544. POINTS TO REMEMBER - TIME

POINTS  TO  REMEMBER

 

10 Time Wasters To Be Alert To As A Leader Or Manager

You can buy additional memory for your computer to speed it up and make it work better. On the other hand, the amount of time you have in a day is fixed. What that means is we need to invest it wisely. So what are 10 time wasters to be alert to as a leader or manager?

1. Incomplete information which means you cannot take a decision.
2. Employees coming in with problems that are important to them but not urgent.
3. Telephone calls, including mobile phone calls, coming in on a totally random basis.
4. Routine tasks that should be taken care of by someone on your team being delegated upwards.
5. Poorly organised or poorly run meetings.
6. Attempting to do, or offering to do, too much in the time available.
7. Being overly optimistic in your estimates of how long things will take.
8. Procrastinating; either putting things off or leaving things partly completed.
9. Not listening and going off on the wrong track.
10. Not being willing to say ‘no’ when you are already fully utilised.

Boost Your Productivity And Results

Ask just about any leader or manager what their biggest challenges are and you are almost guaranteed that a lack of time will be on their list. We all at the end of the day have the same allocation of time yet some seem to get vastly different results from others. So how can you boost productivity and results?

In his excellent book, How To Save An Hour Every Day, Michael Heppell suggests that you start with a big enough ‘Why?’. By that he means being clear about why saving time matters to you. The chances are that you are missing out on, or not getting enough of, something that really matters to you. What is it and why does it matter anyway?

A time tracker is another great tool for getting insights into where your time is going. I remember having to account for every 15 minutes of the day when I worked in one of the Big 4 accountancy firms. Sometimes it felt like a chore but it sure helped with focus.

Another great strategy is to organise things so that you can easily put your hands on them when you need them. If you are one of the many professional people who like to hold on to things just in case they are needed, you might want to invest in a couple of sacks and get rid of stuff.

Cut down the delaying and procrastinating and start taking decisions and actions to get things done. The reality is things will never be easier when you put them off, they will just be later.

Distinguish between the ‘must do’ and ‘to do’ list. ‘Must do’ activities are those areas that are critical to achieving your results. What are those for your role? If you don’t know, make it a priority to find out.

Delegate more rather than holding on to stuff out of habit or because you wrongly believe that you are the only one who could do it so well.

Hold meetings only when you really need to. They can easily swallow up a bunch of time. When you hold a meeting, make sure there is a defined outcome and time limit.

The Bottom Line: Mastering time management is an important area in being a successful leader or manager and will require review from time to time. At the same time, it is often small changes that can yield big results.

7 Secrets Of Achieving Work / Life Balance

One of the things I have noticed is that, despite all of the advances in technology and gadgets, achieving some reasonable work / life balance seems to be a bigger challenge than ever.

So what are the secrets of achieving work / life balance?

Secret 1: Decide that it matters to you

• It seems obvious but you need to decide that getting some sort of sensible balance matters to you.

Secret 2: Set boundaries

• We all need money to live. At the same time, it is of little benefit if you are so burned out that you cannot enjoy the non-work time. Set boundaries on how much time you want to spend at work and stick to them.

Secret 3: Let others know your boundaries

• If you are happy for people to contact you any time they like by ‘phone or on your Blackberry, that’s fine. On the other hand, if you are not, make it clear to others what is okay and what is not.

Secret 4: Turn off gadgets

• If you are a doctor or on-call in your job, you need your ‘phone and email on. If not, you can probably turn off your gadgets.

Secret 5: Ask yourself what you would say on your death bed

• I remember a fairly new trainee saying to me when I worked at one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms, Do you want to be lying on your death bed saying, ‘I wish I had spent more time at work’? Essentially, she was saying, Decide on your priorities.

Secret 6: Focus

• It is not about working harder; it is about working smarter.

Secret 7: Track your time investment

• Once you start tracking where you are investing your time, you start to get insights on where you need to change.

What other secrets would you add?

Are You First To Arrive And Last To Leave?

In the modern business world, people seem to be working longer and longer. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of being the first to arrive and last to leave. How do I know this? Well simply because it was an area that I found a challenge when working in the accountancy profession.

So if you are first to arrive and last to leave, what can you do to address this?

Get clear on your priorities

• You have lots of things you could do. The question is what should you be doing? Getting clear on your priorities is essential.

Focus on your priorities

• It is all well and good being clear on your priorities. At the same time, you need to make sure that you are focussing on them. That means continually checking what you are doing to make sure you are focussing on what matters.

Discover what can only be done by you

• In my experience, most tasks can be grouped into 3 brackets:
1. Things that need doing and can only be done by you.
2. Things that need doing but not necessarily by you.
3. Things that might not need doing at all.

Learn to delegate

• Delegation is not just about getting stuff off your desk. It also provides a great development opportunity. So learn how to and start delegating.

The reality is that if we allow it, work will expand to fill the time we have available. Remember, few things are so critical in management that they need attention right away.

Work Smarter Not Harder

Sometimes delivering better results is not always about work harder but about working smarter. Discover my

Secrets Of Managing Your Time

Time is the ultimate limiting factor. It does not matter who you are; you have 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week, 744 hours in a month.

As a result, how you manage your time is vital to the results that you get.

So what are some of the secrets?

1. Be clear on what your priorities are and what you are expected to deliver.
2. Plan how you are going to invest your time.
3. Keep a track of where you are spending your time.
4. Do what you do best.
5. Delegate and empower others.
6. Set boundaries.
7. Focus on results.
8. Keep a sense of balance so that your productivity does not dip.

The truth is, how you manage your time makes a big difference to your productivity and results. So what have you found makes a big difference to managing your time?

 

7 Simple Tips To Improve Your Work / Life Balance

The more senior you become in the organisation, the tougher it can be to maintain some form of work / life balance.

So what simple tips do I suggest for improving work / life balance?

Tip 1: Set deadlines

• Have you ever noticed that when you set a deadline for getting something done or a timescale to do something, you somehow do it? Setting a deadline is a bit like setting an intention which sends a signal to your mind.

Tip 2: Prioritise well

• Whether you believe it or not, some things are more important than others. Make the point of identifying and prioritising how you will use your time.

Tip 3: Be well organised

• Being able to find things when you need them, whether in a computer or filing cabinet, can pay big dividends.

Tip 4: Plan things out of work

• If you don’t, you will just end up staying that extra half hour, which will in reality end up being two hours.

Tip 5: Ask for help

• Don’t suffer in silence. Ask for help if you are struggling.

Tip 6: Focus on what matters

• Rather than stuff that keeps you busy.

Tip 7: Learn to switch off

• Tough as it might be, you need to be able to switch off.

The truth is, maintaining a healthy work / life balance can actually enhance your performance. So what’s your first step?

5 Fast Actions To Boost Your Personal Effectiveness

1. Know what your priorities are.
2. Plan your time utilisation to focus on your priorities.
3. Periodically record where you are spending your time so that you can be sure that you are spending it appropriately.
4. Do what you do best and delegate or dump the other things.
5. Get the team you lead or manage taking on the things that they do best.

 

5 Tips To Boost Your Personal Effectiveness

Tip 1

• Get clear on what’s priority and what’s not.

Tip 2

• Invest your time in the priority activities.

Tip 3

• If you have something that you have to do, make sure that you have the skills to do it.

Tip 4

• Keep track of where you are spending your time so that you can be sure that you are investing it wisely.

Tip 5

• Reflect periodically and make changes where necessary to take your personal effectiveness to the next level.

6 Tips For Achieving Better Results

 “Too much to do, too little time”, is an all too familiar cry these days. So what can you do to get more done and achieve better results?

1. Know what’s important and priority and what is just a time filler.
2. Set yourself challenging but realistic targets for each day, week and month.
3. Set start and finish times for every task.
4. Don’t leave things half completed otherwise you end up with a whole lot of work in progress.
5. Get organised so that you can find things.
6. Automate whenever you can to boost productivity.

What additional tips would you add?

543. ENGLISH - Zero Plural

Zero Plural

 

Definition:

A plural form of a count noun that is identical to the singular form.

Zero plural marking refers to the absence of the plural markers -s and -es.

Several animal names (sheep, deer, cod) and certain nationalities (Japanese, Sioux, Taiwanese) take the zero plural in English.

 

Examples and Observations:

• "This week the debate is on an idea to let everyone fish a few cod 'just for food.'"
  
  
• "We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way."
  
  
• The Chinese use the term 'ydng' to mean both goats and sheep.

• "In English, plurals of nouns are normally indicated by the ending –s or –es, or in a few cases by –en, as in children and oxen.

Some vernacular varieties of English do not use plural endings in measurement phrases such as three mile and ten pound. This zero plural has a long history and was not formerly as socially stigmatized as it is today. . . .

In adjectival constructions even Standard English has no –s plural:

a five-pound box of candy is acceptable, whereas a five-pounds box is not.

These adjective phrases derive from an –a suffix in Old English that marked plural adjectives. This ending has long since fallen away, leaving behind the unmarked root forms.

The absence of –s in the plural form of animal names (hunting for bear, a herd of buffalo) probably arose by analogy with animals like deer and sheep whose plurals have been unmarked since the earliest beginnings of the English language."

• "I'm horrified of lobsters. And shrimp and lobsters are the cockroaches of the ocean."

"Bluefin tuna contain higher levels of mercury than other species of tuna because they live longer and, like humans, accumulate more mercury in their body tissues."

• Zero Plurals With Numerals, Quantifiers, and Nouns of Measure
  "[Zero plurals] include the names of some animals, particularly cod, deer, sheep;

nouns denoting quantity when they are premodified by a numeral or other quantifier and particularly when they are attached to a noun head:

two hundred (people), three dozen (plants), several thousand (dollars).

The measure nouns foot (length unit),

pound (unit of weight or of British currency), and

stone (British weight unit)

optionally take zero plurals:

six foot two, twenty pound, fifteen stone."
"His hat, I reckon, weighed ten pound
To say the least, and I'll say, shore,
His overcoat weighed fifty more."

"I have known when he would have walked ten mile afoot to see a good armour."

"The foggers and cooling fans were going full blast in Jim's twin five-hundred-foot-long chicken houses."

542. ENGLISH - Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia

 

The onomatopoeic Snap, Crackle, and Pop!

Definition:

The use of words (such as hiss or murmur) that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. Adjective: onomatopoeic or onomatopoetic.

Etymology:

From the Latin, "make names"

Examples and Observations:

• "Chug, chug, chug. Puff, puff, puff. Ding-dong, ding-dong. The little train rumbled over the tracks."
  
  
• "Brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinng! An alarm clock clanged in the dark and silent room."
  
  
• "I'm getting married in the morning!
  Ding dong! the bells are gonna chime."
  
  
• "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is."
  
  
• "Plink, plink, fizz, fizz"
  
  
• "'Woop! Woop! That's the sound of da police,' KRS-One famously chants on the hook of 'Sound of da Police' from 1993's Return of the Boombap. The unmistakable sound he makes in place of the police siren is an example of onomatopoeia, the trope that works by exchanging the thing itself for a linguistic representation of the sound it makes."
  
  
• "Hark, hark!
  Bow-wow.
  The watch-dogs bark!
  Bow-wow.
  Hark, hark! I hear
  The strain of strutting chanticleer
  Cry, 'cock-a-diddle-dow!'"
  
  
• "Onomatopoeia every time I see ya
  My senses tell me hubba
  And I just can't disagree.
  I get a feeling in my heart that I can't describe. . . .
  
  It's sort of whack, whir, wheeze, whine
  Sputter, splat, squirt, scrape
  Clink, clank, clunk, clatter
  Crash, bang, beep, buzz
  Ring, rip, roar, retch
  Twang, toot, tinkle, thud
  Pop, plop, plunk, pow
  Snort, snuck, sniff, smack
  Screech, splash, squish, squeak
  Jingle, rattle, squeal, boing
  Honk, hoot, hack, belch."
  
  
• "Klunk! Klick! Every trip"
  
  
• "[Aredelia] found Starling in the warm laundry room, dozing against the slow rump-rump of a washing machine."
  
  
• Jemimah: It's called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
  Truly Scrumptious: That's a curious name for a motorcar.
  Jemimah: But that's the sound it makes. Listen.
  It's saying chitty chitty, chitty chitty, chitty chitty, chitty chitty, chitty chitty, bang bang! chitty chitty . . ..
  
  
• "I have a new book, 'Batman: Cacophony.' Batman faces off against a character called Onomatopoeia. His shtick is that he doesn't speak; he just mimics the noises you can print in comic books."
  
  
• "Bang! went the pistol,
  Crash! went the window
  Ouch! went the son of a gun.
  Onomatopoeia--
  I don't want to see ya
  Speaking in a foreign tongue."
  
  
• "A sound theory underlies the onomaht--that we read not only with our eyes but also with our ears. The smallest child, learning to read by reading about bees, needs no translation for buzz. Subconsciously we hear the words on a printed page.
  
  "Like every other device of the writing art, onomatopoeia can be overdone, but it is effective in creating mood or pace. If we skip through the alphabet we find plenty of words to slow the pace: balk, crawl, dawdle, meander, trudge and so on.
  
  "The writer who wants to write 'fast' has many choices. Her hero can bolt, dash, hurry or hustle."
  
  
• "He saw nothing and heard nothing but he could feel his heart pounding and then he heard the clack on stone and the leaping, dropping clicks of a small rock falling."
  
  
• "It went zip when it moved and bop when it stopped,
  And whirr when it stood still.
  I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will."
  
  
• "I like the word geezer, a descriptive sound, almost onomatopoeia, and also coot, codger, biddy, battleaxe, and most of the other words for old farts."
  
  
• Russian Negotiator: Why must every American president bound out of an automobile like as at a yacht club while in comparison our leader looks like . . . I don't even know what word is.
  
  

• Sam Seaborn: Frumpy?
  Russian Negotiator: I don't know what "frumpy" is but onomatopoetically sounds right.
  Sam Seaborn: It's hard not to like a guy who doesn't know frumpy but knows onomatopoeia.
  
  
• "Linguists almost always begin discussions about onomatopoeia with observations like the following: the snip of a pair of scissors is su-su in Chinese, cri-cri in Italian, riqui-riqui in Spanish, terre-terre in Portuguese, krits-krits in modern Greek. . . . Some linguists gleefully expose the conventional nature of these words, as if revealing a fraud."