Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Think your day in Advance!


Did you ever watch your colleagues at work about how they start their day? People watching has always been an entertainment for me (..mind you, it’s a great form of amusement especially when coworkers play pretend early in the morning..) and I get a good kick for the laughs that they give me.

I remember this colleague of mine who’s very quirky and gets to be so OC (Organized Chaos, not Obsessive Complusive) in the early stages of the morning. you’d find him rushing sometimes at the start of the day setting up his laptop in his desk, and in a minute he’ll be going through all the files in his desk and as if he found the file that he needed, he’ll leave them where he picked them up and then go to the pantry to get his coffee… When he goes back to his chair, he’ll pick-up the newspaper and starts reading the “entertainment” section. After which, he’d open his internet explorer and browses through his Friendster account, hotmail, yahoo mail…and then opens up his MS Outlook, browsing through his emails… and then finally gets his planner and then writes down his To Do List... and by the time he starts his first task for the day, its almost Lunch Break… And I think to myself “WOW!” What a way to be Organized and Productive!! NOT!! (I’m sure you’d think I wasn’t productive as well coz I just watched the whole morning.. well that was part of my plan for the day… I planned to have fun …)

But you see it is such a waste of time, not only for the person doing it but you are robbing the company of time and production as well! (I’m a Manager, I’m concerned about the company, Not!!! Well I’m concerned about the figures and the pressure to deliver them on time.. that’s for the company too…)

So this guy is supposedly a support for our team and clearly he supports me on getting my laughs everyday. But then again, seriously speaking, the goals of the company will not be met with this kind of time management. Tendencies will be the deliverables will not be given on time. I’m sure you’ve witnessed a lot of people in your work area who pretend that they are busy to seem that they are working hard. But looking at it objectively they didn’t do squat.

What I normally do when a day comes is that, I visualize my TO Dos the night before. What clothes to wear for the next day, what tasks to accomplish and achieve for the next day. What would be very effective is before you close your eyes and doze off to sleep is to write down your To Do List and rank them in terms of priorities; targeting the most difficult task first thing in the morning so that everything else will be peanuts for you for the rest of the day.

And as you do this, you will notice that your day becomes smooth and easy. We’d be more productive and efficient that it gives us more fulfillment and happiness for the day.

But don’t get me wrong I PRETEND as well, usually nearing the end of the day where I flip through my files pretending to read them, but actually just having fun putting them from one place to another and just return them to where they previously are. Or pretend to call for a meeting but just gossiping and talking about each other’s life. You see I have the luxury to do this because my major tasks for the day have been accomplished already…

So think in advance… gather your thoughts, organize your actions in your head for the next day and as you wake up and prepare for the day, you are already programmed to accomplish what you want …

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