Using Time Well and to a
Purpose is a Continuous Battle
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When it comes to
unkind criticism, put-downs, sabotage, and unfriendly competition the best
strategy is to achieve, what others feel, that you cannot do. We all react,
differently to criticism, sabotage and putdowns. Discover, as to how you are
tackling the same and use the excellent technique, you can devise to deal with
them. For working smarter, we need to
simplify, the way we operate and how we use our work style, to our best
advantage.
Apart from the To Do List, which most
successful people use, you might specify the tasks you would prefer to do in
the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening. Of course, you are free to
change it, in case the need arises. For instances, there are certain fixed
hours of Banks, if you need to go there, to sort out your personal matters.
Shops do not open very early in the morning. So shopping necessarily has to be
done in the later morning or evening hours.
Instead
of running errands for the whole day, you might consider attending to all
matters, when going in one direction, if they are geographically suitable, and
convenient. Last week, while going to my dentist, for an appointment, I
combined with a visit to the Bank, meeting my sister, who was hospitalized and
doing some shopping. This was apart from returning the phone calls, which had
remained unattended and unanswered, as well as catching up on the reading, when
the driver was driving me around. I find that I am at my best early in the
morning and so I attend to my highest priority work, which includes writing
early in the morning or late in the night, when there are no interruptions. It
is to have some schedule, so that you can fit all the activities, in accordance
with the importance you want to give them.
During my
prime time, I avoid meeting visitors as some of th wem linger on, long after
the work, they came, is over. Most people would like to telephone or meet you,
when it is appropriate and suitable for them.
I return their approach, by giving a time, which is most suitable to me.
Evidently, it makes some people unhappy, that I do not receive them whenever
they want to drop in. But I have to
stuck to my guns and if some people want
to meet me to discuss a few things, then they have to adjust to my timings.
Another
thing, which you should be doing, is to have at spick and span atmosphere,
environment and your working place. It is clearly a constant battle as we have
a tendency to leave the things, on the nearest open space available. For
instance, at the time of writing this piece, I notice, my digital diary, remote
control of the TV, speakers for my IPOD, my shirt, my To Do List Diary, lying
on my bed and an empty cup of tea on the side table of my chair. I do not
attend to all these items, in putting their proper and right places in one go.
When I get up, I pick up a few things and put them in their respective home.
Incidentally, before finishing this piece, I got up to go to the bathroom
attached to my study. It took me less than a minute to put all things in their
correct places. Everything must have a home and it had better be there, to make
it easy to retrieve it , for future use.
As a
routine, I de-clutter at least four to five times a day, to prevent my study,
my work place, my computer, from being a graveyard of miscellaneous items. If
do not do the same, we get overwhelmed and inundated by them. A clean place is
attractive to work. But it requires a lot of small effort to do so. However, I
assure you, that it is worth it.
Source:
Turn Your Creative Spark into a Flame by Joginder
Singh, Former
Director, Central
Bureau of Intelligence(CBI), Govt. of India. www.dpb.in
