Time Management Skills Are Stupid. Here’s What Works.

By Eric Barker
March 28, 2014
http://time.com/

Put the schedule down for a second.

Consider something I read in The Power of Full Engagement: Maybe it’s not about time. It’s about energy.

Via The Power of Full Engagement:

Energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance.

It’s a qualitative lens instead of a quantitative one. Focusing on your time management skills sounds great but all hours are not created equal.

We’re not machines and the time model is a machine model. Our job isn’t to be a machine — it’s to give the machines something brilliant to do.

Do you accomplish more in three hours when you’re sleep-deprived or in one hour when you feel energetic, optimistic and engaged?

This may sound fluffy but it’s an important perspective to take: 10 hours of work when you’re exhausted, cranky and distracted might be far less productive than 3 hours when you’re “in the zone.”

So why not focus less on hours and more on doing what it takes to make sure you’re at your best?

Work Like An Athlete

For most people, good work happens in sprints, not marathons. Time management skills don’t address that.

Use the analogy of an athlete. They might train for long periods of time but the focus is not on monotonous hours of uninspired grind.

For athletes, it’s a focused explosion of effort followed by rest and planning before another all-out push.

Via The Power of Full Engagement:

Their entire lives are designed around expanding, sustaining and renewing the energy they need to compete for short, focused periods of time. At a practical level, they build very precise routines for managing energy in all spheres of their lives–eating and sleeping; working out and resting; summoning the appropriate emotions; mentally preparing and staying focused; and connecting regularly to the mission they have set for themselves. Although most of us spend little or no time systematically training in any of these dimensions, we are expected to perform at our best for eight, ten, and even twelve hours a day.

Forget the stereotype of the dumb jock. The athlete metaphor is actually quite good for the modern day worker.

Who is more concerned with results over theory than athletes? Who looks at metrics more than they do?

Via The Power of Full Engagement:

They aren’t satisfied with inspirational messages or clever theories about performance. They seek measurable, enduring results. They care about batting averages, free-throw percentages, tournament victories and year-end rankings. They want to be able to sink the putt on the eighteenth hole in the final round, hit the free throw when the game is on the line, catch the pass in a crowd with a minute to go on the clock. Anything else is just talk.

The Research Agrees

A lot of research on self-control and willpower aligns with what The Power of Full Engagement says about focusing on the proper use and renewal of energy.

In my interview with Roy Baumeister, author of the New York Times bestseller Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, he made clear that every decision you make depletes your self-control:

Making choices depletes willpower and afterward your self-control is impaired. If you have people exert self-control and deplete their willpower and later on have them make decisions, then their decision-making is of poor quality.

President Barack Obama makes deliberate efforts to limit decision fatigue so he can devote his mental energy to things that matter:

“I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing,” he told Michael Lewis. “Because I have too many other decisions to make.”

So when you perform different types of work is key.

Do you wake up fresh and renewed — only to respond to thirty depleting emails solving someone else’s problems?

Jealously hoard your prime hours for important work. Respond to email when your brain is already taxed.

It’s Not Just Physical

It’s not merely an issue of physical energy. The book also discusses softer things like relationships, optimism and meaning that bring energy to our work days.

Work metrics get measured and analyzed but we’re terrible about being as accountable in our personal lives — even though the latter can make a huge qualitative difference in performance.

Via The Power of Full Engagement:

“It’s great to know how to recharge your batteries, but it’s even more important that you actually do it,” Vinod Khosla, a partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield and Byers told Fast Company. “I track how many times I get home in time to have dinner with my family. My assistant reports the exact number to me each month. Your company measures its priorities. People also need to place metrics around their priorities…”

Personally, if I don’t schedule significant social time into my weekend, Monday hits me twice as hard. It feels like I never really “got away.”

A 40-hour week after a weekend getaway is quite different from a 40 (or 50) hour week without it.

Research shows vacations increase productivity at work for up to a month afterward. All hours are not the same.

What To Do Next

If you want to work like an athlete, here are things to take into consideration:

•     Get enough sleep: Nobody is at their best when exhausted.

•     Know your prime hours and use them strategically.

•     Time meals and snacks to make sure you have the energy to do solid work and you’re not  hungry    or sluggish when you need to perform.

•     Strategically use rituals that keep you positive and energized. Does social time rejuvenate you? Does a video game session help you relax?

•     Schedule evening and weekend activities that recharge you.

No doubt, time management skills are necessary. But just as with your relationships, “quality time” matters and right now there’s little focus on that.

By Eric Barker
March 28, 2014
http://time.com/

The Skinny on Time Management: How To Maximize Your 24-Hour Gift

By JIM RANDEL
Reviewed by MARGARITA TARTAKOVSKY, M.S.
Article from http://psychcentral.com/lib/2010/

Time management is no doubt a universal topic. Especially in today’s productivity-focused society, most — if not all — people want to know the secret to managing their time more effectively. The Skinny on Time Management: How To Maximize Your 24-Hour Gift aims to do just that: provide the best of the best of time management advice in a slim, CliffsNotes-style book.

This book is one of many in the Skinny On… series, which was founded by attorney and entrepreneur Jim Randel. The concept is that Randel reads through tons of writings on a topic, handpicks the important points and highlights them in mini-book form. When it comes to time management, according to Randel, after reading 100 articles and books on the topic, he noticed that “all the writings say pretty much the same thing.” Thereby, The Skinny on Time Management strives to condense all this information, and lays out the 50 principles you need to know.

The book is presented as a cartoon with a series of drawings, large text and bullet points, so it’s easy to breeze through. Randel is portrayed as a stick figure instructor who guides readers on an hour-long lesson — he promises that you’ll read the book in one hour, but it seems to take a bit longer than that.

The Skinny on Time Management is divided into two parts. Part 1 helps you better understand how you spend your time. Specifically, Randel discusses the importance of being aware of time. He shows readers how to keep a time journal so you become “aware of your own theory of relativity,” as Randel calls it. Next, he talks about setting and defining goals, and illustrates how to conduct a goals-steps-time analysis, so you can identify not only your goals but the steps you need to take and how much time they’ll take. The last section in part 1 discusses making choices. Here, Randel briefly talks about making the right decisions, which will need to be in line with your goals.

Part 2 is essentially the meat-and-potatoes of the book, as it gives readers specific tips on time management. It discusses everything from minimizing wasted time to beating procrastination to creating effective to-do lists to increasing focus. Throughout the book, you’ll find humorous tidbits, anonymous quotes and, most importantly, the tips and wise words from experts in the field. It ends with 10 points to remember about time management.

The tone is friendly and the book delivers on its goal of being clear-cut and straightforward. Remember that Randel isn’t presenting any new or revolutionary information on time management. Rather, he’s summarizing what he feels are the most effective techniques and insights from experts. Overall, I think readers will get motivated by this book and find nuggets of wisdom — if they’re unfamiliar with the topic of time management, want an introduction into useful practices (and would like to get it fast) or are bogged down by the various productivity systems out there. Obviously, you won’t find deep discussions of theories here because that’s simply not the nature of this book.

As a whole, I think The Skinny on Time Management: How To Maximize Your 24-Hour Gift accomplishes what it sets out to do: provide a quick-and-dirty look at time management tips that work, and serve as a motivational tool.

The Skinny on Time Management: How To Maximize Your 24-Hour Gift

By Jim Randel

Rand Media Co.: January 2010

134 pages

Paperback, $14.95

JIM RANDEL
Reviewed by MARGARITA TARTAKOVSKY, M.S.
Article from http://psychcentral.com/lib/2010/

Skills that make successful managers

BY: Ruth Steyn
Published on 14 May 2013
Article from http://www.destinyman.com/article/

Successful managers can be hard to find, as not everyone has the right balance of skills, experience and knowledge. Here’s how to build your management know-how.

Often, employees are promoted to managerial positions before they are equipped with the right skillset, and are then left with little support to face their team. In situations like this, there can be many landmines to negotiate: young teams in need of strong leadership; older and more established teams that resist new management; “difficult” or resentful team members – the list goes on. So what does it take to get it right? What do you need to know if you’re a new or aspiring manager? There’s no formula for perfection, but there are some good practises that apply to all fields and industries.

Understand motivation and group dynamics

For many people, it is not enough to hear: “You can do it”. Motivation is not based purely on confidence and self-belief. In fact, there are a multitude of factors that can affect an individual or team’s motivation. Some common reasons include poor stress management skills, difficulty in coping with change, personal concerns that are affecting performance at work, exclusionary behaviour of other team members, feelings of inadequacy, and a sense of purposelessness. These are all issues that can be addressed, but first it is necessary to identify the root of the problem. Depending on the size of your team, it may not be feasible to assess each individual. In this case, it is often wise to identify key players as well as influencers – often, one or two individuals’ behaviour can have a profound effect on the group as a whole. Understanding the dynamics behind behaviour is paramount in finding ways to create a constructive and thriving team environment.

Learn what makes communication work, and what doesn’t

Not everybody communicates in the same way, and not all communication techniques are effective in any given situation. Familiarise yourself with various ways of breaking bad news, negotiating with difficult parties, eliciting responses and feedback, and mediating. The more strategies you are familiar with, the easier it is to change tack if a particular approach is not working. This doesn’t mean you’ll always get it right, but it certainly increases the odds.

Find effective ways to manage your time

To say that the phrase, “there are just too few hours in a day” is overused is an understatement. There are as many hours in the day as there have always been, and trying to pack in an unreasonable to-do list is can be detrimental to your overall wellbeing as well as your ability to do your job effectively. Hold yourself to realistic standards, prioritise activities, and ask for help if you need it. Time management is an essential skill for good management, so trade in the time spent on complaints and excuses for the more productive exercise of finding ways of managing your time that work for you.

Develop healthy coping mechanisms

There will be days when everything seems to be going wrong, and you may feel that you are not cut out for management. Learn to understand what triggers this feeling and ask yourself (or someone whose opinion you respect) whether there is something constructive you can do to remedy the situation. However, nobody expects you to be perfect, only to do your best, so don’t let yourself down by wallowing in self-doubt. Coping mechanisms can be a saving grace, but be sure to cultivate healthy habits: venting your frustrations in the office lunch room or snapping at a colleague may seem fairly harmless at the time, but you can quickly develop a reputation for unprofessional conduct. Whether it’s excusing yourself to call a friend, taking a few deep breaths outside or making yourself a strong cup of coffee, try to develop coping mechanisms that neither alienate others nor create further problems.

Advance your skills

It is vital to take care of your own professional development if you wish to advance your career. Whether this means learning from colleagues, participating in training programmes or signing up for part-time courses to expand your skills and knowledge, prioritising growth and development is the biggest gift you can give yourself. There is no such thing as being “too highly skilled” – perhaps for a particular job, but all this means is that you are ready for a more senior position or a change of path.

Learn to be an effective manager with the University of Cape Town Effective People Management short course. The course is presented part-time and entirely online throughout South Africa by the University of Cape Town in partnership with online education company, GetSmarter. For more information, contact Dominic on 021 447 7565 or on dominic@getsmarter.co.za. Alternatively, visit www.getsmarter.co.za and choose from over 30 online short courses designed for working professionals seeking to advance their career.

Ruth Steyn
Published on 14 May 2013
Article from http://www.destinyman.com/article/