a personal note from Cairene

teleseminars, workshops & events

The True Discipline of Time Management
This workshop is for right-brainers who have used left-brained approaches to time management with more frustration than success. If you are tired of trying to force your activities into boxes on a calendar and “discipline” yourself to conform to a schedule, but still need a system that helps you stay organized and get things done, then this is the course for you. Learn how to work with your unique sense of time and create your own personalized time management system - one that is flexible and resilient, energizing and sustainable, synergistic and satisfying.

• 3-week teleclass begins September 2, 1-2pm - $95 [details & registration]

Growing Beyond Going It Alone
This workshop is for the solopreneur in transition. If you are on the cusp of your next stage of growth and have begun to realize you no longer will be able to do everything yourself, but don't know what to do to prepare (and it's all feeling a bit scary - maybe more than a bit), then this is the class for you. Learn to evaluate your schedule, activities and income - and the relationship between them - according to specific criteria, and how to use that information to plan your next steps. Gain the information and skills you need to move confidently through the changing administration of your business as it grows.

• 3-week hands-on workshop begins September 9, 4-5pm - $160 [details & registration]

Your Business Manual
Business Operations Manual: sounds awfully bureaucratic, doesn’t it? But even creative solopreneurs need to document how they do business. Rather than making it all up as you go along (or continually reinventing the wheel), by outlining your procedures, policies and standards you will be more consistent and efficient in your actions, deliberate in your choices, and focused on your goals. A lifesaver in situations when you are unexpectedly unable to work, your business manual is also an indispensable tool when it comes time to delegate activities to others as your business grows.

• 3-week teleclass begins September 2, 7-8pm - $95 [details & registration]

Get-In-Gear Fridays
Finish what you’ve been putting off! Join GiGF and have some fun tackling the bottom of your to-do list. Whether doing away with your most odious tasks once and for all or devoting uninterrupted time to a special project, you will be propelled by the humor, support, accountability and momentum that comes from working with a group of like-minded people. Free yourself from the stubborn and neglected to-do’s in your life and experience the resulting lightness of mind and heart - join a session soon!

• sessions offered every other Friday - $15 [details & registration]

get in gear > Are these time hogs part of your days?

Bent on lowering our household water use one summer, I Googled water conservation through less toilet flushing. It seemed simple enough, but like hanging the laundry outside to dry, my results were less than optimal - so I went searching for answers. I discovered the topic being discussed at astonishing length on several forums. On one, a wise person pointed out that unless you had taken care of the big stuff - shorter showers, efficient washing machines and dishwashers, repairing leaky plumbing, appropriate landscaping - flushing a few less times a day was nearly pointless.

I think we often approach conservation of time in the same myopic way. Zoomed in on the latest technological gizmo or finding the perfect planner, we forget to step back and evaluate the big picture. No single tool or hack will have a measurable impact if we haven’t eliminated the truly substantial time-wasters in our lives.

Recently, I have been reminded of these significant but often overlooked time hogs.

1. Not Trusting Your Intuition
You can know something without knowing why, and still act on the information.

I’ve tried a few new activities in the last several months and in every case, although I couldn’t quite put my finger on the reasons, I knew almost immediately they weren’t a good fit. And in every case, I waited to act on that information – anywhere from days to months. For the entire time I delayed action, they remained background distractions – a white noise of hemming and hawing over something I had already decided. Eventually, push came to shove and I had to summon the oomph to withdraw myself, whether the why had percolated to the surface or not. But I could have saved so much time (and energy) if I had simply acted on my intuition the moment I felt it.

Of course, this can work the other way. Instead of delaying in saying no, we can be just as apt to put off saying yes. Either way, not acting on intuition is a time-waster.

2. Not Saying No When You Want To
Could you _____? Do you have time for _____? Would you like to _____? You know the answer, you just don’t want to say so - you just don’t want to say no.

I’m all for diplomacy, but in most instances you don’t need to equivocate. You don’t need to check your calendar or talk with so-so first. Saying I’ll get back to you when you know your answer needlessly creates a new task you both have to follow up on. If you are anything like me, whatever discomfort you felt initially will grow and you’ll continue to delay replying. There it is on your to-do list day after day, nagging you: Get back to X about Y – the guilt of saying no compounded by the guilt of not saying so sooner. Wait too long and you may end up saying yes – which is an even bigger time-waster (see #3).

So do yourself and everyone else a favor – be truthful and just say no (politely). Choose to respect time over being nice – it’s the nicest thing you can do.

3. Engaging in Draining Activities
Remember Gollum in The Lord of the Rings? Now there’s a guy who hung on to something for far too long despite what it was doing to him. No matter how shiny the opportunity, if it is taking more than it is giving back, it isn’t worth keeping.

From a time management perspective, it’s terribly inefficient to engage in activities you don’t like but feel you should do – the dread and resentment (even the low-grade variety) will slow you down and wear you out. Much better to engage in activities that excite and inspire you, and create their own momentum and synergy.

No matter how you got into it, if an activity is no longer leading to the kinds of experiences, relationships or other outcomes you want from it - or it is, but it’s taking a heroic effort - then drop it like a hot potato (or at least figure out how you’re going to phase it out).

4. Doing Stuff You Aren’t Good At
You can’t be all things to all people, least of all yourself. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to develop sufficient expertise in that many professions.

It’s not that you don’t have time to do a good job. It’s that you don’t have time to do a great job. And sooner or later you and your clients will begin to feel that gap between good and great. In my experience you won’t feel the gap until your business has grown and you are pretty darn busy - too busy to close the gap by yourself.

The smartest anticipate this - they narrow their focus, seek out the expertise they lack and put support in place before that gap appears. But it’s never too late to act, whatever your situation. Try refining your niche. Or hand off some of the big stuff - legal, finance and technology - where anything less than great can have serious consequences. Or begin very small: delegate something helpful, but not too critical - just to practice letting it go, to test investing money that way, to see what happens and how it makes you feel - and build on what works.

get in gear > be true
Avoiding these four time hogs requires being true to yourself. The answer is not in a book or a Blackberry or the right filing system. The answer is inside you – you just have to pay attention.

Sounds simple, but it’s not always obvious or easy. If you are struggling to gain perspective on the big picture and keep your talents and purpose in view, my workshops can help. In The True Discipline of Time Management and Growing Beyond Going It Alone, I share how I’ve learned to stay true to my strengths and aspirations while getting things done.

recently on the blog

• Expecting More From Myself | are expectations the surest path to disappointment?
• a four-part series inspired by portfolio development and presentation
• Take Heed & Prepare | an opportunity to learn from some of my mistakes
• Favorite Things #5 | the most recent in an ongoing series of my favorite tools and systems
• A Not So Favorite Thing | a bit of a rant on changing technology

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An archive of past issues of the Get In Gear newsletter can be browsed here.

Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by Cairene MacDonald.
© 2008 Cairene MacDonald, Third Hand Works. All rights reserved.

Cairene MacDonald
Third Hand Works
PO Box 31113
Portland, OR 97231
info@thirdhandworks.com

Third Hand Works | unconventional workflow strategies for unconventional people
administrative guidance for creatives who want to succeed in business and still be themselves