Episode #249: The Focused And Disciplined Boss

Intellectually, we all know what we should be doing and how we should be doing it, but that isn’t how things work in the real world is it! We have turned our email inboxes into giant parking lots for stranded emails, which get no attention, but are parked there ready for action. We know we are wasting a lot of time in meetings, but the meetings are always scheduled for an hour where everyone follows Parkinson’s Law and allows the work to expand to fit the time. We have papers, magazines we will never read but aspire to and reports piled high on all flat surfaces within arms reach. Another parking lot for the parentless paper trail.

So much time is spent on organising the logistics of leading today. Sorting through stuff to decide what to do about it, rather than actually doing it. We file emails or electronic documents and then can’t remember where we filed them so spend time hunting them down. We keep shunting paper around from one spot to another, because we can’t commit to knocking the work off and moving onto to the next task. Democratically, we all have 1440 minutes in a day, but we can’t actually manage time - we can’t flex it into 1441 minutes a day. We can only manage ourselves and the priorities we set.

Chaos for one is flexibility for another. Your workspace looks like a bomb went off, but magically and annoyingly, you can retrieve the exact piece of information needed from the rubble on command. Others have almost empty desks, where neatness shines like a beacon of hope for everyone else. Everything in its place and a place for everything. Smarty-pants types!

Which one are you: supreme order or supreme chaos? Is there a right answer? No, we all have our own ways of working. It is the amount of productivity our systems allow us, that makes all the difference.

What about where we spend our time relative to past, present and future activities. Again, there is no correct answer, we must however decide where to direct our energies. As another way of looking at our way of organising our work, we can break tasks up into past, present and future.

Past might coalesce calls to be returned, emails to be answered, reports to be written, etc. Present might encompass today’s meetings, urgent matters that pop up and require boss attention so that staff members can do their work or any deadlines due today. Future might be travel arrangements, project proposals to be approved, future deadlines coming nearer, people who need to be contacted.

We might take tasks from each group, list them up by group and give each a priority number of order of attention. We might rotate through each group, doing one from the past, then one from the present and next one from the future, before moving down to the next number on the list of priorities.

We can do it this way, just to bring a little variety to the way we normally work. Sometimes shining a light on tasks makes us realise we have forgotten to give a project sufficient time or we have not put enough effort into the Important but Not Urgent category of planning. Doing things the same way all the time is comfortable. It is good to put ourselves in places outside our Comfort Zone, if we want to drive greater productivity and clarity around task completion.

Here are a couple of productivity tips worth thinking about. Allow an extra 25% of time for completion of a task. Often we cut things too fine, so we never ever get around to completion or to a critical mass on a piece of work. That little bit of extra time may move the needle to see that work completed or almost completed, rather than being tossed into the bottomless pit of started, but not realised projects.

Before we head home, we should look at the next day’s schedule and priorities for that day. This gets our mind organised for the next day, so we are ready to go immediately when we get to work and we catch any preparation we need for the next day, which we may have forgotten about.

Where we can, we should confirm meetings ahead of time, especially clients we are visiting. If there is a change, it is good to know early, so that the day’s plan can be rejigged right then and there. Other people we work with can forget meetings and this is a sure way of reminding them what they need to do, especially for those more logistically challenged amongst us.

Try to organise time in large slabs of Block Time. It is similar to making an appointment with a client or a boss, which we usually honour very diligently. We are just making the appointment with ourselves in this case, so that we can get through some concentrated work without interruption.

Keep all the project parts together, so that you are not chasing after missing bits. Clutter builds up quickly, so be ruthless about tossing stuff out. Try to have your workspace cleared of all other papers, except the ones you are working on – this brings more clarity to what we are doing, by reducing distractions. Do one task at a time, rather than trying to multi-task – don’t split our concentration if possible.

Have a place we can note down important information. It might be on paper or done digitally, but we need a type of reminder list as we work on through the day to capture thoughts, data, information and inspiration.

Try to have our schedule planner with us, be it paper or in an electronic calendar form accessible through our phone. And try to have one planner to reduce the double inputting. This scheduling process helps keep us on time.

When we are going to events go early. Japan can be a challenge to find locations, so allow extra time to navigate the address. If it is an event, get there early and check through the name badges to remind yourself who will be there so you can put a face to a name. Also look for people you may want to meet at the event to expand your network. Always arrive early so you looking cool, calm and collected rather than panicked!

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com

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About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

Author of Japan Sales Mastery, the Amazon #1 Bestseller on selling in Japan and the first book on the subject in the last thirty years.

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.