That Little Something Extra

Thomas Friedman had a fantastic op-ed piece in the NY Times on October 23. While the article was entitled, The Election That Wasn't, there were several strong points made about the work habits we will need to have as we function in a global economy. His most intriguing idea to me was the idea of doing something "extra" in your job. Here's an excerpt from the article:

But just doing your job in an average way — in this integrated and automated global economy — will lead to below-average wages. Sadly, average is over. We’re in the age of “extra,” and everyone has to figure out what extra they can add to their work to justify being paid more than a computer, a Chinese worker or a day laborer.

The thought of adding "extra" to your already overworked schedule probably makes you want to scream, but it reaffirms what we talk about so often with Juggling Elephants. You can't afford NOT to get to what is most important. The stakes are too high.

The next time you are engaged in planning for your day or week, aggressively seek to delegate, delete or delay those tasks that don't offer maximum return on purpose. You simply must create room in your lineup to provide that something "extra." Go back to the circus metaphor for a moment. While you may remember the entire circus event as a positive one, It was probably one or two acts that REALLY exceeded your expectations-and created those lasting memories.

Fail to provide the "extra" in your job, and you may find yourself with a little "extra time" in your work ring or maybe needing a little "extra" to make it through the month.

Manage your Meetings

Have you ever left an hour meeting and felt like you had just wasted 60 minutes of your day? Meetings can be a BIG time waster if they are not planned and executed effectively. Consider some key elements for effective meetings:

• Have an agenda and stick to it. Make sure the agenda items are pertinent to the participants


• If you look at an agenda and the items don't relate to you, don't be afraid to ask to be excused


• Cancel ineffective or unnecessary meetings - especially reoccurring meetings


• Be selective with whom you invite to your meetings. Most people won't be upset if they are not invited. They have plenty to do without another meeting


• Have someone keep minutes of your meetings so you are not having the same meeting, where you are having the same discussions and making the same decisions.


• Don't be afraid to end a meeting early. If the agenda has been covered, adjourn.


• If your meeting is about to go over the time allotted, stop and plan another meeting to allow people to stick to their individual schedules.


• If your meetings seem to go too long because participants are long winded, have a "stand up" meeting where there are no chairs for people to sit down. You will be amazed at how quickly people will get down to business if they don't have a place to sit


• Make sure that if you are meeting to make a decision, that you actually make a clear decision before the end of the meeting


• Talk with those that you work with on how to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your meetings. How can you improve?

It is estimated that most managers spend 50% of their time in meetings. If half of those meetings are ineffective, the cost to the manager AND the organization is quite significant.

Choosing Another Ringmaster For Your Circus

Last week I had an interesting comment in a training program. An older participant talked about how she was not always the ringmaster of her circus, especially now. When I asked her to explain, she commented that her two children took care of her medical care and handled all appointments, etc. She said that she had given them the job of being the ringmaster of that part of her circus. When I asked her what that meant to her, she said, "I don't have to worry about it-they take care of everything."

That's a new twist on the idea of not being the ringmaster of your circus in some areas. You find someone you have a deep degree of trust in and you give them a responsibility related to your life. In her case she trusted that they could make better decisions than she could. I would imagine that if there was a huge life or death decision to be made that she would have input, but she has released the every day responsibilities to them to improve her own life.

As I thought about her comments, I reflected on a situation with my mother. I handle all her medical appointments, prescriptions and make decisions about her care. Since doing so her health has improved and she doesn't have to worry about calling to set up appointments, opening pill bottles or trying to remember if she took her medication. It has "improved her circus" and allowed her to focus on areas of greater importance to her.

What are some areas of your work or life that you might need to look at allowing someone else to be the ringmaster? If not ringmaster, how about co-ringmaster?

Email Overload?

If you are a regular reader of our blog and newsletter, you are familiar with our comments on email and what a distraction it can be. Not only can the alarm of an incoming email interrupt you from something that is more important, the sheer challenge of keeping up with reading, responding and filing of email can be daunting. I recently read a statistic that said 45%-55% of most professional's time is spent using email. That is a very significant amount of time-when does everything else get done?

If you are spending hours a day on email, consider a few strategies and recommendations:

• Do you really need to send the email in the first place? Sending email increases the number of emails that you receive in return (people reply or comment on emails that you send). To reduce the number of emails you get, reduce the number you send


• Keep it simple and short. Use bullets, use an outline and do your best to keep it to the point-don't ramble. Encourage those you work with to do the same. This will save you time writing and hopefully reading messages as well. In our office, we have a rule that if a message is going to go over a certain length then it is better to pick up the phone instead


• Don't copy the "world" just because you can and don't forward on messages that are not vital. The people you know and work with are probably just as busy as you and filling up their email box is not doing them any favors


• Create a filing system to store your emails so that you can easily find them when you need them. But, when in doubt, throw it out!


• Define some rules with those that you work with about email (e.g. restrictions on length, the need NOT to reply with a "thank you" and who needs to be cc'd on what)

What if you could reduce the amount of time that you spend on email by 10%-20%? Would that make a difference in your day? What would you do with the extra time? Maybe you would actually be able to take lunch or take that important 15 minute break!

A Tip From The Literary World

While working on our next book, I came across a writing tip that offers insight for those struggling with too much to do. The tip is, Eliminate unnecessary words. Sounds simple enough, but in writing it is easy to add lots of words to make sure you get your point across in full detail. Unfortunately, in that desire to get the message across people can get lost in all the explanation or illustration.

The tie with time management is simply this-Eliminate unnecessary activities. Within your ability to control, take out as many things as you can that don't contribute to your purpose or help you accomplish what's really important to you.

The goal is to bring clarity to your day, focusing most sharply on those 4-5 things you can undertake that will make the biggest difference. Making a mile long to do list and then trying to pick out what is most important is like reading a book that's too "wordy." It's easy to get lost.