Posts Tagged ‘Calendar’

Be Prepared For Your Next Meeting

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

It doesn’t matter if you are a sales person or a warehouse manager, we all go to meetings.  Some of us go to multiple meetings a day while others may attend a single meeting a week or month.  All meetings may be different, however, they have a few similarities when it comes to being prepared.

The first step is to determine if this is a paper meeting or a paperless meeting.  In the new world of “going green” you will find that paperless meetings become the accepted norm.  However, I have yet to attend a paperless meeting without seeing at least one piece of paper floating around and a few scattered pens and pencils.  To start, let’s assume your meeting is a traditional paper meeting.  You will want to have a nice Padfolio or Organizer that you keep all your documents and note pages in.

If you are the one hosting the meeting, make plenty of copies of all the documents you plan on going over.  The better solution would be to email PDF copies of these documents to all meeting attendees prior to the meeting so they can familiarize themselves with the content.  Electronic documents also give them the option of printing each page out or keeping it electronically.  If you are printing copies, do so ahead of time so the flow of the meeting does not get interrupted by the famous statement: “I don’t think I have a copy of that.”

Having a little more of a high tech meeting?  Be sure to download all attachments to your laptop or iPad prior to leaving your office.  You already have your device powered on and connected to the network, take advantage of that.  Technology has a way of sometimes letting us down when we need it the most.  The meeting location may not have internet access, or you might not have a good wireless signal.  If you can’t access your email server, those important documents that were sent to you are useless right now because you can not open them up.  Get prepared before you step out the door, or out of your cube/office and you will do just fine.

Now for the most important piece…a calendar!  A majority of meetings generally involve scheduling a followup meeting or they relate to an event that occurs on a specific date.  It doesn’t matter if you have a full size paper calendar, pocket calendar, BlackBerry or iPhone…just make sure you bring a calendar with you.  This should go without saying, but also ensure this calendar is up to date with all your professional and personal appointments.  Keeping one master calendar helps prevent scheduling conflicts or missing out on a personal appointment.

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Good and Bad News about Managing Your Time

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Many — if not most of us — wake up with this first conscious thought: “Let me survive another day!” At the end of a long, interrupt-ridden, deadline-driven day, we might collapse with this final waking thought: “Whew! I survived another day.”

With our myriad of professional and personal to-do’s, we’re busier than ever? We struggle daily to manage the things we have to do, get where we have to be, and handle the volume of information we have to absorb and use. There must be a better way!

Well there is — and there is both good news and bad news about it.

The bad news: You cannot manage your time! “Time management” is an oxymoron, like the terms “jumbo shrimp” or “pretty ugly”. We already have all the time there is: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The good news: There are only three critical time management habits, and you are already doing them. Realize that it takes about 21 days to modify a habit – even if it feels uncomfortable for awhile. But change can be worth the temporary discomfort if it improves your life. Consider this definition of insanity: doing things the same way you have always done them and expect different results. So, why not make slight or incremental changes to your old time management habits and get better results?

Here’s your first habit. You already refer daily to a calendar. You might have two, four, even six of them. Modify your habit so that only one master calendar runs your life and contains only information about where you physically need to be at a specific time and place. Do not put down all those to-do’s on the calendar —- only “be there’s”.

Now, for your second habit. You write down to-do’s. On what? Sticky notes, legal pads, scraps of paper — anything you can find. Modify your habit so that you use a series of 31 to-do lists. Why? Because 90% of the things you need to do, you will do within the next 30 days. Have a to-do list for each day that goes out 30 days. Keep a separate “don’t forget” list for tasks beyond 30 days, and plug them in to the appropriate date when they get within your 30-day to-do window.

Finally, your third habit. You already take notes during meetings, conversations, and phone calls. What do you do with those notes? You put them either in a file or on top one of the many piles on your desk or workplace. These piles are stressors and distractors, even if they are visual reminders of stuff you’ve collected. Modify this habit by setting up a filing system (e.g., a drawer with a series of A-to-Z hanging folders that allow you to file this information alphabetically, either by the person’s name, the person’s company or organization, or the topic of your interaction). You will naturally tend to file information in one of these three ways based on how you are “wired”.

As you can see, by modifying your current habits only slightly — using calendars, writing down to-do’s, and taking notes — you improve your ability to plan your day (and future days), focus on goals, keep commitments, track details, prioritize, retrieve information, reduce stress, and manage your life.

The best part about this process is that you can apply these habit modification techniques to any time management tool you currently use, whether it’s a paper planner, PDA (BlackBerry, iPhone, or Palm device), or computer based software. All these tools feature calendars, daily to-do or task lists, and places to write or enter notes. Modifying your habits can vastly improve your productivity.

Let me close with an analogy. The horse that wins the Kentucky Derby has to outrun the other horses by how much? Just milliseconds. But the winning horse’s prize money exceeds the others’ by how much? Thousands, even millions, of dollars. Here, the difference in productivity (prize money for the first-place finish) far exceeds the difference in performance (milliseconds).

When you improve your current time management habits just incrementally, your productivity results will improve exponentially!

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Remembering Not To Forget in 2010 – Part 2

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Referring back to my last post about missing an appointment…what should I have done better? What can you do to prevent yourself from being in the same, awful position?

First, no matter what, write it down! Whether you have your calendar with you or not, write it on something. A napkin, a receipt, even your hand – anything! And if you have to, write it more than once! If you can put it in your date book or type it in your cell phone or blackberry, the act of writing it or typing it anywhere, on anything, will create a deeper memory of the experience. Your brain has to process not only the information, but the physical act of logging that thought somewhere outside of your head. The more you commit the information to more areas (locations) of your memory, the better the chance that you won’t forget it.

Second, tell somebody! I should have told my wife and kids what the new time for my appointment was and asked them to remind me to write it down when we get home. Create a chorus of people who can reinforce the new piece of information. Could you just imagine us driving home with my kids repeatedly singing a jingle to the beat of their latest pop or rap idle, “dad’s new appoint is at noon not at 3 – oh yea!”. Avail yourself of more memory capacity by having other people help you remember stuff.

Candidly, I’ve heard other people refer to their memory lapses as “sometimers disease”, or “intellectual interludes”, or even call them “brain farts”. Anyone know what I’m talking about?

Lastly, send yourself a voice message, an email or text message. Use the technologies available to all of us and protect yourself. You may find this a little desperate or over the top, but we’re talking about preserving precious opportunities here! Regardless of our profession, we’re in very competitive businesses, and missing an appointment can be a deal-breaker.

Think about it – what feels more ridiculous? Sending yourself a text message so you won’t forget something important or getting that phone call that says you missed your really important appointment? Texting yourself may be embarrassing, but missing the appointment is exponentially more embarrassing and potentially very expensive! If you can’t use either of the two previous suggestions, protect yourself and use all of your memory aid devices and tools to help you be more efficient.

Though we’re all human and will never be perfect, we must do everything possible to keep ourselves at the top of our game, for our business partners and customers we serve, as well as, for the family we protect and provide for.

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Remembering Not To Forget in 2010 – Part 1

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

In the middle of a very busy day last week, I got a phone call from a friend regarding a potential client they had referred me to meet with. Sounding very bewildered she said, “I just got a phone call that you missed your appointment with the customer I referred you to today?” (This is the place where you insert every form of “Oh no! I’m so sorry!” “I blew it!” or any of those other responses that may also involve a few choice words. You know what they are.)

“I don’t believe it, you’re right. Can I get in my car right now and still get in to see them?” I asked her – with desperation in my voice. She said she’d call them and call me right back. As I waited to hear the fate of my appointment, I used the time to berate myself for my HUGE mistake. I was really hard on myself. My berating was deep and powerful.

Now, rewinding to the night before. I was out with my family, and my friend called to say that my appointment time for the next day had been changed to an earlier time. I said fine … I can make it at noon instead of 3 o’clock. Then I hung up and went back to the family. Are you seeing the mistakes yet?

Back to the moment of my dilemma, my friend gets back to me to say that I can go at my original time of 3 o’clock. Whew! Yes! This time I’ll be early – early enough to do my best groveling! After apologizing about 30 more times for my stupidity (this doesn’t make her look good either!), she says not to worry. Regardless, I still felt horrible! Over and over she says it was just a mistake and that things happen. We’ve known each other for a long time and she knows I’m nowhere near irresponsible. She also explained how she defended my blunder to the young assistant she spoke with, by explaining that when they are over 40 they will understand how these things happen. Gotta love having people like that on your side!

Yes, we are all human – but these kinds of mistakes often don’t turn out so well. Too often, you do what I did and your chance with that client is gone. The old adage is still true — you only get one chance to make a good first impression. Missing the appointment does not bode well for making a good impression.

So, what should I have done better? What can you do to prevent yourself from being in the same, awful position?

Find Part 2 Here.

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