Five Time Management Errors
Executives Should Avoid
by: Donald Wetmore 
Executives experience the “Time Management Crunch”
as often, if not more often, than others in the workplace. In my eighteen
years of conducting Time Management Seminars and individual executive coaching,
I created this list of the “5 Time Management Errors Executives Should Avoid”,
a handy quick reference of what “not” to do. As I have shared this list
with executives throughout the world, many have told me that they already
knew them but for the most part, were not practicing some or all of what
they knew. “Knowing and not doing is no better than not knowing.”
If you would like to decrease your chances of
career success, practice the following:
1. DON’T DELGATE. “This is too important. Better
let me do it.” “By the time I show them how to do it, I could just as
quickly get it done myself.” Some have this misconception about their
indispensability. The graveyards are filled with indispensable people.
If you are truly the only one who can do it, then how do you advance beyond
where you are now? And taking the time to show someone how to do something
may well be more costly than what it would take for you to do it. But,
if done correctly, it will pay repetitive dividends.
2. DON’T SPEND YOUR TIME ON INDEPENDANT READING.
The rules just a few years ago were, “learn a profession, and acquire
the skills to do it, then use that throughout your career. Today, the
rule is, “if you (and I) continue to do what we do, the way we have always
done it, then, within the next five years, we will be obsolete. The world
is changing rapidly. There is no more standing on the knowledge of the
past. We have to take time currently and on a regular basis to stay ahead
of the flood of ideas and information. There is no more standing still.
3. TAKE THE SHORT TERM VIEW. Do what makes you
look good now, for this week or this quarter’s results. Ignore the impact
of your current actions and decisions on the long-term potential. Every
action and every decision we take is like a stone thrown in the pond.
The impact creates two results, the immediate splash and the ripple effects
that reach all the shores. Be always conscious of the long-term effect
caused by the actions and decisions that you are making or are failing
to make.
4. GET OUT OF BALANCE. Our lives are made up of
Seven Vital Areas. They include health, family, financial, intellectual,
social, professional, and spiritual areas. Like a seven-legged table,
if one leg is too long, it causes the entire table to wobble. As we advance
in our careers, it is easy to get out of balance, and then divorce, health
problems, and an empty lack of internal satisfaction rob us of the achievements
we have made.
5. DON’T BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHERS. More than a
“touchy-feely” good deed, better than 50% of one’s success in life is
dependent upon the good cooperation of other people. If you don’t have
the good cooperation of other people, you can reach a level of success,
for sure. But you will never know what you did not have. You will never
know of the networking opportunities, the social opportunities, and the
business opportunities that were never shared with you, not because you
should not have received them, but because those who might have shared
them with you did not have a level of positive feeling toward you to go
out of their way and give them to you.
Want more? I have prepared the “5 BEST TIME MANAGEMENT
HABITS EXECUTIVES SHOULD PRACTICE”. It’s free for the asking. Email your
request for: “habits” to: ctsem@msn.com.
Would you like to receive free Timely Time Management
Tips on a regular basis to increase your personal productivity and get
more out of every day? Sign up now for our free “TIME MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION
LIST”. Just go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/timemanagemen
and select “subscribe”. We welcome you aboard!
Dr. Donald E. Wetmore-Professional Speaker Productivity
Institute Time Management Seminars 60 Huntington St. P.O. Box 2126 Shelton,
CT 06484 (800) 969-3773 (203) 929-9902 Fax: (203) 929-8151 Email: ctsem@msn.com
Website: http://www.balancetime.com
Professional Member-National Speakers Association
May 1, 1999 Copyright 1999 You may re-print the
above information in its entirety in your publication, newsletter, or
on your web page. For permission, please email your request for “reprint”
to: ctsem@msn.com
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