An Ocean Voyage Called Life
Daily Inspiration
By John H. Sklare, Ed.D, Lifescript Personal Coach
Published December 29, 2010
Life is a lot like an ocean voyage. We all have a journey ahead of us as we enter this world, but the journey called "Life" is different for everyone. When all is said and done, the twists and turns of your life are intimately tied to the actions you take and decisions you make. In a sense, we each get to choose the kind of journey we take. And we all have storms to endure that test our skills and threaten to sink our ships. Some of you find that your ships capsize easily during emotional storms. Others find a way to stay on board and keep their boats afloat no matter what challenges the seas of life present. It’s true that some seem to encounter more storms than others, but none of us can escape these storms entirely.
Sometimes these storms are predicted and you have time to prepare. For example, when you’ve been given notice that your job will be eliminated. However, other times these storms arise suddenly, like with accidents and illness. Nevertheless, the key to surviving these storms and maintaining your bearings is to keep a level head. Regardless of how often you find yourself in one of these battles, how you respond will determine the extent of the damage you incur. So the next time you feel the choppy waters of life churning, hunker down and persevere! These are more than just mere storms; they are also opportunities for you to gather strength, hone your battle skills and create character!
Wishing You Great Health,
Dr. John H. Sklare
www.innerdiet.com
MY THOUGHTS
well put. some may think nothing is new in this article. what caught my attention is the phrase "intimately tied" to our actions and decisions. it's a cop out to think that what happens to us is fate. that way we don't need to take responsibility for our actions. but God gave us the wisdom to make choices, to decide on which path to take. it's not God's intention for us to simply wait for His plans to be realized. His intention is for us to journey with Him and be the person He wants us to be. how long and how stormy the journey would be depends on how closely we journey with him. the "straight path" is truly the "path less chosen". it's easier to be crooked. there are no rules. no standards. you feel free. and yet it's the crookedness of life that makes us prisoners. and the true freedom we want can only be reached if we journey through the "straight" path. for sure there will be "choppy waters" here and there. but remember, with God you never journey on your own. you are the captain of your own ship. but you use God's map. even if you get lost. you will be found.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Learning from our Failures
A Lesson Learned
Daily Inspiration
By John H. Sklare, Ed.D, Lifescript Personal Coach
Published December 27, 2010
I said something to a friend that seemed to jump out of my mouth without any conscious thought. He was telling me about his failure on a project he was working on, and said that he learned a lot in the process, but it turned out to be a big waste of his time. My response: “A lesson learned is never time wasted.”
That phrase is also applicable to you. Often, when people come up short of reaching their goal, they feel like a failure. In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth, particularly if you’ve learned something important along the way. When you find yourself feeling disappointed or emotionally devastated because you didn’t reach a targeted goal, don’t just feel the pain and disappointment from it… learn from it! Failure is often the precursor of success, and as I told my friend, a lesson learned is never time wasted.
Wishing You Great Health,
Dr. John H. Sklare
www.innerdiet.com
MY THOUGHTS
that could be the hardest part about failing. sometimes we avoid the lessons. because learning means changing. it means going against your grain. it means doing something you've never done before. we don't want to learn because it's so much easier to be "just the way we are".
Daily Inspiration
By John H. Sklare, Ed.D, Lifescript Personal Coach
Published December 27, 2010
I said something to a friend that seemed to jump out of my mouth without any conscious thought. He was telling me about his failure on a project he was working on, and said that he learned a lot in the process, but it turned out to be a big waste of his time. My response: “A lesson learned is never time wasted.”
That phrase is also applicable to you. Often, when people come up short of reaching their goal, they feel like a failure. In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth, particularly if you’ve learned something important along the way. When you find yourself feeling disappointed or emotionally devastated because you didn’t reach a targeted goal, don’t just feel the pain and disappointment from it… learn from it! Failure is often the precursor of success, and as I told my friend, a lesson learned is never time wasted.
Wishing You Great Health,
Dr. John H. Sklare
www.innerdiet.com
MY THOUGHTS
that could be the hardest part about failing. sometimes we avoid the lessons. because learning means changing. it means going against your grain. it means doing something you've never done before. we don't want to learn because it's so much easier to be "just the way we are".
Monday, December 20, 2010
Managers Should Behave Like Adults
Aspiring Managers: Learn to Behave Like Adults
By Steve Tobak | September 11, 2009
It’s relatively easy to be a successful child. All you’ve got to do is learn how to be cute, get attention, and cry when you’re hurt or hungry. Learning how to be a teenager is much harder; I’m not sure anybody’s good at it. I certainly wasn’t. As for becoming an adult, I’ve been working on that for decades and making very, very slow progress.
Everything gets harder as you get older, and becoming a good manager is no exception.
In fact, becoming a good manager is harder than all of those other phases combined. Why? Because, it not only depends on how much of an adult you’ve become, but how adult your employees are. Not to mention all the management and leadership skills that so-called experts and gurus aren’t even sure about - they debate this stuff all the time.
So, for all you relatively new, aspiring managers, and for those supposedly seasoned veterans who are honest enough with themselves to admit that they’re still trying to figure it out, here are three relatively critical but not necessarily intuitive tips I’ve learned by trial and lots of error along the way.
Try to act like a mature adult. As I alluded to above, the best managers are those rare individuals who actually behave like mature adults. What does that mean? It means being as honest, comfortable, and empathetic with your own issues and shortcomings as you are with your strengths and skills. Only then can you do the same for others, and that’s what good managers do.
Do the work - hands on. Work your tail off learning the basics of your trade and industry, whatever that is, while you still can - before you get promoted and lose the opportunity. Why? No matter how smart you are, that’s the only way to get hands-on experience that will engender respect from employees and help you to make effective management decisions down the road.
Become adept at 5 things: finance, selling, presenting, negotiating, and business communications.
Finance. I don’t care if you manage engineering, HR, IT, sales, whatever, you need to learn about finance. Why? Because that’s how companies are run and how business works. Period.
Selling. To sell your own programs internally you have to learn how to open doors, help constituents and peers to make informed decisions, and close deals.
Presenting. It’s hard to imagine your career going anywhere unless you can deliver an effective presentation. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t born with the presentation gene.
Negotiating. Negotiation skills are critical to resolving conflicts, driving consensus among peers and other key constituents, and developing your own career.
Communicating. Great managers are also great communicators; it’s a critical success skill. Unfortunately, they don’t teach you about business communications in school.
MY THOUGHTS
finance and selling? 2 of my most disliked areas of management. i don;t mind selling ideas. and i don;t why i cringe at the thought of selling commodities. and finance? i just can't get my finger on all those figures. one would think after working for a financial and a retail company, i would be over this issue by now! the problem is me of course. i have to want to at least like finance and selling. and the best way for this is to educate myself. i promise to brush up on these before the year ends.
By Steve Tobak | September 11, 2009
It’s relatively easy to be a successful child. All you’ve got to do is learn how to be cute, get attention, and cry when you’re hurt or hungry. Learning how to be a teenager is much harder; I’m not sure anybody’s good at it. I certainly wasn’t. As for becoming an adult, I’ve been working on that for decades and making very, very slow progress.
Everything gets harder as you get older, and becoming a good manager is no exception.
In fact, becoming a good manager is harder than all of those other phases combined. Why? Because, it not only depends on how much of an adult you’ve become, but how adult your employees are. Not to mention all the management and leadership skills that so-called experts and gurus aren’t even sure about - they debate this stuff all the time.
So, for all you relatively new, aspiring managers, and for those supposedly seasoned veterans who are honest enough with themselves to admit that they’re still trying to figure it out, here are three relatively critical but not necessarily intuitive tips I’ve learned by trial and lots of error along the way.
Try to act like a mature adult. As I alluded to above, the best managers are those rare individuals who actually behave like mature adults. What does that mean? It means being as honest, comfortable, and empathetic with your own issues and shortcomings as you are with your strengths and skills. Only then can you do the same for others, and that’s what good managers do.
Do the work - hands on. Work your tail off learning the basics of your trade and industry, whatever that is, while you still can - before you get promoted and lose the opportunity. Why? No matter how smart you are, that’s the only way to get hands-on experience that will engender respect from employees and help you to make effective management decisions down the road.
Become adept at 5 things: finance, selling, presenting, negotiating, and business communications.
Finance. I don’t care if you manage engineering, HR, IT, sales, whatever, you need to learn about finance. Why? Because that’s how companies are run and how business works. Period.
Selling. To sell your own programs internally you have to learn how to open doors, help constituents and peers to make informed decisions, and close deals.
Presenting. It’s hard to imagine your career going anywhere unless you can deliver an effective presentation. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t born with the presentation gene.
Negotiating. Negotiation skills are critical to resolving conflicts, driving consensus among peers and other key constituents, and developing your own career.
Communicating. Great managers are also great communicators; it’s a critical success skill. Unfortunately, they don’t teach you about business communications in school.
MY THOUGHTS
finance and selling? 2 of my most disliked areas of management. i don;t mind selling ideas. and i don;t why i cringe at the thought of selling commodities. and finance? i just can't get my finger on all those figures. one would think after working for a financial and a retail company, i would be over this issue by now! the problem is me of course. i have to want to at least like finance and selling. and the best way for this is to educate myself. i promise to brush up on these before the year ends.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Driver or Passenger?
Driver or Passenger?
Daily Inspiration
By John H. Sklare, Ed.D, Lifescript Personal Coach
Published December 14, 2010
When you boil it all down, there are basically two types of people in this world: drivers and passengers. The drivers take charge, grab the helm and take on a leadership role during periods of crisis. The passengers take direction well, excel in working closely with others and get the job done.
Even though we all exhibit both of these behaviors at times, you’re typically and consistently more one than the other. Today I ask you to consider this concept and think about the following question: When it comes to matters in your life, do you take on the role of the driver or passenger?
Wishing You Great Health,
Dr. John H. Sklare
www.innerdiet.com
MY THOUGHTS
in my life, i'm a driver most definitely. especially when no one else is taking the wheel. but once in a while, it feels good to let someone else do the driving. there's also a lot to learn from being the passenger. what i know about driving i didn't just learn on my own. i become a better driver when i remind myself of how it feels to be a passenger. but of course, i drive only up to certain point. and i try hard to use the map of the greatest driver of all. God is the one who's supposed to drive my life. and for as long as i'm in tune with Him, even if i get lost, for sure, he'll direct me to the right path.
Daily Inspiration
By John H. Sklare, Ed.D, Lifescript Personal Coach
Published December 14, 2010
When you boil it all down, there are basically two types of people in this world: drivers and passengers. The drivers take charge, grab the helm and take on a leadership role during periods of crisis. The passengers take direction well, excel in working closely with others and get the job done.
Even though we all exhibit both of these behaviors at times, you’re typically and consistently more one than the other. Today I ask you to consider this concept and think about the following question: When it comes to matters in your life, do you take on the role of the driver or passenger?
Wishing You Great Health,
Dr. John H. Sklare
www.innerdiet.com
MY THOUGHTS
in my life, i'm a driver most definitely. especially when no one else is taking the wheel. but once in a while, it feels good to let someone else do the driving. there's also a lot to learn from being the passenger. what i know about driving i didn't just learn on my own. i become a better driver when i remind myself of how it feels to be a passenger. but of course, i drive only up to certain point. and i try hard to use the map of the greatest driver of all. God is the one who's supposed to drive my life. and for as long as i'm in tune with Him, even if i get lost, for sure, he'll direct me to the right path.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Managing Yourself: Learn Confidence
Psychologists: Confidence is a Learnable Skill
By Jessica Stillman | November 5, 2010
Some people are born brash and full of confidence, but for us introverts learning to speak up with our ideas and sell our skills is not something that comes naturally. So does that mean that, for the most part, confidence is something you’re born with, and those of us less gifted in the area simply have to muddle through as best we can?
Absolutely not, say psychologists, according to a long and fascinating article recently published on Psychology Today. According to author Erika Casriel, “the reality is that most socially confident people deliberately learn specific skills.”
So what exercises do the experts recommend for the confidence-challenged who are keen to learn to keep cool in front of others? First, forget about simply repressing your anxiety, which simply makes you more self-conscious. Then, consider honing the following skills:
Read your body right:
“You can create a crisis of confidence by overreacting to your own normal heightened alertness. But if you can work yourself up simply by misinterpreting your body’s signals, you can chill yourself out by reading them correctly. The irony of misreading your nervous system’s cues is that far from harming you, your natural excitement can enhance your performance. Increased activation is not a sign that you’re failing, but that you want to do well and your body is ready to help.”
Focus on helping others: “Mastering social skills requires tuning in to your self-esteem. But instead of being self-conscious and fixating on your anxiety, work on creating positive interactions that make the people around you feel engaged and happy. Focusing less on yourself and more on others will yield big payoffs in expanded social opportunities.” Also, “feeling allegiance to a larger cause can make your discomfort more tolerable”
Get cozy with your fears: If you’re brave enough, “try ‘implosion’ — tackling a challenge so intimidating that once you’ve made it through, your original goal no longer fazes you.” Comedy stars Conan O’Brien and Will Ferrell apparently first started performing because it was what they feared most. By tackling their fears head on they overcame them.
The article includes much more information on the science of shyness, including statistics on its prevalence (40 percent of young people report they’re shy) and the genetic basis of social anxiety, as well as a ton of personal anecdotes about introverts’ battles to become more confident. If you’re interested, it’s worth checking out.
MY THOUGHTS
i am naturally shy. yes i am. but shyness won't get me nowhere. so i know, for a fact, confidence can be learned. i learned to conquer my fears by learning about something,finding out more about what i need to do, practicing, taking calculated risks but not setting myself up to fail by taking on too much.
By Jessica Stillman | November 5, 2010
Some people are born brash and full of confidence, but for us introverts learning to speak up with our ideas and sell our skills is not something that comes naturally. So does that mean that, for the most part, confidence is something you’re born with, and those of us less gifted in the area simply have to muddle through as best we can?
Absolutely not, say psychologists, according to a long and fascinating article recently published on Psychology Today. According to author Erika Casriel, “the reality is that most socially confident people deliberately learn specific skills.”
So what exercises do the experts recommend for the confidence-challenged who are keen to learn to keep cool in front of others? First, forget about simply repressing your anxiety, which simply makes you more self-conscious. Then, consider honing the following skills:
Read your body right:
“You can create a crisis of confidence by overreacting to your own normal heightened alertness. But if you can work yourself up simply by misinterpreting your body’s signals, you can chill yourself out by reading them correctly. The irony of misreading your nervous system’s cues is that far from harming you, your natural excitement can enhance your performance. Increased activation is not a sign that you’re failing, but that you want to do well and your body is ready to help.”
Focus on helping others: “Mastering social skills requires tuning in to your self-esteem. But instead of being self-conscious and fixating on your anxiety, work on creating positive interactions that make the people around you feel engaged and happy. Focusing less on yourself and more on others will yield big payoffs in expanded social opportunities.” Also, “feeling allegiance to a larger cause can make your discomfort more tolerable”
Get cozy with your fears: If you’re brave enough, “try ‘implosion’ — tackling a challenge so intimidating that once you’ve made it through, your original goal no longer fazes you.” Comedy stars Conan O’Brien and Will Ferrell apparently first started performing because it was what they feared most. By tackling their fears head on they overcame them.
The article includes much more information on the science of shyness, including statistics on its prevalence (40 percent of young people report they’re shy) and the genetic basis of social anxiety, as well as a ton of personal anecdotes about introverts’ battles to become more confident. If you’re interested, it’s worth checking out.
MY THOUGHTS
i am naturally shy. yes i am. but shyness won't get me nowhere. so i know, for a fact, confidence can be learned. i learned to conquer my fears by learning about something,finding out more about what i need to do, practicing, taking calculated risks but not setting myself up to fail by taking on too much.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
The New Job Security
Ask yourself what you can do for the company
Candidates should stop chasing job ads and start marketing themselves to employers: author
By Kim Covert, Postmedia News October 16, 2010
People don't create job openings, problems do. And if you can market yourself as the solution to a problem, chances are you'll be able to create a job where there wasn't one before.
Welcome to the new job security: creating your own job opportunities. And that means, however counterintuitive it might sound, that your job search isn't about you.
That's a major message in the revised edition of The New Job Security: The 5 best strategies for taking control of your career.
Author Pam Lassiter says the art of the job search has changed dramatically since she originally published the book in 2002.
"Technology is the obvious answer, but it's not just technology, it's how our communication patterns change, too. So we're shifting as people -how we talk, how much time we want to spend thinking about something, how much bandwidth people get from us when we want to talk to them. It's affecting career change as well."
That's why No. 3 on her list of five strategies for taking control of your career is to stop looking for a job.
"We could lower the unemployment rate if people didn't chase job openings as actively," says Lassiter during a phone interview from Massachusetts. The unemployment rate is higher in the U.S. than in Canada and the economic situation there more dire, but the principle holds north of the border as well -applying to advertised job openings is a sort of masochism.
"People are desperate for work, they sit in front of their computers during the day, they will fire off 100 responses to job openings, feel like they have worked really hard, but in reality they're not going to get responses to hardly any of them," says Lassiter.
"That's the sad part. There's a three per cent interview rate for responses to help-wanted ads. Three."
(That statistic also holds true for those in the dating world, Lassiter says with a laugh -- and some authority.)
If you're one of those poor shmoes still looking at the job boards and help-wanted listings, don't kick yourself too hard -professionals above your pay scale are doing that, too.
"We think that because it is posted that it's a real ad and people are paying attention to us on the other side.
"And on the other side, if a person is getting 1,000 responses to an ad, which isn't unusual, the odds of your being found are slim-to-none."
The majority of jobs these days are found through networking, says Lassiter, but not all networking strategies are created equal.
"People are typically running after their friends and sometimes the best connections they have saying, 'I need a job, I just got laid off -it's all about me'," says Lassiter. "There are two fallacies there, basically. Chasing specific job openings and playing on the sympathy or 'it's all about me.'"
The secret to finding the job you want is to identify the company you want to work for, identify a problem within that company that you can help fix, and then use your network to get your foot in the door. Don't use up your best connections too early and, just like in dating, try not to appear too desperate.
"I try to get people to think about what business challenge might they have some ideas about and following the problems to be solved and not the job openings," says Lassiter, who advises not ignoring job ads altogether, but greatly reducing the time spent chasing them down.
Lassiter's advice is based on marketing strategy. People looking for a job should consider themselves as the product, and potential employers as the consumers. And just like any successful product, you have to be able to sell yourself as something the consumer needs --and recognizes. You need to be able to talk your target industry's talk and walk its walk.
- - -
BEST STRATEGIES
According to Pam Lassiter, who has just published a revised edition of her book The New Job Security: The 5 best strategies for taking control of your career, the way we search for jobs has changed radically.
Lassiter says the five keys to a successful job search are:
1. Send clear signals -- Develop a plan for your job search and then follow it.
2. Market for mutual benefit -- Telling a company you have an idea for increasing profitability makes you a more attractive interview than the person petitioning for a job.
3. Stop looking for jobs -- Chasing down and answering job ads is a sad and unfruitful exercise, says Lassiter. "The number of approved openings is finite. The number of problems to be solved is infinite."
4. Build sustainable networks -- Build a network that can and will help you over the long term.
5. Negotiate in round rooms -- Don't get backed into a corner. "Negotiating strategies are simple and often require only that you use the right vocabulary at the right time," writes Lassiter.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/yourself+what+company/3682513/story.html#ixzz12rcBCHHH
MY THOUGHTS
that's a staggering, depressing figure - 3% chance of getting an interview!!!i do agree that having the right connect is key. if you are marketable. even if you're a friend of the country's president, you won't get referred if you have nothing going for you. the best thing todo when out of ajob is to keep active. get as much and learn as much as you can from all the free time you have.
Candidates should stop chasing job ads and start marketing themselves to employers: author
By Kim Covert, Postmedia News October 16, 2010
People don't create job openings, problems do. And if you can market yourself as the solution to a problem, chances are you'll be able to create a job where there wasn't one before.
Welcome to the new job security: creating your own job opportunities. And that means, however counterintuitive it might sound, that your job search isn't about you.
That's a major message in the revised edition of The New Job Security: The 5 best strategies for taking control of your career.
Author Pam Lassiter says the art of the job search has changed dramatically since she originally published the book in 2002.
"Technology is the obvious answer, but it's not just technology, it's how our communication patterns change, too. So we're shifting as people -how we talk, how much time we want to spend thinking about something, how much bandwidth people get from us when we want to talk to them. It's affecting career change as well."
That's why No. 3 on her list of five strategies for taking control of your career is to stop looking for a job.
"We could lower the unemployment rate if people didn't chase job openings as actively," says Lassiter during a phone interview from Massachusetts. The unemployment rate is higher in the U.S. than in Canada and the economic situation there more dire, but the principle holds north of the border as well -applying to advertised job openings is a sort of masochism.
"People are desperate for work, they sit in front of their computers during the day, they will fire off 100 responses to job openings, feel like they have worked really hard, but in reality they're not going to get responses to hardly any of them," says Lassiter.
"That's the sad part. There's a three per cent interview rate for responses to help-wanted ads. Three."
(That statistic also holds true for those in the dating world, Lassiter says with a laugh -- and some authority.)
If you're one of those poor shmoes still looking at the job boards and help-wanted listings, don't kick yourself too hard -professionals above your pay scale are doing that, too.
"We think that because it is posted that it's a real ad and people are paying attention to us on the other side.
"And on the other side, if a person is getting 1,000 responses to an ad, which isn't unusual, the odds of your being found are slim-to-none."
The majority of jobs these days are found through networking, says Lassiter, but not all networking strategies are created equal.
"People are typically running after their friends and sometimes the best connections they have saying, 'I need a job, I just got laid off -it's all about me'," says Lassiter. "There are two fallacies there, basically. Chasing specific job openings and playing on the sympathy or 'it's all about me.'"
The secret to finding the job you want is to identify the company you want to work for, identify a problem within that company that you can help fix, and then use your network to get your foot in the door. Don't use up your best connections too early and, just like in dating, try not to appear too desperate.
"I try to get people to think about what business challenge might they have some ideas about and following the problems to be solved and not the job openings," says Lassiter, who advises not ignoring job ads altogether, but greatly reducing the time spent chasing them down.
Lassiter's advice is based on marketing strategy. People looking for a job should consider themselves as the product, and potential employers as the consumers. And just like any successful product, you have to be able to sell yourself as something the consumer needs --and recognizes. You need to be able to talk your target industry's talk and walk its walk.
- - -
BEST STRATEGIES
According to Pam Lassiter, who has just published a revised edition of her book The New Job Security: The 5 best strategies for taking control of your career, the way we search for jobs has changed radically.
Lassiter says the five keys to a successful job search are:
1. Send clear signals -- Develop a plan for your job search and then follow it.
2. Market for mutual benefit -- Telling a company you have an idea for increasing profitability makes you a more attractive interview than the person petitioning for a job.
3. Stop looking for jobs -- Chasing down and answering job ads is a sad and unfruitful exercise, says Lassiter. "The number of approved openings is finite. The number of problems to be solved is infinite."
4. Build sustainable networks -- Build a network that can and will help you over the long term.
5. Negotiate in round rooms -- Don't get backed into a corner. "Negotiating strategies are simple and often require only that you use the right vocabulary at the right time," writes Lassiter.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/yourself+what+company/3682513/story.html#ixzz12rcBCHHH
MY THOUGHTS
that's a staggering, depressing figure - 3% chance of getting an interview!!!i do agree that having the right connect is key. if you are marketable. even if you're a friend of the country's president, you won't get referred if you have nothing going for you. the best thing todo when out of ajob is to keep active. get as much and learn as much as you can from all the free time you have.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Time Management Isn't Just for Crises
Time Management Isn't Just for Crises
By Jessica Stillman | July 14, 2010
Time management is a lot like studying if a new post up Time Management Ninja is to be believed. Just like preparing for a test, there are two ways to approach time management. The first is the rough equivalent of cramming for the test. In this model you wait for obligations to pile up and then when panic starts to kick in you pull out all your best time management practices to cope with the onslaught. Like cramming, this tends not to work.
What works better? According to TMN, the answer is the same as it in the academic world — a steady pull. Rather than turning off and on your time management A-game to suit the circumstances, the blog suggests you have an always-on approach to managing your work and offers several reasons this approach works better.
The Steady Pull. An even steady pull is much easier to bear and allows you to be more productive. Starting and stopping your productivity efforts only creates more work for yourself.
Habits vs. Extra Effort. If you make time management part of your habits, the effort disappears and time management simply becomes part of your lifestyle. If you try to “turn it on” only once in a while, it becomes an extra effort that you must bear.
It is a Skill. Time management is a skill that you must hone just like any other. It takes practice and experience like other skills and activities. The more you do it, the better you will be at it.
Myth of the Crisis. People tend to think they only need time management in a jam. But, the truth is that you need it just as much when you are not in a crisis. It is proactive action that prevents the problems in the first place.
All of this advice makes plenty of sense, but I also see a flip side. Turning off for a weekend or the odd day here or there might not make logical sense if humans were machines, but we’re not (not most of us anyway). A nice stretch of slacking may not be good for your email inbox, but couldn’t it do wonders for your energy level and creativity when you’re burnt out and need a fresh perspective?
MY THOUGHTS
i'm a crammer. i seem to work best when under pressure. crises seem to come with the package when deadlines are far far off, it's difficult to get things done. however, this won't work when there are other people whose tasks are intertwined with mine. i need to plan and manage my time.
By Jessica Stillman | July 14, 2010
Time management is a lot like studying if a new post up Time Management Ninja is to be believed. Just like preparing for a test, there are two ways to approach time management. The first is the rough equivalent of cramming for the test. In this model you wait for obligations to pile up and then when panic starts to kick in you pull out all your best time management practices to cope with the onslaught. Like cramming, this tends not to work.
What works better? According to TMN, the answer is the same as it in the academic world — a steady pull. Rather than turning off and on your time management A-game to suit the circumstances, the blog suggests you have an always-on approach to managing your work and offers several reasons this approach works better.
The Steady Pull. An even steady pull is much easier to bear and allows you to be more productive. Starting and stopping your productivity efforts only creates more work for yourself.
Habits vs. Extra Effort. If you make time management part of your habits, the effort disappears and time management simply becomes part of your lifestyle. If you try to “turn it on” only once in a while, it becomes an extra effort that you must bear.
It is a Skill. Time management is a skill that you must hone just like any other. It takes practice and experience like other skills and activities. The more you do it, the better you will be at it.
Myth of the Crisis. People tend to think they only need time management in a jam. But, the truth is that you need it just as much when you are not in a crisis. It is proactive action that prevents the problems in the first place.
All of this advice makes plenty of sense, but I also see a flip side. Turning off for a weekend or the odd day here or there might not make logical sense if humans were machines, but we’re not (not most of us anyway). A nice stretch of slacking may not be good for your email inbox, but couldn’t it do wonders for your energy level and creativity when you’re burnt out and need a fresh perspective?
MY THOUGHTS
i'm a crammer. i seem to work best when under pressure. crises seem to come with the package when deadlines are far far off, it's difficult to get things done. however, this won't work when there are other people whose tasks are intertwined with mine. i need to plan and manage my time.
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