Where Does the Time Go?
June 2, 2008 by Kristin
As one of my mentors, Barbara Hemphill, is fond of saying, “There’s a big difference between activity and productivity.”
A couple of years ago I did a little experiment when I was feeling overwhelmed by a particular project that was causing me a lot of anxiety. I wanted to find out whether it really was consuming ‘every waking hour,’ or whether it just felt that way because of the associated stress. I also wanted to figure out whether I was merely spinning my wheels or producing something worthwhile. I started tracking the time I spent on that project against time I spent working on other aspects of my business. Then I looked at the financial return on my investment of time. This data objectified the situation and helped me to make some important decisions.
7 Ways to Say NO
March 25, 2008 by Kristin
I’m in the business of helping people whittle their to-do lists down to what is really essential, and I’ve observed that this process would be much easier if whole chunks of work never landed on the to-do lists in the first place.
I’m referring here to things we have (sort of) committed to doing but aren’t actually doing…or are doing with stress, guilt or resentment…or are doing instead of other, more important things…or shouldn’t be doing ourselves at all.
Legal Limits
March 15, 2008 by Kristin
Last week I was invited to facilitate a round-table discussion on time management for the Hong Kong Women Business Owners Club. What a treat it was to be part of an interactive conversation on one of my favourite topics!
We kicked off the meeting by having everybody write down a bullet-pointed list of what’s working well for them and what is not working so well. Then I asked everyone to share a highlight from their first list, being very specific about the tools and strategies they apply in order to achieve time management success. Here are some of the key points made:
