Once Gone
September 13, 2017 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Front Page, Wright Ideas
Once Gone,
It has been Stolen Forever
Guest Post by Mike Wesley
What is the one thing that nobody has more of than anyone else? Time, We all have the same 24 hours in a given day. The real question is what do we do with our 24?Use this commodity wisely, we thrive, use it foolishly, and we can only feel overwhelmed and unproductive. So the question that came across the Twitter Feed from @DrWright1 was, “What do you use to save time in your busy day?”
My answer was simple. “Teach others to answer their own questions.” Yes this sounds simple enough, but is it really? In a very busy day, quick questions and small interruptions end up to be quite large distractions through the day. We are working on something and place that aside to answer a seemingly innocent question. What ends up happening is you think you took the five minutes to provide a short and accurate solution. That 5 minutes really turns out to be 10 by the time you get back on the previous task. Then 15 minutes later you get an email, an IM or a phone call from the same person only to ask another question.
Folks this can really landslide on you if you do not grab it by the horns and straighten it out now. Sure my solution is not easy, and no it may not save you time today, but the good news is, invest the time now and it will pay off in more productivity and who knows, possibly “Free Time” in the future.
Even just six 10 minute distractions through the day add up to one hour. Our hour that has been stolen from you. One hour that you will never get back. So please use your time wisely.
Here is what to do: Take the time now and teach people who ask you questions to answer their own questions. When someone asks you to fix something, take the extra time now and show them how they could fix the problem themselves. It will pay off. I am not sure if you know this but almost any question can be answered very simply using one very easy tool, “Google”. Yes Google can answer almost any question you have, don’t be afraid to use it yourself, and this is the time saver, “Do not be afraid to tell others to use it.”
Assume someone sakes you a question tomorrow. This is your new one word answer. “Google” Seriously they really can answer their own questions. Now if it is your boss asking you how long it is going to take you to finish the current project, I don’t suggest you say “Google”, but a question about how to spellchecker in Word, you can just say it.
The point is the more you teach the people around you to answer their own questions the more time you have to answer your own.
Take the time to show others and you may find yourself with more time than you know what to do with?
@Mike_Wesely