I Am So Busy! How About You?

so-busyA person we know makes eye contact with us as we are passing each other walking in the street to an appointment.

“Hey, how are you?“
“Great! Really busy! You?”
“Yeah, me too! Busy, busy.”
“Nice to see you.”
“Yes, same. We should plan to get together – two couples – one day soon.”
“Yeah, let’s do that! Gotta, go!”
“Say hello at home.”
“Will do.”

Aren’t we all so – – – BUSY!

Seriously, what is the deal? Why do we all find that being busy is important and that being busy equates to actually executing and getting important and critical things accomplished?

My proposal to you is to get unplugged everyday as soon as possible. Plan out what you must get accomplished each day and then figure out the priorities and begin to execute the plan for the day. Better yet – plan out the day before you plug in at all!

Right away things that people will bring up and ask about are:

  • checking email
  • checking voicemail
  • reading and responding to text messages 

Rather than suggest a full ‘cold turkey’ approach, my suggestion is to set a time and then a time limit each day for these activities.

For Example: Schedule three or four specific times each day for fifteen minutes each in total. During this time check email, texts and voicemail. These times might be at approximately 10 AM – 1 PM – 3 PM – 5:30 PM.

The times – how many there are (two or three or four) – how long exactly is the time period (15, 10, 20 minutes) – is a personal preference.

The point is to set up a schedule with the parameters and then follow it! Adhere to the new schedule. If the 5:30 PM time slot bothers you consider why it bothers you? Are you feeling as if it is too early as you will be working and reading and responding to email all night long at least up until 11 PM? Or is the 5:30 PM time after 5 PM and you only have access to email in your office and you leave every single day at 4:55 PM?

It is not for me to judge how anyone conducts their work. This is about being more efficient, effective and productive in the work we all are doing. The busy work which may creep into anyone’s work habits must be erased. Analyze what really needs to have your focus and time devoted to and spend your time and effort on that and much less time checking your email.

Use the comments area to let me know where you find yourself keeping busy instead of being productive

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

 

Hanging Up a Framed Photo and Your Business Are Related How?

You found the perfect frame for your photo. It was the frame you dreamed of finding. The plan was set as you already knew exactly where to hang this frame which would house the photos which you printed out from your digital camera. You bought a picture hook when you bought the frame. You have a hammer already to go. Up goes the picture hook in the exact place where you want your new frame hung up.
You place the frame up and onto the picture hook.
There it is as you step back and see…the crooked picture frame hanging there? Okay so you play around with the frame a bit and it always ends up crooked. Not a little crooked – a lot crooked.
Does this ever happen to you in your business?
Do you have examples which you might relate to – similar to this story so far?
Here is what I did when this happened to me recently.
I turned over the frame and placed a ruler on the top of the frame on the back. This was to take a measurement and see where things were right now before taking any action. The answer was not what I expected. The hanging piece was installed one full inch off center! Gathering in the facts of what would be necessary to effectively and efficiently correct this situation, I brought in a few tools which would be needed. With a pencil, I marked the exact location of where the hanging piece needed to be installed.
Unscrewed the piece, redrilled holes in locations which I neatly and specifically marked for the screws and then reinstalled the hanging piece. The picture frame was placed where my daughter needed it to be. This entire process took me less then five minutes.
How does this relate to your business?
What do you do when something is out of whack or just seems out of place?
What if the event announcements are placed in your blog by accident instead of on your events page?
Do you just go in and fix it?
Or do you take the opportunity to be a leader and a manager by finding out how this happened and make it a teaching and learning moment for your team?