If you don’t have enough weeds in your mental list yet, here are a few more in the last two categories:
4. WEEDS IN YOUR TIME: Any activities that derail you from accomplishing your mission and daily tasks and steal time away from those tasks are weeds. Meetings that are irrelevant to your tasks are a prime example. Distractions, such as excessively long close encounters of the social kind, e-mail and social media responses, long lunches with too much food, football and basketball games with lousy teams, and similar time gobblers, are weeds. You need to significantly reduce or kill them.
5. WEEDS IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT: You all know about toxic environments. What is it in your department that has a negative effect on your productivity? Could it be the faculty, administration, staff, students, IT support, policies and procedures, institutional rules and regs, resources, or physical conditions? What is it in your workplace that bothers you the most or drives you bonkers? Can any of these weeds in your environment be ripped out or killed? OR, is it easier for you to change your environment and move to a nontoxic, or, at least, less weed-infested, department?
Do any of these weeds in these 2 categories grow in your life or, Pavlov-wise, ring a bell? Add these weeds to the previous list you didn’t make. At least, think about that imaginary list in your head. Have those weeds truly affected your productivity? Which weeds can be killed quickly and easily? Which ones require a longer, slow, agonizing, torturous death? If you don’t dispose of your weeds, your "same ‘ole--same ‘ole" counterproductive or regressive behaviors will continue.
My next blog will proffer some suggestions for killing your weeds. In the mean time, Google “poisons” to research your options and sharpen your weapons.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
WHAT’S YOUR PRODUCTIVITY LEVEL?
Are you satisfied with your current level of productivity? Are you on a roll to attaining all of your professional goals? OR, are there things that are holding you back—negative attitudes, toxic relationships, departmental requirements, lack of IT support, too many meetings, relentless time eaters—that are stifling your growth?
I’m sure you have both the capacity and potential to produce in your current position. You wouldn’t be in that position if that weren’t true. The problem is that there may be weeds in your professional garden that can hinder, strangle, and totally destroy your productivity, fruitfulness, and any success you hope to enjoy. They can arrest your growth and development as a teacher, researcher, clinician or whatever you do. Furthermore, these metaphors can be annoying.
ARE THERE WEEDS IN YOUR PROFESSIONAL LIFE?
The goal of a weed is to move into your grass and plants, destroy them, and take over your lawn and garden—WORLD GARDEN DOMINATION. Real weeds in a garden are like a cancer in your body that metastasizes to destroy your mind and body. (“WAIT! That’s too many metaphors in one paragraph. I can’t handle that.” Okay, back to weeds.)
Weeds thrive in spring and summer around my house and grow extremely well, regardless of the weather conditions. However, in your professional world, they grow 24/7, 365 days. They are a significant threat to your effective performance and career. They want CAREER DOMINATION to prevent you from functioning effectively and producing to your potential.
My future blogs in this series will help you identify your weeds and then suggest techniques to destroy them. You might start cleaning your weapons so you’re ready to blow them to smithereens.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Based on my last PROCRASTINATION BLOG, the title of this blog is on target. In fact, when you have to choose among several tasks to complete, such as write the meeting agenda, grant proposal, blog, or research article, it is perfectly natural for you to go to the fridge in your office kitchen first and make a salami sandwich on rye with mustard, lettuce, and a juicy pickle. No. Actually I meant to say: Pick the easiest task first, the one that even Dopey in "Snow White" could whip, such as polish your golf clubs or wax your skis. It’s motivating, energizing, and satisfying to accomplish a task you know you can finish on time. Conquering those skis builds confidence and self-esteem. “Wait. Excuse me. Time out. What happened to the salami sandwich?” That was a joke. “You’re kidding me.” Right. “But that sandwich made me hungry.” Go make one. We now have to end this overbloated paragraph.
Unfortunately, that victory doesn’t help you finish the toughest task, which may be writing the proposal with a bunch of colleagues by deadline. Putting the difficult tasks on the back burner delays their completion and puts you at risk of not doing them at all, especially if you run out of time and are functioning in crisis mode. You don’t want to be labeled with the “p” word. You know: “party pooper.” I mean “procrastinator.”
If you are NOT a chronic procrastinator and are in control of your “to-do list” and schedule, time-management gurus recommend (Are you ready?): Start with your most difficult task and a salami sandwich, the one that’s screaming: “YIIIKES! Do me. Do me NOOOW!” (Note: The screaming is coming from the task, not the sandwich. Had it been the sandwich, there would have been mustard on it.)
You need to totally focus on the proposal. Don’t even think about your other tasks until the proposal is submitted. Consider the feeling you will have when it’s finished and in the hands of FedEx. That’s empowerment. Your confidence and self-esteem levels will be through the roof, shooting waaaay beyond the levels previously attained with the Snow-White, Mickey-Mouse tasks, at least until the reviews and scores come back. For now, the worst is over. The remaining tasks for the week should be a piece of cake, or rather, a salami sandwich. You can do those with your left hemisphere tied behind your back.
What strategy do you use to tackle the toughest tasks? Which ones do you do first? What works best for you? Any suggestions?
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC & Coventry Press
4. 10 More Time-Saver Destinations: “The Rest of the Story”
If you’ve been following this blog series, then you know that this blog is supposed to cover the highlights of my Hawaiian vacation. Haha. A little blog humor. No! Of course, I’m supposed to provide you with 10 more destinations where you can produce ginormous quantities of work to use your time super-duperious efficiently. As promised, here they are:
• Sitting in the waiting room for a doctor’s, dentist’s, lawyer’s, or accountant’s appointment or examination room waiting for someone to show up while your body or teeth are rotting
• During dull and boring parties (or just leave), such as some Super Bowl parties
• Waiting for your initial or connection flight at the airport, especially O’Hare, Cincinnati, or Newark during the winter in U.S. and Heathrow, DeGaulle, or any airport in Italy
• Waiting for sports events to begin or during boring periods, timeouts, or half-times at baseball, football, soccer, hockey, or basketball games
• Waiting in line for Passport Control as you enter the airport of an international city, such as Moscow, Kiev, Belgrade, Tel Aviv, or Dubai; the one exception is Amsterdam (Note: There is no line at Passport Control or Immigration at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. You just fly through. Schiphol is such a joy. What could you possibly bring into The Netherlands that isn’t legal and on display there already?)
• Waiting at the police station or in jail on DUI or drug charges until someone bails you out (Note: Armed robbery and other felonies will have longer wait times.)
• Waiting at the courthouse for someone to pick you up after you are released on your own recognizance
• Waiting in the hospital emergency room as a patient or relative/friend (Note: Try not to get blood, vomit, or other bodily fluids on your articles, books, or laptop.)
• Waiting for surgery to begin as a patient (Note: Once your IV sedative or anesthesia has kicked in, don’t bother reading; working on your 1st novel, murder mystery, screenplay, or grading papers is okay) or during surgery in the waiting room as a relative/friend
• During your recuperation in the hospital or at home (Note: If organs or body parts are removed, plan for pain medications and long wait times with lots of writing materials. Your writing ideas can reach new imagination levels under various meds.)
BONUS: Waiting for a theatrical performance to begin or at intermission instead of hunting down a $9 1oz. bag of M & Ms
What have I missed? Tell me. I can take it. I even write blogs on rejection.
Consider all of the work you could possibly accomplish at the 21 destinations I’ve listed. These could be missed opportunities to relieve the workload stress you may now be experiencing. I have accomplished buckets of writing at most of these venues.
Consistently and persistently working at these sites can really spike your productivity level and put a dent in your stress level. It’s amazing what you can complete if you stay focused on the tasks on your “to-do” list at these everyday destinations.
Let me know your thoughts and experiences with any of the above, especially places I’ve missed. Now go relax at one of those sites.
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC & Coventry Press
1. Carry Work When Traveling
If you really want to stay in control of your workload or jump ahead, carry work materials when you’re on the move. This time saver is one of the most effective time management techniques you can possibly use. Before jumping, whenever you leave your home, office, ship, or football field to go anywhere, take a briefcase, bag, or backpack with work materials and laptop with you. Don’t leave without something (including your American Express card—ya never know what will pop up), but don’t take everything, especially any vertebrae-breaking, cartilage-tearing monster course textbooks or complete dissertations.
SAMPLE OF TASKS
Today, as you travel to almost every destination, wait time will be involved. During that travel, you could complete the following 20 tasks:
• grade papers
• edit term papers or essays
• edit thesis chapters
• respond to e-mails from students and colleagues
• read articles for an article or chapter you’re writing
• write a section of an article or book chapter
• edit a manuscript
• write a review for a journal manuscript, grant proposal, or book chapter
• write a course lecture or student activities
• write an agenda for an upcoming meeting
• write the minutes from a past meeting
• write a letter of recommendation for a student or colleague
• write your letter of resignation
• write pink slips to whack your staff
• add a few items to your “to-do” list
• write a blood curdling murder mystery
• plan how you’re going to spend your federal stimulus check
• read The Chronicle of Higher Education for job options
• write a blog
• revise your profile on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn
You may have noticed that about 65% of those tasks require writing. That seems to be a significant component of our job description. Estimate your wait time to decide how much and what type of work to take. Depending on how you travel, your work opportunity will vary. Several travel options will be examined in the next blog.
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC & Coventry Press
