A Unique Approach to Time Management
I have long been a believer that despite what some of the "experts" say, there is more than one way to manage time effectively, and what works well for someone else may not work for you. To prove this point, I’ve interviewed Australia’s multi-award-winning Certified Professional Resume Writer, Gayle Howard of Top Margin. Although she is outstanding at what she does, she does not in any way attribute it to her organizing skills. In fact, she admits that her typical workday begins and ends with one word — procrastination. She explains,
"I never seem to be able to do anything unless I’m under an extreme and stressful deadline, and then I can knuckle down and start working. It is almost like I am in teenage rebellion mode, but the person I’m rebelling against is myself!"
Gayle describes her daily routine as follows:
"My day starts as I stumble bleary-eyed downstairs to read my email while having a coffee around 6 am. Email tasks are usually finished by 7 am and I have the rest of my breakfast. I then get presentable to meet my public (the ones I never see!) and I pretend to start my first project for the day about 9 am — an action that kids no-one, least of all me. From 9 am to 10 am I mess around. Write two words, look for a meaning for a word on the internet, answer a query from a course student, write another two words, have a friendly email discourse with a résumé writer or two, read and respond to e-list postings, jot down a blog entry and read the newspaper. I’ll do this until a mental calculation tells me that I won’t be able to finish the writing project I have scheduled if I keep messing around one minute longer. After this mental calculation I then mess around about a half an hour longer only to panic, act surprised like I don’t know where my day could have possibly gone, and then knuckle down and start work. By 5:30 pm, I have met my deadline by finishing the work I had scheduled for that day."
Did you notice that, despite the lack of a structured time management system, Gayle is able to complete her work on time? I’m sure she is not alone in this, although I’m one of the people who needs structure if I’m going to accomplish anything. As time management guru Donald Wetmore explains it,
"There are racehorses and tortoises. Racehorses might schedule all their activities in one day, and a tortoise might spread it out. At the end of the day, both of us have accomplished the same, but gone about it differently."
On the other hand, Gayle also confesses that she finds this rather stressful. She concluded by telling me,
"Five minutes later I vow I cannot live like this and with my hand over my heart, swear it’s going to be different tomorrow. I’ve done that for the last decade and it’s starting to feel like Groundhog Day."
How about you? Are you a racehorse or a tortoise?
