Zenologue

After struggling along for several years trying to grow a home-based photography studio, I realized that I needed to grow more as a person, as well as learn new technical skills and business knowledge. That meant learning how to use my time to the best advantage.

It’s a Crazy World!

You know how it goes, you have a business to run, a house to keep, family to take care of, pets to feed, cleaning, gardening, decorating, fixing, cooking, washing… the list goes on and on! Running a business from home does have its advantages – I can roll out of bed and be in the office in two minutes without having to start the car – but it also has its downsides. Distractions come from all directions and it can be especially hard to work when the kids are home from school.

So, what do we do when it comes to our own personal and professional development? Sometimes it seems impossible! How can we possibly work that into our crowded schedule?

Can You Spare A Minute?

One of the most often heard excuses for not doing something is “I don’t have the time!” I know I’ve used that one far too many times as a way of justifying to myself why something didn’t get done when it was supposed to.

I eventually came to the realization that it’s more a case of not making the time. Nobody on the planet gets more than the allotted 24 hours in a day, so how come some of us achieve more than others?

So, I decided to take a look at how some successful people accomplish the things they do and I discovered that they’re usually very well organized in the way they use their second-most valuable asset – their time. They apportion and ration the use of their time almost like they would water in the desert – wisely. Interruptions are kept to a minimum, they concentrate on important tasks, and they are very focused in what they put their minds to.

When I first started out I would attack my working day like a school of piranhas might strip a carcass – almost in a frenzy. From the moment I hit the “studio”, I was on fire, going from one task to the next, answering the phone, checking emails etc. To an outside observer, it looked like I was extremely busy. That might be true, but was I really achieving anything? How much closer to my goals was I? In the words of Zig Ziglar, did I confuse activity with achievement? At the end of the day, can we honestly say to ourselves that we achieved what we set out to do? Or, is it more a case of, “well, I would have achieved such and such, but this and that happened instead…”

I probably don’t have to tell you what a terrible feeling it can be at the end of the day when you sit there and think to yourself, “that was some busy day, and I didn’t get half the things done that I needed to.”

Planning, Thinking & Studying:

One of my great mentors, Charles Lewis, introduced me to the concept of PTS time, and I haven’t looked back since. PTS (planning, thinking, studying) time allows me to set the right goals for the use of my time. First thing in a morning, before anything else happens, is the very best time for this. I give myself about 30 minutes or more, without interruption, to plan the day, think about my objectives and study from my mentors. I highly recommend it and here’s a list of some of the things you can do with this time:

• Look at what you achieved the day before.
• Read books or listen to audio CDs by successful people or motivational speakers.
• Gain some new knowledge in sales or marketing
• Never turn on the news or read a newspaper before noon.
• Keep a journal with your goals and ideas
• Prepare yourself a to-do list and prioritize the items on it.
• You will be amazed at how much better your day will go.

For me personally, 6am is usually my time for this, but you will need to find the time that suits you best. I like that time of the morning though – it’s quiet enough that there are no distractions and my clients aren’t calling me at that time.

Over the last year or so, because of my PTS time, I’ve come to think that spending time is more often a much better investment than spending money, especially when you consider the current state of the economy!

To finish, I think I first heard this next expression in the movie version of the Phantom Toll Booth: “Don’t kill time…” Instead, use your time wisely; plan how you are going to spend the day and you will soon be achieving more than you dreamed possible.

Time Mgt. success, time management

If only that were true – how much more could we do in a day?

I enjoy watching Dave Ramsey on the Fox Business Network whenever I can, and last night I managed to catch it while I was cooking dinner. Dave’s guest for the evening was Dr. Henry Cloud, who had some very interesting things to say about time management and setting boundaries between our personal lives and work lives.

As I was simultaneously listening and trying not to burn dinner, I realized that much of what Dr. Cloud said applies very well to us as professional photographers, especially those, like me, who work out of their home.

How many of you feel at the end of a busy day that you’ve really achieved something with the time you had? I know I sometimes get frustrated at many of the interruptions that divert my attention from what I’m supposed to be focused on, leaving me feeling overwhelmed and disappointed at the end of the day. It’s unpleasant going to sleep with the thought of all the things you should have done that day, but will have to do tomorrow.

Plugged Into The Matrix:

I’m sure it was a lot easier in the days before email, mobile phones and Facebook – but now we have so many distractions throughout the day that they can really affect our level of achievement. Sometimes I feel as though we, as a society, constantly need to be plugged into something, and I doubt there’s a hardly a place on the planet where we could hide for too long without being disturbed in some way.

Several years ago, when I still worked in the corporate world, my bosses thought it would be good for me to attend the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” course. One of the key points of that course was the concept of prioritizing tasks and potential interruptions using a simple chart of important/unimportant and urgent/non-urgent. Something can be important, but not urgent, but the tasks we need to focus our time and energies on are the important/urgent ones.

But that can be difficult when all the unimportant/urgent tasks (such as answering the phone, checking the weather, reading the news, watching YouTube) keep getting in the way and stealing our time from us (actually, we give that time away, if we admit the truth).

Stop, Thief!

It’s time to take back our time – all those moments throughout the day that are stolen from us by needless distractions, which come disguised as something important or urgent – busywork in emergency clothing, as it were.

A typical photographer’s day might go something like this:

Check email, check phone message, read all the jokes sent by well-meaning friends, log into Facebook & update status, start editing yesterday’s photographs, get disturbed by the phone, check emails while talking on the phone and forward some jokes, get back to the photographs, decide to answer an email, phone rings again, try to book a session, have lunch, talk to the spouse, get kids to where they need to be, cook dinner, feed the pets… you get the picture, and it’s an ugly one.

Chaos Doesn’t Rule:

Physicists have a saying that the universe and other complex systems tend to move towards chaos (maximum entropy) and away from order (minimum entropy). I don’t know about you, but most days, I feel like someone let off an entropy bomb right there in my work place. Before you know it, everything’s all confused, there’s no clear direction, and a million things need to be done – all at the same time.

Did Someone Say Focus?

We need to call the bomb squad to defuse the entropy bomb, and restore some order to our lives – the best way I can see to do that is to set aside dedicated time to complete tasks, and to limit the interruptions.

That means turning off email programs on the computer, logging out of Facebook, putting the phone away, closing the door and actually sitting down to complete a task. It’s hard at first, because you might feel like Tom Hanks right after that FedEx plane crashed. The temptation to get up and do something else, anything, is very strong. But, it’s amazing how much more quickly a task can be completed in this way – and it gives a great sense of accomplishment.

Dr. Cloud talked about having an internal chaperone to be our guide, and to whom we must be accountable, which is a wonderful idea. We can also call it our conscience, and it will give you a little nudge or two when you’ve been wasting time on unimportant things.

Another barrier to getting things done is all the clutter that accumulates like sediment on our desks and in our workspaces. I find it much harder to work in a space that’s all cluttered up – pieces of paper, pens, bills and magazines can all be interesting distractions to a mind that yearns to procrastinate.

So take some time to clear out the clutter; your mind (not just your desk) will be a lot clearer for it.

As a summary, here’s a quick list of some ways to tackle this problem:

• Keep a to-do list
• Take time to prioritize the items on your list
• Dedicate specific time to a specific task
• Stay focused on a task until it’s complete
• Minimize interruptions (mobile phone, email, social networking)
• Do take short breaks (walk or stretch etc.)
• Set some achievable goals
• Listen to your internal chaperone
• Eliminate distractions
• Remove clutter

How do you cope with the pressures of modern-day life – trying to get work done amidst all the random noise around us? I’d be interested to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Time Mgt. planning, time management