We’re surrounded by technology 24 hours a day. Mobile phones mean that we can be contactable wherever we are day or night. Laptops are great, now they allow us to be able to work anywhere, when we’re not in the office, while travelling and at home.
However, there’s a downside to all this technology and being constantly contactable. Firstly if it goes wrong you’re stuck. How do you carry on if the technology fails? Secondly, being constantly around technology means that we can never get away from it or we feel a reluctance to let it go or switch it off – hence we end up taking it with us … just in case.
How many of you were still working over the Bank Holiday weekend? Did you feel that the technology meant you couldn't really take time out - or did you manage to switch off the phone and shut-down the computer. How many people take their mobile phone, PDA or laptop with them when they go away on holiday? Perhaps your business is so critical that you can’t possibly be out of contact for one minute.
What would happen if you left your mobile phone at home or on your desk or even switched off while you went to a meeting? I recently read that top execs don't have a problem with being unavailable and switching off their phones - it's the one's that are out to impress or want to feel important that feel the need to be permanently contactable.
Would it really matter if you didn’t answer that email as soon as it arrives in your inbox or respond to a phone call. OK, I appreciate that in some instances you need to respond promptly in order not to lose business or to provide your clients with the service they expect but does it mean you're no longer in control of your time?
Technology is great for making lives easier and for saving time but make sure that you’re not totally dependent on it or if you are that you have a process or system in place to handle things if you’re without it for a while. Don't become a slave to technology. Learn to make the most of the tools you have to save you time and money, not to add to your stress and waste your time, when you can't get them to work or things go wrong.
Use technology as a tool, don't become it's slave.
Time management solutions for busy people - organise your business, your life and have fun.
Late or Early?
The topic of my latest newsletter was about arriving on time for meetings.
I'm sure most people endeavour to arrive on time - after all we're business professionals and it wouldn't do to turn up late and keep clients or prospective customers waiting but there's so much that can go wrong and things being what they are, it will. I've been ultra-conscious having just written about not being late - it wouldn't do for me to turn up late now would it! So much so that I've been arriving ridiculously early - I'd feel so bad if I did arrive late.
How often have you arrived just in the nick of time? You make it but just by the skin of your teeth, stressed and flustered having negotiated yet another traffic jam on the M25 or every traffic light being against you, slow traffic (especially caravans and tractors) on single lane roads, roadworks and detours.
Plan to arrive early - not just in the nick of time. Planning is good and essential to using your time effectively but when you plan things too closely you don't leave any slack time for when something unexpected comes up. Knowing a route well, gives you a better chance of estimating travel time but also makes it easier to leave things to the last minute, then when you discover they're digging up the road again and the traffic is backed up all along the coast road and you're going to be late. Fortunately, I can walk fast or know a short-cut or am lucky to find a parking space quickly but my 20 minute journey can easily become 40 minutes or longer with road works and traffic thrown into the mix.
- Aim to arrive at least 10 minutes early or 30 minutes if it's a longer journey.
- Get things ready before you leave - don't rush out of the door, grabbing things as you go.
- Leave extra time to allow for delays.
- Catch an earlier bus or train.
- Allow time for parking.
- Phone ahead if you know you're going to be delayed or late.
Better to arrive early rather than late and if you are early - it's not wasted time. Take a book, newspaper or your laptop with you so you can do some work while you wait. I managed to read a whole book on my recent journey up to London. I left plenty of time to get to the station - as I said, I've been so conscious about arriving early that I was there about 30 minutes before the train was due to leave. I had an hour to read on the train and while I sat waiting for my meeting and although it was a packed late train back home - I'd all but finished the book by the time I got back to Brighton.
If you expect other people to turn up on time for you - make sure you turn up on time for them. Have as much respect for someone else's time as you would expect them to have for yours.
I'm sure most people endeavour to arrive on time - after all we're business professionals and it wouldn't do to turn up late and keep clients or prospective customers waiting but there's so much that can go wrong and things being what they are, it will. I've been ultra-conscious having just written about not being late - it wouldn't do for me to turn up late now would it! So much so that I've been arriving ridiculously early - I'd feel so bad if I did arrive late.
How often have you arrived just in the nick of time? You make it but just by the skin of your teeth, stressed and flustered having negotiated yet another traffic jam on the M25 or every traffic light being against you, slow traffic (especially caravans and tractors) on single lane roads, roadworks and detours.
Plan to arrive early - not just in the nick of time. Planning is good and essential to using your time effectively but when you plan things too closely you don't leave any slack time for when something unexpected comes up. Knowing a route well, gives you a better chance of estimating travel time but also makes it easier to leave things to the last minute, then when you discover they're digging up the road again and the traffic is backed up all along the coast road and you're going to be late. Fortunately, I can walk fast or know a short-cut or am lucky to find a parking space quickly but my 20 minute journey can easily become 40 minutes or longer with road works and traffic thrown into the mix.
- Aim to arrive at least 10 minutes early or 30 minutes if it's a longer journey.
- Get things ready before you leave - don't rush out of the door, grabbing things as you go.
- Leave extra time to allow for delays.
- Catch an earlier bus or train.
- Allow time for parking.
- Phone ahead if you know you're going to be delayed or late.
Better to arrive early rather than late and if you are early - it's not wasted time. Take a book, newspaper or your laptop with you so you can do some work while you wait. I managed to read a whole book on my recent journey up to London. I left plenty of time to get to the station - as I said, I've been so conscious about arriving early that I was there about 30 minutes before the train was due to leave. I had an hour to read on the train and while I sat waiting for my meeting and although it was a packed late train back home - I'd all but finished the book by the time I got back to Brighton.
If you expect other people to turn up on time for you - make sure you turn up on time for them. Have as much respect for someone else's time as you would expect them to have for yours.
Arriving On Time
My latest newsletter is just out. This month's main article is about how to arrive on time for your meetings.
One thing we should always strive to do is arrive on time for meetings. In fact aim to arrive early, as you can guarantee that something will delay you on the way – however organised you try to be. It shows respect to both the organiser and the other attendees if you turn up on time and I’m sure you prefer it when people arrive on time for your meetings. For business meetings it’s particularly important as it creates a good impression if you’re punctual. For personal meetings it might be slightly more informal, so turning up a few minutes late isn’t as much of an issue but being very late when people are expecting you at a particular time is just discourteous.
- if you'd like to read more of the May issue, just sign up on my website and you'll also receive free Time-saving Tips.
Are you often late for meetings or in general do you get there on time?
One thing we should always strive to do is arrive on time for meetings. In fact aim to arrive early, as you can guarantee that something will delay you on the way – however organised you try to be. It shows respect to both the organiser and the other attendees if you turn up on time and I’m sure you prefer it when people arrive on time for your meetings. For business meetings it’s particularly important as it creates a good impression if you’re punctual. For personal meetings it might be slightly more informal, so turning up a few minutes late isn’t as much of an issue but being very late when people are expecting you at a particular time is just discourteous.
- if you'd like to read more of the May issue, just sign up on my website and you'll also receive free Time-saving Tips.
Are you often late for meetings or in general do you get there on time?
Superb Time Management
... or that's what I thought to myself as I cycled into town earlier today in the lovely Spring sunshine while everyone was back at work.
Although I spent all of the Bank Holiday working on my book, I don't tend to do much on Bank Holiday weekends anyway. There's nothing worse than being stuck in a traffic jam - especially on a hot, sunny day and we had a few of those over the weekend ... sunny days AND traffic jams and hoards of people. Everyone else is out and about as they don't have an option if they want to make the most of their weekend. They don't have a choice, whereas I did. I did make one abortive attempt to go into town but as soon as I hit the traffic jam at the end of my road, I turned round and came back as I had less than 30 minutes to get into town and I knew it was going to take a lot longer with all that traffic.
So today, I attended a breakfast meeting first thing this morning, spent a couple of hours working when I got back home, then headed into town on my bike to catch up with a friend for lunch and then see another couple of friends and their new baby. A gloriously sunny day. Cycling meant I got a couple of hours of exercise and avoided the traffic and agro of parking, another bonus with the roadworks taking place along the coast road at the moment making things even worse. Also being a weekday, when most people were back at work, there were a lot less people around on the seafront wandering across the cycle lane. I did have a close miss with a car that decided to do a u-turn in front of me without even looking.
Returned home to head out for my second networking meeting of the day and then a relaxing yoga session. How to mix business and pleasure without having to fit into a conventional 9-5.
Although I spent all of the Bank Holiday working on my book, I don't tend to do much on Bank Holiday weekends anyway. There's nothing worse than being stuck in a traffic jam - especially on a hot, sunny day and we had a few of those over the weekend ... sunny days AND traffic jams and hoards of people. Everyone else is out and about as they don't have an option if they want to make the most of their weekend. They don't have a choice, whereas I did. I did make one abortive attempt to go into town but as soon as I hit the traffic jam at the end of my road, I turned round and came back as I had less than 30 minutes to get into town and I knew it was going to take a lot longer with all that traffic.
So today, I attended a breakfast meeting first thing this morning, spent a couple of hours working when I got back home, then headed into town on my bike to catch up with a friend for lunch and then see another couple of friends and their new baby. A gloriously sunny day. Cycling meant I got a couple of hours of exercise and avoided the traffic and agro of parking, another bonus with the roadworks taking place along the coast road at the moment making things even worse. Also being a weekday, when most people were back at work, there were a lot less people around on the seafront wandering across the cycle lane. I did have a close miss with a car that decided to do a u-turn in front of me without even looking.
Returned home to head out for my second networking meeting of the day and then a relaxing yoga session. How to mix business and pleasure without having to fit into a conventional 9-5.
Hurrah! Finished at last.
Well, that was certainly a greater challenge than I thought it was going to be. I've just spent most of the Bank Holiday weekend and today finishing off the final few chapters of my book. Despite the sunshine outside and the temptation to do something else - I had a deadline to meet. I did manage brief bursts of other activities but the book was my main focus.
My perfectionist tendencies came to the fore as I tried to get everything just right, added another paragraph here and there, thought of something else to say, went back and tweaked a previous chapter, until finally I was happy and sent it off - one chapter at a time over the past five months.
There'll be more to come in a few weeks - it's just off to be edited, so I have no idea what to expect and whether it will have the equivalent of red marker pen all over it.
All very exciting.
My perfectionist tendencies came to the fore as I tried to get everything just right, added another paragraph here and there, thought of something else to say, went back and tweaked a previous chapter, until finally I was happy and sent it off - one chapter at a time over the past five months.
There'll be more to come in a few weeks - it's just off to be edited, so I have no idea what to expect and whether it will have the equivalent of red marker pen all over it.
All very exciting.
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