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/

Navarrette: It's time to limit what we try to fit into our daily lives

Ruben Navarrette Jr. says in today's multimedia and multitasking world, Americans would do better to focus on fewer activities and juggle less.

By Ruben Navarrette Jr. | May 11, 2013 | Updated: May 11, 2013 3:16pm
Article from http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/

How are your time management skills? Or, like me, do you think that the whole thing is a non-starter because you don't have much free time to manage?

It's the modern American paradox. We value our time above all else, even money. And why not? With time, you can make more money. But at the end of your days, money can't buy you more time.

We now have all these portable electronic devices that are supposed to help us save or better manage our time, and yet many of us still complain about not having enough time to do what we really want - like spend more time with our families. What's worse, and rarely talked about, is that we're trying to squeeze too many activities, hobbies and tasks into the time we have. From homemakers to hedge-fund managers, we're spreading ourselves too thin, and so we're doing too many things halfway.

Several years ago, my wife gave me what turned out to be very valuable advice. She had come home one day to find me multitasking. Actually, it was more like juggling. I was trying to care for my infant daughter while dashing back and forth to my home office to try to finish a column. She put a stop to that. Pick one, she demanded.

"When you're going to be with the baby, be with the baby," she said. "And when you're working, work. Don't try to do both, because both will suffer."

Wise words. The kind that might have been useful to one of America's best known media critics.

Howard Kurtz is formerly of The Washington Post and, after a recent parting of ways, now formerly of The Daily Beast. He also hosts "Reliable Sources" on CNN, a Sunday media criticism show that the network says is under review.

Kurtz's career seems to be suffering because he made a serious error in a story about pro basketball player Jason Collins, who recently announced that he is gay.

During an extraordinary segment of "Reliable Sources" where CNN invited two other media critics - Dylan Byers, media reporter for Politico, and David Folkenflik, media correspondent for NPR News - to grill the host, here's how Kurtz explained what went wrong:

"I read the 'Sports Illustrated' article by Jason Collins, the first pro male team athlete to come out publicly as gay. I read it too fast and carelessly missed that Jason Collins said he was engaged previously to a woman, and then wrote and commented that he was wrong to keep that from readers when, in fact, I was the one who was wrong."

At first glance, this is a story about a media critic who is now under the same microscope that - for more than two decades - he has put many of his colleagues. It's about making mistakes, which we all do. And being willing to correct them publicly, which many of us are not always eager to do.

But for me, this story is about something bigger, something that goes far beyond the Beltway and should resonate with millions of Americans.

That's because, when Folkenflik asked about what had been Kurtz's "multiple roles" - media critic and Washington bureau chief of The Daily Beast, author, CNN host, contributor to a new media website, etc. - and whether the journalist had been "distracted," Kurtz said this:

"I'll leave it to others to judge whether I have taken on too much. I have always done both print and TV. I shouldn't say always, but for a long time. My kids tell me I work too hard. It's hardly unusual in the multimedia world for people to take on multiple responsibilities."

Kurtz is right. It is a multimedia world and it is customary for those of us who participate in it to juggle several jobs at once. I myself worry about doing too much. For me, it is a process of continual self-evaluation.

But this is also a cautionary tale, and not just for journalists. All Americans should take note. We can't possibly do everything. So we should focus on doing just a few of what we consider the most important things, and doing them well. Otherwise, we may wind up accomplishing nothing at all.

Navarrette’s email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com
Ruben Navarrette Jr. | May 11, 2013 | Updated: May 11, 2013 3:16pm
Article from http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook