TOP FOUR TIME MANAGEMENT ISSUES

By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore

Talk with most anyone and ask them what they think are the top issues intime management and you will get answers such as, “Having a wellprepared “to do” list”, “Managing multiple priorities”, “ManagingMeeting time”, “Handling the flood of paperwork and emails”. All aregood responses but overlook the top four time management issues that, incombination with one another, can do more to keep you from having, doingor being what you want and deserve.

They are: ineffective relationships, a poor attitude, being flat outtired, and the weather.

1. Ineffective relationships. Probably more than 50% of your personalproductivity success has to do with effective relationships with otherpeople. Friends and allies will open doors for you that would take aconsiderable amount of your effort. They can give you words ofencouragement that lift your spirits during down, unproductive times.They can teach you lessons that would take too much time otherwise tolearn.I’m not suggesting that one who does not have the good cooperation ofother people can not be productive. They can, but not as productive asthose who enjoy positive, effective relationships with others.

2. A poor attitude. It has been said that your attitude will determineyour altitude in life’s successes. With a poor attitude you becomediscouraged and demoralized and your performance goes down. Moreover, anegative person tends to repel positive people, whom you need to boostyou up, and they tend to attract other negative people who will bringyou down with their stories of misery and failure. “You got a flat tire?Well I got two flat tires! You think you have it bad? I have it worse!”Imagine. Two people having a debate about who has the worse life.

3. Being flat out tired. Three out of four people claim that they areflat out tired all throughout their days. Test this. Ask anyone, anytime of the day these questions: “Are you rested?” “Did you get a goodnight’s sleep?” “Are you at the top of your game today?” Most willreply, “Oh, I’m so tired!”Some do not get a sufficient quantity of sleep. They simply stay up toolate and get up to early, burning the candle at both ends. Some have medical issues that can be treated. And many may be getting a sufficient quantity of sleep but not the quality. Their days are filled with somuch stress and distress. Why? Because they do not have the tools orrefuse to the tools to take control over their days so as they try to sleep, that little voice in the back of their heads is reminding them ofall the unfinished items of the day and about a string of future uncontrolled events and they wind up tossing and turning, not gettingthe deep nutritious sleep that their bodies need every day to be asproductive as they might be.

4. The weather. The city in the United States that has they highest incidence of suicide is Seattle, Washington. I understand they have fewer sunny days and more cloudy and rainy days than most other places.If you take your own life, is that considered poor time management?That’s not meant to be a poor joke, but guess what? People all over theworld are committing “productivity suicide” each day fussing over theweather and using it as a reason to reduce their productivity. “It’s toocold!” “It’s too hot!” “It’s so rainy!” “It’s so dry!” When, all of thetime, the weather is just perfect, just the way it is.If you were a visitor from another planet listening to the media, youwould think we on earth just invented snow storms, cold and heavydownpours when they have been with us since the beginning of time.Being aware of the weather is important, of course. If locally it is tobe icy you may choose to stay indoors and a threatening hurricane maypersuade you to evacuate to a safer place. But to be obsessed with thenormal ranges of weather conditions is to only steal away from theopportunity to have a good and productive day.