One truth that people who work with people need to
understand is that there is never enough time to do everything you want to, or
have to do. There must be choices and
priorities that need to be made in order to accomplish as much as one can. Personal productivity is as much a mind-set
as it is techniques, strategies, and focused hard work. Getting control of your time can only be done
by changing the way one things, works and deals with the responsibilities and
opportunities that come up each and every day.
Over the years, a number of other truths have proven to
exist that I have come to rely upon in trying to organize and manage the time
and opportunities in my life. I hope to
highlight these ideas here along with some thoughts and ideas shared by others
as a means of helping those who work with PATH, or provide affiliated services
to children and families.
“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him
find it within himself” Galileo
Brian Tracy says, “The ability to
concentrate single-mindedly on your most important task, to do it well and to
finish it completely, is the key to great success, achievement, respect, status
and happiness in life.” This is a wonderful idea, but when your work or home
life is filled with the need to connect frequently with others, this becomes an
almost impossible endeavor. At
non-violent crisis intervention training, we discuss the idea of paying
undivided attention to someone who is anxious and starting to roll into crisis. It is hard to provide this type of attention,
and especially to do it for very long.
Instead, we discuss the idea of providing “moments of undivided
attention” as needed. To a certain
degree, this same idea can be used to deal with pressing matters in a world
full of distractions, competing needs, and time pressures. So, I am hoping to
provide some ideas to use as aids and guides in dealing with time and
organization management.
We all have a lot of things going on
whether we are workers, managers or foster parents. We have so many options begging for our time
and attention. People, tasks,
connections, and media of the social and informational kind all try and intrude
on attempts to focus and be productive.
It becomes a habit to go from one demand to another without ever fully
completing one focused task. In fact,
even precious times like solitude, time-off, and meal prep / meal times can be
easily interrupted with the ring of a phone or notification from a social media
device. What can we do?
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