Hi Folks... the blog's back in action again.. here's the joke for the day:
The Hired Help
An old man and women owned a farm. The old man died and the woman couldn't handle the farm by herself so she was going to hire someone to help her. The only job applicants were the town drunk and a new guy in town, who was gay. So she chose the gay guy; they worked together for a week or so and got the farm back together.
The old woman was pleased with the work and worn out, so she decided to give herself and her hired hand the night off. Both went out to dinner, she with her friends and he with his. But when the old woman got home, he wasn't there. When he finally came in, she told him, "I'm your boss so you have to do what I tell you."
The gay guy said, "Okay."
So she said, "Take my shoes off," so he did.
She said, "Take my stockings off," so he did.
Then she said, "Take my dress off," and he did.
She said, "Take my bra off," so he did.
Then she said, "Take my panties off," so he did.
Finally, she said, "You leave this house wearing my clothes one more time and you're fired."
Multi-Task... a critical component of a successful person.. it happens to everyone at any point in time and especially so for the unprepared so it's good to identify it when the situation calls for it and adopt the appropriate strategies to overcome it. Here are 3 things I do when I'm forced to Multi-Task:
1. Prioritize
Stop whatever you're doing. Just stop. Sit down. Reflect. Think. Understand what is needed more than the other and the time required to accomplish the task. Immediately take some action at resolving it, be it a small action or massive action. You'll feel much better and breathe easier.
2. 1 Min Rule
I love using the 1 minute rule. Apply 1 minute to all matters that are not of importance for the current moment. You'll be amazed at how efficient and decisive you'll become when you can solve 5 issues in 5 minutes. Of course this takes practice so practice the 1 minute rule to any matter that is not of importance. NEVER and I repeat, DO NOT EVER, agree to anyone or anything ("Yes" man) without categorizing if its of any importance. (refer back to first point)
3. Return The Monkey
Delegate. Delegate. Delegate. Yes, some of you are thinking, but you're the boss! You can delegate as much as you want. Trust me, if I were to do that, my staff would probably faint from the workload and resign the very next day! What I'm referring to is identifying the issue and delegating it it to the rightful owner. It helps to visualize issues as "monkeys" (adapted from the One Minute Manager). For eg: Supplier insists on a purchase order before supplying goods. You do not have a template. Delegate the "monkey" back to the supplier who had created the "monkey" in the first place! Explain your situation, ask if he could prepare the purchase order on your behalf and go a step further by asking your secretary to supply him your company's letterhead. If a project team member didn't do enough research, reassign the research to him again or someone else more detail oriented. The list goes on..
Words of Wisdom:
"Whenever there is a hard job to be done I assign it to a lazy man; he is sure to find an easy way of doing it." Walter Chrysler
"There are managers so preoccupied with their e-mail messages that they never look up from their screens to see what's happening in the nondigital world." Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Things may be done simultaneously but oftentimes, focusing on one item on the agenda at a time prove to be the more efficient method of the two. Prioritize your workload with the big picture always in mind. Remember, it's not how much work you do but where you're headed that's more important.
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