehensive. His workload is a struggle. He fails to update management on a regular basis, rarely has a say in important matters, and resists new assignments.
• Aloofness: The unhappy employee is inclined to distance himself physically, socially and emotionally from his coworkers. He is likely to be uncooperative and refuses to accommodate others’ requests.

Recommended Articles on Managing

• Four questions for employee performance appraisals
• Delegate Outcomes, Not Just Tasks
• Distinguish Accountability from Responsibility
• Excuses for not praising people

***See other articles related to Motivation, recognition, managing people, work environment, leading

Among the hundred blog posts I wrote in year 2008, here are the ones that received the most visitors, largely by means of Google Search and referrals.

1. The ‘STAR’ technique to answer behavioral interview questions. The best way to impress an interviewer is to discuss your credentials and accomplishments in terms of personal success stories using the ‘STAR’ technique. By following this simple technique, you can narrate direct, meaningful, personalized experiences that best identify your qualifications.
2. Jack Welch’s four types of managers. Organizations face the challenge of developing and sustaining a culture that is both values-centered and performance-driven. Nothing hurts morale more than when leaders tolerate employees who deliver results, but exhibit behaviors that are incongruent to values of the company.
3. Why the sandwich feedback technique is ineffective. The sandwich feedback method consists of praise followed by corrective feedback followed by more praise. However, the sandwich technique amounts to undercutting praise with criticism. A praise followed by criticism undermines the positive impact of praise and weakens the significance of the corrective feedback.
4. Time management: Log where time actually goes. Before you begin managing your time effectively, you need to develop an idea of how you spend time currently. Track how you use your hours and minutes during a suitably long period of time, ideally a whole week. The immediate benefit of time logging is that it induces a sense of significance of your time.
5. Keeping good eye contact. Our eyes play a major role in our interpersonal communication. The eyes express our moods and reactions more overtly than does other body language. People who keep good eye contact are usually seen as personable, self-assured and confident.

6. Overcoming procrastination: The ‘10-Minute Dash’ technique to get a task going. One of the easiest techniques to overcoming procrastination is to begin. Quite often, seemingly difficult tasks get easier once we get working on them. In short time, we get into the ‘flow’ and work towards completion.
7. Effective delegation: Delegate outcomes, not just tasks. The key to effective delegation is to approach delegation as an offer to present to a team member, not a demand to be made. Delegating outcomes–not just tasks–helps managers skillfully present assignments to their team members and empowers them to get the job done.
8. Don’t let ‘perfect’ be the enemy of ‘done’. We need to accept the prospect of compromises to our goals and aspirations. We need to acknowledge that our expectations are often excessive and uncalled for. When we develop a ‘good enough’ or ‘perfect enough’ mindset, we realize that imperfection is, after all, a negotiable outcome.
9. Never surprise your boss. Success in building a relationship with your boss begins with recognizing that this relationship hinges on open communication, cooperation, and credibility. Bosses dislike surprises–positive or negative. Keep your boss in line and suit her preferred style of communication.
10. Make your weekends feel longer. The key to making your weekend feel longer and having a relaxing time is to reorganize your plans and freeing-up time for your favorite, pleasurable activities during the weekend. By prioritizing, improvising and staying on top of things you can arrive at the end of your weekend contented and full of energy for the fresh week ahead.

Thank you very much for your continued readership and support of my work. I wish you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous year ahead in 2009.

Preamble

This article is the third in a series of four articles that presents the basics of diagnosing how you tend to spend your time and how you can develop the discipline of spending your time on what really matters to you.

1. The first article established that effective time management is truly not about managing time as such; rather, it is about managing priorities. See full article here.
2. Yesterday’s article outlined a simple exercise to help you track how you use your hours and minutes during a suitably long period of time, ideally a whole week. See full article here. Here is what your log should look like.

This article describes three simple steps to tally up your time logs, analyze how you actually use your time, and recognize non-productive tasks and activities.

Step 1: Tally up Time-Use by Purpose or Project

Following an entire week of logging your time in 10- or 15-minute intervals, spend an hour at the end of the week to compile your logs.

The third column in your time log chart had identified the purpose and project of each 10- or 15-minute interval. Consolidate these projects and purposes into meaningful categories, ideally 10-15 categories. Review each day’s time log chart and add the time spent in each category, calculate percent of total time, and tabulate the results as illustrated in the following two examples.

Example 1: Time Analysis for Linda, a Housewife & Part-time Worker

Below is the time analysis for an entire week (168 hours) for Linda, a housewife who works part-time as an accountant at a law firm. Linda feels that she does not spend enough time with her friends and family.

Example 2: Time Analysis for Kumar, a Middle-Level Manager

Kumar, a middle-level manager at an aerospace company, feels he spends too much time at work and yet cannot “get it all done.” Below is the time analysis of his work week (67 hours.) Kumar aspires to reorganize his time, adopt productive means to get his work completed by working no more than 45-48 hours per week.

Step 2: Examine Wastefulness

As you tally your time by categories, ascertain the time you spent unproductively. Understand all your non-productive, wasteful activities. Identify,

1. Time spent doing things that do not directly contribute to your short- and long-term goals and, hence, should not be done at all.
2. Time spent on activities that need a lot of work, but have very little return in comparison to other necessities. These are activities that may not make any difference if you eliminate them.
3. Time spent doing others’ work — time spent doing things that could have been and should be done by someone else. For instance, the 1.5 hours that Kumar spent on booking tickets and accommodation for an upcoming trip could have been done by an administrative assistant.
4. Time wasted in transitions — for instance, time wasted when waiting for an appointment with your dentist, time wasted for a meeting to start, time lost due to a computer crash.
5. Time spent doing things that you could more productively by using the right tools, learning a new skill, changing a process (developing a standard system,) seeking somebody’s help, or using a new software program.
6. Time wasted from being disorganized. Time wasted in figuring out what to work on, or time wasted by not collecting all the resources when they could have been collected earlier, for instance.
7. Time spent handling interruptions and distractions, such as when colleagues stop-by your desk to discuss their weekends.
8. Time spent fighting fires caused by your earlier inaction or careless work. And, time spent doing things that could have been avoided had you taken the appropriate actions earlier.
9. Time spent doing things that were probably better suited for other parts of the day. For example, checking email first thing in the mornings when you, like the majority of people, tend to be most efficient.

After taking into account time wasted, the remainder of time on your time logs should be time actually spent doing something useful or meaningful at the right time — as defined by your priorities in life or your role in your organization. Contemplate habits you can develop to avoid wasting time. (Future blog articles will discuss such habits in detail.)

Step 3: Investigate Time Demands to Seek Better Habits

“Many executives know all about these unproductive and unnecessary time demands; yet they are afraid to prune them. They are afraid to cut out something important by mistake. But this mistake, if made, can be speedily corrected. If one prunes too harshly, one usually finds out fast enough.”
-Peter Drucker in ‘The Effective Executive’

For each task in your time log, ask the following three themes of questions to assess the nature of everything you spend time on.

• Theme 1: Questions to examine the necessity. Ask, “Should I do this at all? Does this relate to my priorities? Does this help me achieve my goals or my organization’s objectives?”
• Theme 2: Questions to examine the ownership. Ask, “Is this required of me? Am I the right person to do this? Do I have the right tools to do this? Can I delegate? Can I seek help?”
• Theme 3: Questions to examine the prioritization. Ask, “Can I spend less time on this? Should I do this during the part of the day when I can focus/concentrate better? Can I do this during some other part of the day or week?”

Concluding Thoughts

Asking the above questions helps you identify the nature of your activities and prepares you to discover to spend a significant portion of your time more effectively.

Tomorrow’s article will help you reflect on your life and career and catalog the principal values that you hold dear. These values define your priorities — what is really important to you in the context of your professional and personal life. You can then prepare a ‘Time Budget’ which prescribes how you should spend your time on things that are congruent with your priorities in life or at work.

Recommended Reading

• Make your weekends feel longer
• Managing time by managing priorities
• Logging where time actually goes

***See other articles related to time management, managing priorities, effectiveness, personal organization, getting things done, execution, time logging, time survey, work-life balance