How to - Get The Right Things Done Time is a precious and finite commodity. You can't save it and you can’t manufacture more of it. You can only use it. The best use of this limited resource comes from

· Prioritizing the many demands on your time, and
· Using as many time management tools as you can.

How well do you use your time? You can inventory how you use your ‘non-productive time’ (driving, sleeping, eating, exercising, walking the dog, watching TV, surfing the Internet), and eliminate those things that are of no value. You can also inventory your use of productive time and figure out if you have the right priority assigned to things that you need to tackle (effectiveness) as well as review your skills in handling these items (efficiency).

With regard to accomplishing work objectives and increasing our productivity and effectiveness, it might be more appropriate to call Time Management, Work Management!

An easy way to get a handle on getting to the right things, is to try the following:

On a legal pad, list all of the things that you need to do. Keep an inch margin on the left hand side of the list. If you want to include personal items (send birthday card, pick out wallpaper), do so. If there are large tasks ahead of you, break them down into more manageable steps (rather than ‘design newsletter’, put down ‘select article topics for upcoming newsletter’).

If there are any items that are time sensitive, write down the due date so you have that in front of you.

Put today’s date at the top of the list.

If you have more that one sheet of paper when you are done, don’t panic.

THEN –

Go through the list and write a M in the left hand column next to any and every item that MUST get done today (upon penalty of death). Try not to put down more than 5 M’s.

Rank the M’s in order of importance. These are the things that absolutely MUST get down today.

Then you start with number 1. When it’s completed, cross it off the list.

Don’t look down the list to find easy things to do (call Mary, return Bill’s call). Do the right (most important) things first. When you have completed all of the M’s, you can then go down the list to see what else to tackle.

As new items come up, add them to the list. Determine where they fit; Are the M’s, or can they wait?

At the end of each day, write a new list with a new group of M’s. If you didn’t get to your last M today, that becomes your first M tomorrow. If something has been on your list for two weeks and you haven’t gotten to it, either make it an M 1 tomorrow, or eliminate it from the list. It’s only making you feel guilty! It isn’t getting done and it isn’t important enough to you to get down.

Why a pad of a paper and not you PDA? Because you can see the paper easily, take it with you, keep it plain sight, have it available on your desk, and the act of writing your list keeps the items in your mind while the act of crossing off completed items can be very satisfying.

Try this for at least a week before you decide whether it will work for you. It’s deceptively simple, but also highly effective. Getting the right things done requires keeping your focus on the right things. Even if you come into work and find that there are fires that need to be put out and emergencies that require your attention, this simple system allows you to return to your plan after any distraction.

Labels: management, Part time, priorities

  7:47 AM •  0 Comments •

How to - Put Limits on the Role of Mentor Formal and informal mentoring relationships created within an organization or between professional colleagues are becoming more and more common as people look to develop talent and acquire knowledge. Being a Mentor can be very rewarding. Providing support, suggestions and information to someone eager to for it can enrich both your career and theirs. However, in an effort to provide assistance, some Mentors go too far. If you want to avoid crossing that line, it’s good to know where it is in the first place.

Avoid:

• Putting your cash into their business ideas – Investing in your Mentee’s business changes your role from Mentor to Partner. Now you have a ‘not so hidden’ agenda as well as a conflict of interest. You are not going to be objective about your advice and feedback when your money is at stake. The Mentee can become wary about telling you anything negative because they are worried about an unfavorable reaction. Assure them that you are honored to be considered as a potential investor but prefer to keep the relationship as a mentoring partnership only.

• Working for them – Whether you are hired with or without pay, when you do the actual work, you have become an employee. The work your Mentee is responsible for should either be done by them or they should be hiring someone (else) to do the job. Your role is to work behind the scenes. A Mentor can help them determine the best way to get things done or provide feedback, but should not be doing the actual work.

• Become a personal counselor – While you can (and probably will) discuss life issues and challenges, pay attention to the line between work and personal issues. If the Mentee is coping with a large psychological concern (e.g., overwhelming anxiety, depression or euphoria, divorce, substance use, parenting, aging parents), a Mentor does not give personal advice and counseling. Be willing to listen, but point out that you are not an expert in that personal area. Suggest a call to a local or national hotline that deals with the specific concern (or if the firm/employer has an EAP, suggest an internal resource.)

It’s not always easy to know where the limits of the Mentor/Mentee relationship are. Having a clear idea of what things are definitely out of bounds from the start can help you identify areas to avoid.

Labels: advice, mentor, small business

  8:43 AM •  0 Comments •