I've finally slowed down at work so I can have a more normal schedule. I had a couple of training sessions today, one of them on filing Form 3115 with the IRS to make a change in accounting method (very exciting, let me tell you). Funny enough was that I was pretty much busy all day, but didn't work on much of the tasks for work I wrote into My Daily Director. That's the way things go. A lot of interuptions at work today, I guess. What I did was take the tasks I didn't get to today and wrote them in My Daily Director into my time slots tomorrow.
I was going to play softball tonight as my workout, but the game was rained out so I did a cardio workout at home instead. I've read the Bible and after this post, I'm going to pray and hit the shower before going to sleep. Not much happened today for me, I just kept things moving towards my goals for this week. Things should get a little more exciting later in the week as I may take a vacation day on Thursday. That will give me an opportunity to rest from work, and to get a lot of things accomplished at home - like finishing my tax return.
Keith
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Starting Out This Week
In my last post, I said that I would post everyday this week about using My Daily Director. Before launching into how the day went I should share what my First Things are for this week:
Spiritual - Read Bible & Pray Daily
Family - Play with kids & have a date with my wife
Personal Development - Read the book Like a Tree by Mitchell Tolle
Financial - Work on weekly budget, open up a savings account & finish my tax return
Physical - Workout 6 Days
Social - Dinner at In-laws & softball games
For today, the Tasks to Do consisted of working out, reading my Bible & praying, playing with my daughters and posting on this blog. My business tasks today involved getting the last of the March 15 deadline tax extensions & estimates mailed out, finishing up a property tax rendition, working on some Canadian returns that are due Wednesday and interviewing a candidate for an open position.
So how did I do? I was able to clear out the due date calendar at work for today's due date. We mailed out the property tax rendition, I had many phone calls with one of our accountants in Canada and I ended the day at work with the interview. After getting home, I spent a little time with my two daughters before dinner and worked out right after the meal. Then I put my 5 yr old to bed, took a shower and had a quiet time of Bible reading and prayer. All in all, today was a good, productive day. It has been a good start to meeting my goals for this week.
Keith
Spiritual - Read Bible & Pray Daily
Family - Play with kids & have a date with my wife
Personal Development - Read the book Like a Tree by Mitchell Tolle
Financial - Work on weekly budget, open up a savings account & finish my tax return
Physical - Workout 6 Days
Social - Dinner at In-laws & softball games
For today, the Tasks to Do consisted of working out, reading my Bible & praying, playing with my daughters and posting on this blog. My business tasks today involved getting the last of the March 15 deadline tax extensions & estimates mailed out, finishing up a property tax rendition, working on some Canadian returns that are due Wednesday and interviewing a candidate for an open position.
So how did I do? I was able to clear out the due date calendar at work for today's due date. We mailed out the property tax rendition, I had many phone calls with one of our accountants in Canada and I ended the day at work with the interview. After getting home, I spent a little time with my two daughters before dinner and worked out right after the meal. Then I put my 5 yr old to bed, took a shower and had a quiet time of Bible reading and prayer. All in all, today was a good, productive day. It has been a good start to meeting my goals for this week.
Keith
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Crisis Management
In the last few weeks, I have discovered what can happen when you aren't doing much of the directing in your life. As a result you end up in "Crisis Management" where you move on from crisis to crisis figuring out how to take care of each one on the fly. When one crisis is handled, you turn your attention to the next crisis that pops up and handle that one. The problem is you don't seem to get anywhere or make any progress except to the next crisis.
That's how my work has been going on for the past couple of weeks. It's also the reason I have not posted on the blog in a while. Everything seems to be a fire drill up at work. When I take care of one project, there seems to be another that has to be worked on right away. The phone keeps ringing with more requests for my time and my efforts. Perhaps I've been the one being managed instead of me doing the managing.
When I look at the words "It's Your Life. Direct It!" I realize how important that really is. I've been experience life directing me recently and the end result is exhausting. Not only that, but when I let life direct me, it doesn't move me closer to my goals and my dreams. So this week, the emphasis is on taking back the director's chair of my life and moving myself in the direction of the goals for my 90-day plan. This week I'm going to post everyday and update how well I was able to follow the daily plan in My Daily Director.
Does anyone else feel as if they are in crisis management mode? If so, how do you handle it?
Keith
That's how my work has been going on for the past couple of weeks. It's also the reason I have not posted on the blog in a while. Everything seems to be a fire drill up at work. When I take care of one project, there seems to be another that has to be worked on right away. The phone keeps ringing with more requests for my time and my efforts. Perhaps I've been the one being managed instead of me doing the managing.
When I look at the words "It's Your Life. Direct It!" I realize how important that really is. I've been experience life directing me recently and the end result is exhausting. Not only that, but when I let life direct me, it doesn't move me closer to my goals and my dreams. So this week, the emphasis is on taking back the director's chair of my life and moving myself in the direction of the goals for my 90-day plan. This week I'm going to post everyday and update how well I was able to follow the daily plan in My Daily Director.
Does anyone else feel as if they are in crisis management mode? If so, how do you handle it?
Keith
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Being a Manager
At the beginning of this year, I was promoted at work to a manager. It was one of my goals when I started there and what I thought would take me two years ended up taking me about a year. So here I am in my 3rd month as a manager in a large corporation.
So how do I like it so far? Well, I currently share supervising duties with another manager and we supervise a staff of 5 people. I end up spending the majority of my time in meetings, interviewing candidates for an open position, training and helping out the staff, and finally letting all my regular work pile up on my desk as I get more projects added to my plate. For example, tomorrow I have a 9:00 meeting which should last for an hour and a half, then I have interviews at 11:00, 2:30 & 4:00. In effect, I have 6 hours tomorrow to get in 9 hours of work, which includes reviewing the staff's work and spending time answering their questions, etc.
Why talk about this? Well not long ago, I received a newsletter from My Daily Director about life being like a river and if I fight, float or navigate. While I'd love to say I navigate the waters of my life, it is clear that at work I tend to float and get bounced all over the place. One of the purposes of using My Daily Director is to help navigate my 90-day plan. I like the way the planner has a section on priorities before filling in all the time slots. It allows me to plan out what are the real priorities in my life - the things I should spend 80% of my time on. Because I have so many different things to do at work, I have to be able to prioritize my projects. I just don't have enough time in the day to get all of it done. Thank goodness for the business priorities section of the planner.
In my first post, I wrote how one of my goals for the 90-day plan was to be more productive at work. How can that be measured? There are severals ways, but one of them is how long it takes me to clear my desk of the projects I have. Another is whether I can get most of my work done without having to put in overtime. In next week's post, I'll update how well I did this week clearing the projects from my desk.
Keith
So how do I like it so far? Well, I currently share supervising duties with another manager and we supervise a staff of 5 people. I end up spending the majority of my time in meetings, interviewing candidates for an open position, training and helping out the staff, and finally letting all my regular work pile up on my desk as I get more projects added to my plate. For example, tomorrow I have a 9:00 meeting which should last for an hour and a half, then I have interviews at 11:00, 2:30 & 4:00. In effect, I have 6 hours tomorrow to get in 9 hours of work, which includes reviewing the staff's work and spending time answering their questions, etc.
Why talk about this? Well not long ago, I received a newsletter from My Daily Director about life being like a river and if I fight, float or navigate. While I'd love to say I navigate the waters of my life, it is clear that at work I tend to float and get bounced all over the place. One of the purposes of using My Daily Director is to help navigate my 90-day plan. I like the way the planner has a section on priorities before filling in all the time slots. It allows me to plan out what are the real priorities in my life - the things I should spend 80% of my time on. Because I have so many different things to do at work, I have to be able to prioritize my projects. I just don't have enough time in the day to get all of it done. Thank goodness for the business priorities section of the planner.
In my first post, I wrote how one of my goals for the 90-day plan was to be more productive at work. How can that be measured? There are severals ways, but one of them is how long it takes me to clear my desk of the projects I have. Another is whether I can get most of my work done without having to put in overtime. In next week's post, I'll update how well I did this week clearing the projects from my desk.
Keith
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