I would very much appreciate advice on two things which are not connected to writing but they could be. What I mean to say is that I am asking the question in connection with the day job but any advice received could maybe apply to the writing world as well. Tell you what, why don't I just shut up and ask the questions.
1. I wouldn't say that I am hopeless because that would imply that I am without hope and lets hope that I'm not but lets just say that I am very bad maybe even extremely bad at time management. There is always a lot to do and more often than not I don't get it all done. So my question is what is the key to good time management?
2. My second question possibly answers my first but here goes anyway. What is the best way to get people to help me? No hang on I know the answer to that one it is to ask them. Simple! So maybe the question is how do I get people to come out of their comfort zone and help me? I don't like asking people to do things that I know that they aren't necessarily comfortable with.
Any ideas?
Okay off to do some writing now.
9 comments:
I'm not sure whether I can be of any help here, GBW, but I'll try. Maybe I'll have a different way of looking at the problem. Team work is the key, so they keep telling us were I work...;-)
Find out how your co-workers could help you best and share the load with them until they are comfort working on their own.
As for time management always tackle the hardest jobs first, I find best. Once these are out the way things can only get easier.
Good luck and I hope I've been of some help.
Hi Gonna Be...I'm new to your blog, but I thought this might help you with time management:
http://managementhelp.org/prsn_prd/time_mng.htm
As to your second question, it depends on what you're asking people to do...
I think one of the key tricks to time management is prioritisation. Break your work load into distinct tasks, then assign priorities to them. The ones with high priorities get done first. The ones with the lowest priorities get done probably never.
As for getting help from people, all I can really say from experience is that the carrot is better than the stick.
I hear the same thing about teamwork Jarmara. The problem is getting a group of individuals to become a team. I makes sense to do the hard stuff first - maybe thats why I always iron shirts first.
Hi Kat, welcome. Thanks for the website. I looked at it and found some really useful stuff on there.
I agree about prioritisation Captain, I tried it today and it helped.
In answer to your first question that is a problem I have a lot myself and I talk about it a lot in my blog. I work full-time but I find it essential I get the writing hours in. I try to do an hour a day after work. On my office wall I also have a monthly calendar so that, at a glance, I can see what deadlines I am working towards and plan my work accordingly. Try to plan writing sessions in advance so you don't waste time deciding what you're doing as well. Hope this helps.
Personally my key to time management is keeping a steady and up-to-date to-do list, combined with trying not to take on more than I can handle. That said, it does happen from time to time that I am overwhelmed, but then I just buckle down and put in the overtime!
The big monthly calendar is a great idea Emma, I'm going to try that one.
I do try to have a to do list TLH and I find it really helpful. In the past couple of days I have scheduled in some time to make my to do list for the next day.
At work, I use to-do lists. I add dates by which things must be done. And when I realise there are more tasks than I can fit into the time, I work out which ones HAVE to be done by me, and which I could define well enough to pass on to someone else. Then I write those task definitions, and hand them out to other people if at all possible.
Ticking a job off the list, whether I've completed it or handed it over, is a great feeling!
Like you womag I often find that there is more on my to do list than I can manage. My problem is that I have trouble asking other people to do things for me. I am working on it though and I have had some success with it this week.
I've even made myself a to do list for this mornings writing session. I have tried to be realistic about what I can achieve - just 5 things two of which were quite trivial and have already been marked off my list.
Great advice - thanks.
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