of this mixed up focus comes from our schooling or our parents and the way we were treated as children. “Oh yes, he practises his piano for an hour every day” is an example of the measurement of activity rather than output. Similarly, “We set half an hour of homework each day”, or “You will spend three years at university”.
All these approaches measure activity rather than output. Indeed, the output is expected to happen almost by chance. “If you spend an hour hitting piano keys each day you are bound to play a good tune eventually.” This encourages the child to become a ‘clock-watcher’: “When I’ve been hitting piano keys for an hour I can go and play.” The child then concentrates on the minute hand rather than focusing on the piano playing.
This behaviour tends to be carried on in our work life; we measure things by how long we are doing something rather than aiming to achieve a specific outcome in the available time. Of course, this is reinforced by the fact that we are often paid a salary of X per year, or Y per month, or Z per hour. Evidentally, it’s payment for the passage of time, not output!
So when you are setting yourself goals (or deciding what to do today) aim for the Outcome not the Activity.
With many tasks you will need to break them down into smaller outcomes in order to make them more visible.
This will help you to focus on getting things done, which will add a sense of urgency, allow you to measure your success and generally improve your morale as well.
It is very satisfying to see that you have achieved something, rather than just spending time doing something.
You’ll often hear people say that they wish they had more hours in the day, or that they dream of having more time. Well now they can at least use the mnemonic DREAM to help them achieve more in the time they have.…
DREAM is a simple five-option way to manage the things that come into your in-tray during the working day – or the requests you get from your spouse/boss/customers/or staff.
When you receive a request for help or an instruction, decide immediately on one of these five courses of actions. Don’t ignore it or put off dealing with the issue.
1 Delegate it. If it is appropriate to do so, you should delegate it to either a peer or a subordinate. Delegating a job requires you to ensure that the person to whom you delegate has the skill, the time, the authority and the responsibility for completing the job to the proper standard and deadline. If you don’t ensure that they have all of these things, then you haven’t ‘delegated’, you have ‘dumped’! (See Secret 7.4.)
“One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment…If it doesn’t turn out right, we can modify it as we go along.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), US President
2 Reflect or refuse it. If appropriate you should refuse to undertake this task on the grounds that it isn’t right for you to be doing it or reflect it away to the appropriate person, even if that person is the source of the request!
3 Escalate it. You can pass it straight up to your boss if it is something that ultimately she or he will need to deal with.
4 Action it. Get it done immediately if it is definitely your responsibility. Avoid simply adding it to your in-tray – action it immediately, whilst the source of the request waits if possible!
5 Make a time for it. If it is definitely your responsibility and you can’t do it immediately (either because of other priorities or reasons), schedule a time to do it. Either insert it into your prioritized ‘to do’ list (see Secret 1.10) or set a time in your diary to deal with it.
Consciously think ‘DREAM’ with each item in your in-tray and each request, then decide how to manage it.
1.8 Have a personal vision or mission
You don’t want your career to stand still; you want to be sure that what you do is relevant to moving you towards your longer term career goals. There are two elements you need to have in mind here.
What are your long-term career goals?
Most of us are simply grateful to have a decent job and a wage packet at the end of each week or month, but we also need to have a vision of where we want to be in the future. You may want to carve out a long-term career with your current employer or you may want to set up your own business in the future, but the most important thing is to know what you want out of life.
Visualize yourself at the age 50 or 60 years.
• How respected are you?
• Where do you live and work?
• What kind of family life do you have?
• What do you do for fun?
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there” Lewis Carroll, English author
Deciding the answers to these questions will help you to define the type of job you work in today and next year in order to get to where you want to be. Many people find it really helpful to write out their vision, either like an essay or a series of bullet points.
What medium-term actions are relevant to achieving your long-term career goals?
You now have to ensure that everything you do is relevant to you in your current and next job. Especially if you are working at a junior level, assess each instruction to ensure that it is within the job description of your current job. You are assessed against your job description, so doing things that aren’t covered in your job description is like spending time asleep, unless…a task is clearly proving your ability to be promoted to the next job up! If you are working at a more senior level, ask yourself if you are getting all the right things done, or could you be prioritizing or delegating more efficiently? Are you genuinely working each day to achieve your long-term career goals?
Look at Secret 1.4 as well since it looks in more depth at the short-term aspect of your current job.
Write down your long-term career goals and what you need to do in the medium term to achieve them.
The mnemonic WIIFM stands for What’s In It For Me? It
