Time Management

In The Box Podcast

Episode 20: Not Knowing, New Info, Focus vs Multitasking And More – Podcast

Garth Beyer

On this episode of In The Box Podcast, we chatted about effectively managing time, how one comes to terms with their own mortality, if we operate better while multitasking, how to come to terms with not knowing and how to shed old worldviews.

Episode 20: Not Knowing, New Info, Focus vs Multitasking And More

Time – How do you effectively manage your time? (One tool/tip)

Mortality – What is one way you come to terms with your own mortality?

Focus vs Multitasking – Is our power/intellect at its prime when we focus on one thing or does multitasking require more skill?

Not knowing – How can we come to terms with not knowing? ex: not knowing if it will work, not knowing if we should try, etc.

New Info – How do you critically engage new info that is different from a previously held strong belief?

 

Stay Positive & What’s One Way You Mange Your Time?

An Answer To Meetings Running Past Time

Garth Beyer

Meetings rarely end when they’re supposed to. Ever wonder what to do about it?

Why not state the meeting will end 5 minutes earlier than you originally thought. Instead of 5:00 p.m., tell everyone it will end at 4:55 p.m.

1) Cushion is better than being rushed

2) When the organizer also keeps time (perhaps by setting an alarm) wrap up doesn’t go past 5:00 and they don’t feel as rushed to finish.

3) Knowing a meeting won’t last for a full hour, attendees will be encouraged to tighten conversation, ask the important questions, and won’t feel bad for staying an extra two minutes, because no one is going to plan something else at 4:57 p.m.

The bad side to this 5-min grace period: people may still view it as “we’re getting out 5 minutes early” and if they don’t get out at 4:55, they may get frustrated.

Then again, all it really comes down to is awareness. For effective meetings, you don’t need to follow this tip, you merely need to think about meeting effectiveness, talk to others about managing their time better, and put it at the front of your mind when you walk into a meeting.

 

Stay Positive & Aware

What You’re Avoiding

Garth Beyer

During a PR team meeting about time management, it was noted a recurring issue of meetings is they go longer than they’re supposed to, typically by five minutes or so.

I had a suggestion for how to have more productive meetings and typed up a decent email explaining my suggestion for improvement, my reasons for it, one concern about it and one overall realization. I was going to send the email to the PR director, but I called myself out on my action. Why in email? Why not in person?

The reason is that it’s less personal. It’s because I feared the idea would get rejected. After all, it’s easier for both of us. The director can email back saying thanks for the suggestion and that’s that. No feelings hurt.

It’s critical we notice the ways we avoid rejection, the ways we avoid being vulnerable, the ways we avoid failure and make the tough decision to overcome.

 

Stay Positive & Personal Is Best

Two Necessities If You’re Going To Live The Busy Lifestyle

Garth Beyer

Weird art

We all have our ebb and flow. This time of year, though, typically marks the start of the ebb. School starts, numbers from last year’s sales get thoroughly reviewed and new strategies implemented,  we’re kicking ourselves to meet our new year’s resolutions. It all adds to a busy lifestyle.

I’ve had the ebb of life smash me against the wall enough times to learn two valuable necessities to making the ebb more bearable.

1. Have plans ahead of time, before you schedule all your work deadlines and meetings. Make it so you work around scheduled times of fun and freedom. Not the other way around. It’s essential you make the plans now. It’s easier to cancel them than it is to plan them a week in advance while you’re already feeling behind on work. And even if you have to cancel last-minute, it’s the idea of having something to look forward to that makes all the time leading up to the last-minute cancel worth it.

2. Have a playful, maybe even pointless habit. For me, I make sure to do a word search or some type of brain game every day.  Sometimes what stands between you making it through the ebb and just crashing is a little habitual, grounding nonsense. Doodle. Juggle. Play with legos. Make it weird. Make it you.

 

Stay Positive & Prepared, Always

Photo credit

There Is No End

Garth Beyer

In the grand scheme of things, there isn’t. One completed task just leads to another. One goal reached is simply the starting point toward our next. There is no end.

But wait,

That assignment is due next week.

School ends in May.

10 more miles to run.

Just one more _____.

There is no end, yet, we act as if there is. The problem is that when we look at achievements as finishlines, we’re a lot less likely to start racing again.

“I did this assignment. I’m not going to start the next for a couple of weeks.”

“School ends in May. No need to learn much until it starts back up in the fall.”

“10 more miles to run. I’ll do my next race next year.”

“Just one more ____, then I’ll take a break for a while.”

The more we try to break our plans and goals up, the worse we stagger to reach the real ends of them, not just the ends we make up in our minds to make it seem easier and more manageable. Think about this the next time you “finish” something. Are you just using the completion as an excuse to wait awhile before getting back to meaningful work? Or?

 

Stay Positive & No End Could Be A Good Thing (You Decide)

Garth E. Beyer

 

Doing A Lot Is A Lot To Do

Garth Beyer

When in doubt breathe it out.

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Or quit. Michelle reminds us that quitting is okay.

I want to remind you that quitting something you love is okay too. Whether you (or I) want to admit it at all, surely there is something out there that we could love even more than what we are investing our time with now.

Creating space to be filled by something else is a natural transaction.

A worthy one at that.

 

Stay Positive & Free Yourself, Just Don’t Use The Time As An Excuse To Be Lazy

Garth E. Beyer

Photo credit

Select, Don’t Compress

Garth Beyer

I was previously notorious for interviews that lasted an hour and a half or longer. Then add the time for a tour (if applicable) on top of that. After I was satisfied I would find someone who my interviewee mentioned and interview them as well. I covered a lot of ground and it allowed me to write a lot.

Similarly, when I wrote articles that I used online sources for, my article typically contained a plethora of sources, quotes, and information related to the topic. My efforts were to try to pull information from as many sources as possible then connect all the dots.

Both of these methods have led to some of my worst work. In fact, a recorded hour and a half interview I did, I lost when my phone crashed. Thinking back on the interview, I had what I needed within 10 minutes of the interview. Not that the other one hundred and twenty minutes were not valuable, they simply were not necessary for the article I was writing.

“News stories work best when they are narrow and deep, not wide and thin.” – Al Tompkins

It’s still a battle to cut and not cram every detail into an article. I no longer do interviews over an hour. (Multiple interviews are acceptable.) If there is a tour, I schedule it for 30 min on another day. As for all the online sources, a HT to editors.

 

Stay Positive & I’ll Skip Dinner, I Just Want The Dessert