"Hi Rocky, it was nice talking to you on phone today.
Please send me a calendar invite for a meeting next week. Let’s discuss the
project report in detail." How many times do we hear this? We have great
tools like Outlook and Google calendars to plan our time well. But do we really
do so? Many of us don't see the power of these great tools. May be because, we
are not used to using these tools from school or college. Or maybe because this
habit was limited to only corporate people. Or is it that majority of business
community and portions of people working in public sector think that their
memory and own intellect is superior? May be... Yes, there were days when
people used to remember 100 phone numbers (I am talking about pre-cell phone
era). When they can remember so many numbers, why can't they remember few
meetings or activities that are scheduled for that week? May be.
We live in a day where multitasking is the need of the hour. And doing it on time is a norm. You might even have a second chance at times. Hence we all try to become a Superman! Our management Gurus says that 'You need to keep running to stay where you are." How powerful! That's what most of us do today, or at least trying to. Now that we are already running, it becomes even more difficult to increase your pace by few notches; just to live a better life. Why do I get a feeling that the world is bending more towards to the side of the 'err'? This means, however good you may be, the ratio of possible errors is increasing. They say that we need to be smart and yet be more productive. Though it may sound similar, they work tangentially in many cases.
How many events did you miss at your daughter's school? How many times did you miss an important function at a close relative's place? Many times. And on the contrary, how many times did you skip a customer meeting? Your training workshop? Very few or none. Well, that's not because you felt your child's school day function or the PTM at school is less important; its just that you haven't planned it well. I have seen senior employees in corporate missing on this. They are so busy that they just don't find time for these events. They try, but don't succeed.
On the same note, I have seen few highly successful people who got this right. They make it to all their children's functions and family events. So what’s the secret sauce? Simple, its discipline. Oh Yeah?? How can discipline ever be simple? :). Oops, then this is my take. The simpler method is to maintain and follow a CALENDAR.
(All of us want to be a superman! Do everything in life)
We live in a day where multitasking is the need of the hour. And doing it on time is a norm. You might even have a second chance at times. Hence we all try to become a Superman! Our management Gurus says that 'You need to keep running to stay where you are." How powerful! That's what most of us do today, or at least trying to. Now that we are already running, it becomes even more difficult to increase your pace by few notches; just to live a better life. Why do I get a feeling that the world is bending more towards to the side of the 'err'? This means, however good you may be, the ratio of possible errors is increasing. They say that we need to be smart and yet be more productive. Though it may sound similar, they work tangentially in many cases.
How many events did you miss at your daughter's school? How many times did you miss an important function at a close relative's place? Many times. And on the contrary, how many times did you skip a customer meeting? Your training workshop? Very few or none. Well, that's not because you felt your child's school day function or the PTM at school is less important; its just that you haven't planned it well. I have seen senior employees in corporate missing on this. They are so busy that they just don't find time for these events. They try, but don't succeed.
On the same note, I have seen few highly successful people who got this right. They make it to all their children's functions and family events. So what’s the secret sauce? Simple, its discipline. Oh Yeah?? How can discipline ever be simple? :). Oops, then this is my take. The simpler method is to maintain and follow a CALENDAR.
Hear me out, I asked this to a few senior people in corporate and this is what
they had to say. A Vice President of a MNC said "I travel quite a bit and
I cannot adjust my work time. So I miss few events at my child's school and my
wife does the honours." candidly. "At times, I try to go but suddenly
a meeting would be called and my plan goes for a toss. I would have promised my
child that I would not miss this one, but I would have no choice but to skip
it."
And then this person, who is a CEO of a mid size corporate, says "I will ensure that all my daughter's school events are entered in my calendar and keep a track of it." He also says that "as long as you stick to your calendar, you cannot miss anything. You should plan your work meetings accordingly and not deviate from them. If you had missed something, you can assume that it’s not important." Well, this is how simple it is.
You might feel that this is too strict a way to work. Not really. This is just prioritizing and managing your time well. Time in today's world is available only in limited quantity so you better act now. You can never achieve everything, so why not make best use of time that’s available at hand and do few things which are everything for you.
And then this person, who is a CEO of a mid size corporate, says "I will ensure that all my daughter's school events are entered in my calendar and keep a track of it." He also says that "as long as you stick to your calendar, you cannot miss anything. You should plan your work meetings accordingly and not deviate from them. If you had missed something, you can assume that it’s not important." Well, this is how simple it is.
You might feel that this is too strict a way to work. Not really. This is just prioritizing and managing your time well. Time in today's world is available only in limited quantity so you better act now. You can never achieve everything, so why not make best use of time that’s available at hand and do few things which are everything for you.
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