Category: Professional & Management

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Time to Stop the Time Robbers

What is stealing your time?

A time robber is the nemesis of the effective time manager. We need to identify them, acknowledge their existence, and work out what we’re going to do about them. Time robbers come in different shapes and sizes – some are self-imposed, some are manager imposed, others can be company imposed. Do you think it’s time to stop the time robbers? Let’s consider examples of each one and decide what we’re going to do:

Time to stop the time robbers

Self-imposed time robbers

These time robbers exist purely because of your own preferred habits, behaviours, and ways of working. This also means you have direct control over them and can reduce their impact. Examples include:

  • Poor planning or a complete lack of it!
  • Indecision (is this a time robber, I’m not so sure?)
  • Socialising at work (during work time)
  • Poor personal organisation (mess = stress!)
  • Ineffective delegation
  • Procrastination (notice I left this one until the end!)

If you struggle with planning, ask the great planners for hints and tips. Perhaps you are indecisive. Ask questions and do your research so you can make effective decisions. If your workspace is a mess and you’re always looking for things, find a system for processing paperwork. If your delegation is poor, consider training or read up on the subject. Dealing with personal matters is really down to your self-discipline, as is procrastination – set deadlines and stick to them!

Manager imposed time robbers

Your own line manager may be creating these! Examples could be:

  • Interruptions (for a social chat?)
  • Unrealistic deadlines (I need it ASAP, or yesterday!)
  • Task duplication (someone else is doing the same job)
  • Makes you attend unnecessary meetings
  • Pretends to delegate (but keeps interfering)

Many of the above issues can be addressed using a more assertive approach, e.g. I attended the last meeting and learnt nothing and contributed nothing. Push back for a realistic deadline: I’m happy to do this job, but help me to help you. When do you really need it by? If tasks are being duplicated, or delegation is ineffective, give your manager feedback about the negative impact this is having: I find it frustrating, and I’d like us to avoid it in future.

 Company imposed time robbers

It may also be time to stop the time robbers imposed on you by your company! The biggest time robber here is usually the culture of the company (it’s the way we do things round here!). If the company has been around for a long time, then people may be stuck in a rut, blindly following traditional methods of working.  It may be time to consider certain company systems and processes to be out of date and inefficient.

What can you do to increase productivity? Bringing about cultural change takes time, but you’ve got to start somewhere! Give factual, evidence-based feedback to your manager regarding things that steal time. Sell the benefits of changing working practices for you, the team, and the organisation. It won’t happen quickly but be resilient and don’t give up!

Conclusion

Time robbers fall into different categories, but there are tools and strategies available to help you deal with them. You know they’re out there, just waiting to steal your day. Don’t let them. It’s time to stop the time robbers!

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The Secret to Successful Presentations

The nature of nerves

Several years ago, a survey was conducted to identify the top 10 public fears. What came in at number one? Public speaking! Apparently, the scariest thing we can do in our lives is stand in front of people and speak. What is the secret to successful presentations?

The Secret to Successful Presentations

Why the fear factor?

Public speaking is often considered an umbrella fear (no, umbrellas were not on the list!), i.e., many different fears bundled together under one heading. We tend to focus on the many things that could go wrong when presenting:

  • our mouths will dry up,
  • our minds will go blank,
  • we will fall over,
  • we will burst into tears,
  • they’ll laugh at us or throw things,
  • we will embarrass ourselves and colleagues in the audience.

A wise man once said: the human brain is a wonderful thing. It starts working the moment we are born and doesn’t stop until we stand up to speak in public. Basically, we imagine the worst-case scenario and carry that with us into the presentation!

The physical effects

As soon as we perceive a threat and become nervous, we switch on that primitive survival instinct, fight or flight. Our brain releases 2 stimulants into our bloodstream, adrenaline and cortisol, which bring about physical changes within us.

Our heart rate increases – the heart is now working overtime, pumping blood and oxygen to the parts of us which need it most to keep us alive. Ultimately it just wants us to be physically strong enough to deal with the threat – to either fight back, or to run away (take flight).

Our body temperature rises – who doesn’t get sweaty when they are nervous? We also get the rush of blood to the head – this explains why a lot of people’s faces turn red when they are either angry or embarrassed.

The main message here is that the fight or flight instinct gives us a colossal amount of nervous energy – use it! With practice, this energy becomes our ally when presenting, not our enemy! If we send our nervous energy outwards towards the audience, it manifests itself as positive energy, enthusiasm, and vitality. It really works!

So, what’s the big secret?

How do we become more confident presenters? Is it acupuncture, aromatherapy, yoga, or hypnotherapy? Perhaps – but the answer is much simpler: practice. Practice, practice, practice and then practice some more!

These 4 key tips will also ensure productive presentations:

  1. Collaborate on the presentation
  2. Know the customer really well
  3. Tell the story with real people
  4. Visualize Data

The more we repeat any skill or behaviour, the more it becomes embedded and the more efficient we become. Whenever opportunities to present arise, grab them with both hands. Not an easy answer but the most effective one!

Conclusion

What, then, is the secret to successful presentations? If we get nervous before a presentation, that’s good! It means we’re human and not perfect presenting robots. With practice, we can harness the nervous energy and use it to be an enthusiastic and engaging presenter. Remember, Mark Twain once said this: “There are 2 kinds of public speaker. Those that are nervous, and those that are liars.”