Ian's Messy Desk: "Within the world of work flow and productivity, there are a number of common lies we use to fool others and ourselves. It’s not that we’re deliberately trying to mislead, it’s just that we feel a need to sugar-coat the requests we’re making.
To avoid the time traps they cause, here are five time-management lies to avoid"
6 comments:
These are definitely helpful tips. I especially like the first one, mostly because I think it pertains to me the most. If I'm working on a project, I will often times get distracted, because people will come to me saying that they have a quick question that will "just take a minute". The question usually takes a little longer, and then when I do get back to my work, I have to re-figure out where I am, and what my next step is. I'll also get myself distracted with that excuse, saying that this one break will only take a minute, whereas it might take up a greater amount of time.
I hear these lines so many times every day and I constantly use them as well. I even tell myself these things to make myself feel better about why I'm behind or to convince myself that I'll be done with whatever task I'm doing soon. I've found that actually taking the time to make an accurate or more educated estimate is so much more gratifying in the end. Giving yourself the time to do things instead of cramming it as well is really helpful when you have a lot to do because it gives you some time to relax and go at your own pace.
I find that when I keep pushing an assignment further and further back its because I tell myself that it won't take that long. "Oh that will only take ___. No big deal." But when I actually do start to work on it I find things that I never even thought about. There will be something that doesn’t work like I thought it would or that I really didn't know how to do it the right way in the first place. So whenever I find myself saying an assignment won't take long I always do it sooner rather than later so it won't bite me later.
I do agree with the statement that everything takes longer than you might think it will, and that certainly applies to theatre. However, I'm not sure if the "I need it now" statement is applicable to our profession. Often, when somebody in theatre says "I need it now" or "as soon as possible," they really mean it because the piece needs to go on stage that night, or needs to go to paints, etc. I think that bargaining on deadlines is somewhat difficult in our fast-paced field.
I get caught in the "this will only take a minute" especially when I'm trying to leave the building for the day. I don't even bother to get excited because I know I get to go home early because it guarantees that at 6 someone will have one five minute task and I won't get home until 8. Those things always end up cascading.
"I could do it faster than i can explain it." Is one i think that's common here in a educational setting. We have to balance the explanation versus need of it to be done versus pedagogically do i have to. I've found myself lately asking myself if i have the time to explain it to someone so they learn how to do it for the future. Which who knows, it might help for the future during a build when you need something done could save your butt by having someone know what you need already.
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