InsomniaZ ™ : บล๊อกเบลอๆ ของคนนอนไม่หลับ

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The problem begins with the “greeting” message you leave for callers. Your message probably asks callers to leave their name and phone number; and it ends by stating you will call them back “as soon as possible” (ASAP). Therein, lies your problem.

Think of your “greeting message” on your v-mail/answering machine as your electronic professional secretary or administrative assistant. Make it a professional message, one that provides callers relevant information and requests the same from them.

Record “greeting messages” that state who the callers have reached and what day(s) your message is for; ask callers to state their phone numbers twice and, then, state the purpose of their calls. Avoid playing “telephone-tag” by stating times when you can return calls, and ask callers for the best times for you to return calls to them.

Always avoid using the words, “I’ll call you back as soon as possible.” Your ASAP statement is nearly useless because, typically, your callers have no idea what your ASAP means. Does your ASAP statement mean you will call back after you return from a two minute trip away from your office, a two hour meeting, a two day business trip or a two week vacation?

Then, too, are you in the first or second hour of a two hour meeting, first or second day of a two day business trip or first or last day of a two week vacation? As you see, your ASAP adds nothing but uncertainty to your “greeting message”; it does not help your callers resolve the conflict between your availability and the urgency or deadline for their talking to you, or someone else in your company.

Change your “greeting message” at least daily; make it the first thing you do. State the day of the week and the date, so your callers know your message is current. If what you do day-in and day-out is receive and place phone calls, changes in your availability throughout the day may require changing your “greeting message” several times each day.

Based on the nature of your business, your message may need, also, to state the person and number to call in case you’re not being available creates an emergency or crises for you and/or your callers. Here’s the point; make your “greeting message” do for you what a professional secretary or administrative assistant would do if answering your phone. Your callers deserve nothing less, nor do you and your company.

For illustration, here are two examples of messages used this month:

Hello, this is Dr. Larry Baker. This message is for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday – November 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I’ll be out of the office those days. Please leave your name, state your phone number twice, leave a detailed message and indicate a couple of times on Monday, the 6th, that would be good to return your call. I look forward to getting back to you.

Hello, this is DR. Larry Baker. This message is for Friday, November 10th; I am in the office today, but have stepped out for a few minutes; and I will be out to lunch from 12:00 to 1:30 P.M. please leave your name, state your phone number twice, leave a detailed message and indicate a couple of times to return your call. I look forward to getting back to you.

These messages are longer than you normally hear; but, don’t you know more about your options? Isn’t it better than when you are asked only to leave your name and phone number and are given the typical ASAP message? Caution: it is not wise to leave “greeting messages” on your home voice-mail/answering machine that describe how long you will be away.

Short-sighted callers may complain about your longer “greeting message”; but, most callers will appreciate knowing your availability. And, if the person you called believed it necessary for your mutual business interests for you to know who to call in an emergency, you would have been given contact information.

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Are you someone who makes lists of all the things you need to do? At the end of the day when you review your list, are you disappointed because you haven’t accomplished as much as you would have liked. Does this sound familiar to you?

We hear a lot about time management and how we need to organize ourselves and manage our time more effectively. In order to regulate our time, new ways of thinking and being need to be developed. Our attitudes and beliefs need to be identified and at times altered in order to make beneficial changes. We need to develop self management strategies. When we manage ourselves better we tend to be less overwhelmed, more productive and happier.

There are various models for time management. One is making daily and/or weekly lists, then prioritizing which items are the most important and tending to those first. Of course the challenge is that is if you don’t like some of the tasks, you probably tend to avoid doing them. (I know this strategy intimately.) It also does not account for all of the complications which arise nowadays on our job. Emails, voice mails urgent requests which must be dealt with immediately, or conference calls; all of the modern technology which has made our lives easier and more complicated at the same time. We are generally expected to do more in less time and with less support.

Steven Covey in his book, First Things First breaks tasks down into 4 quadrants:

* Urgent and Important,

* Not Urgent and Important

* Urgent and Not Important

* Not Urgent and Not Important

There is a great deal of value in this model and certainly gets one thinking about how to define the many things one has to do. The difficulty is that important projects can become urgent if one has procrastinated and that isn’t necessarily a helpful way to operate. It would also be relevant to identify what is important to you and spend time doing that as well, because it might never become urgent. For example, your family may be very important to you, but you frequently miss your child’s school or sporting events. Or your partner wants to spend more time with you, but somehow you don’t make it happen. It’s important, but not urgent. The other concern is when do unimportant things get tended to.

So how can we get things done in ways which are more productive and less stressful? David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, states that it is not about managing time, but rather about managing our actions. What would it be like for you to fully dedicate 100% of your attention to whatever task was present, of your own choosing with no distraction? Allen says it is possible to get things done with minimal effort in both your personal and professional life while staying relaxed. Athletes describe it as being in the “zone.” His strategy is to first get you thinking. What is something you want to accomplish? What outcome do you want to achieve and what is the very next action you need to do in order to move your project forward? Try this exercise and notice if there were any changes in your mood and perspective.

In addition, Allen has identified a five stage method for managing workflow.

These are described as:

* Collect things that command our attention

* Process what they mean and what to do about them

* Organize the results

* Review as options for what we choose to

* Do

This way of looking at things seems reasonable and many of us probably do something which resembles this. However, difficulties arise if there is a breakdown in any of the stages and ultimately it leads to what we choose to do or not do.

Allen’s model for choosing actions in the moment include the following:

Context – Does it require a particular location (office, home) and what tools are required (computer, phone, etc.)

Time Available – When do you have to do something else? If you have a conference call in 15 minutes, then there many things you won’t be able to do.

Energy Available – Evaluate how much energy you have in the moment. Some tasks may require more physical energy, while others need creative energy

Priority – Given your context, time and energy what action will give you the biggest payoff? You are at your office and you have 30 minutes before a meeting and your energy level is low. View this as an opportunity to rely on your intuition to determine what to do next. Perhaps reading your emails or proofreading a report is the most you can manage.

We need to think about our work before we do it. Planning for it, as well as paying attention to what we are thinking and feeling leads to greater productivity with less effort. What better way to then have the time to do more of what we really enjoy!

Copyright © 2006 by Gail Solish. All rights reserved.