Brought to you by Jeff Thoren, DVM  

The late management guru Peter Drucker recommended that you examine every part of your business regularly to determine if there is anything you’re doing now that you wouldn’t do again if you could start over.  This turns out to be great advice for us as individuals too. 

According to popular career consultant, Dan Miller, the beginning of a new year offers us an opportunity to take a fresh look at where we are in our personal and business lives.  It should be a time to pause, to think, to take a look at deeper things, and to decide what’s really important.  In the process, you’ll discover that what you want to “be” is more significant than what you need to “do.”

Here’s this month’s feature ...

Are You Time Rich? -- by Barbara Hoese, Carol Miller, & Barbara Williamson

From -- The On Purpose Journal, Vol. 9, No. 3

Highlights from the article:

• Time rich people don’t focus on managing time with the clock because the clock is one of the culprits that keep us in our do ... do ... do ... cycle and makes us feel time poor.  In their coaching of business managers, the authors are constantly amazed at the number of things that managers see no value in doing, but they do anyway.  This, they note, is a surefire step on the path to being time poor.
    

• Time rich people realize that time is finite and that to-do lists are, and always will be, infinite.  Even as we check something off the list, something else gets added.  We’re bombarded with a constant stream of information that tells us that we ought to add more stuff to our list.  And, other people shower us with “shoulds” to the point that we’re racing through life becoming physically exhausted and emotionally drained in the process.
    

• But there is a list that is finite.  And that is our to-BE list.  Our to-BE list is created by answering the question, “Who do I want to be?”  We clarify our being by first naming our unique purpose, passion, values, and talents.  That understanding, plus the contribution we want to make to the world, is the genesis of our to-BE list.
    

• When we become caught up in our to-do lists, we forget that we once upon a time dreamed about who we wanted to BE.   Do you see time as a resource to get your to-do list done?  Or is time a resource for you to become who you want to be?  Much more powerful than a clock, our to-BE list creates a lens or filter for our to-do list.
    

• The key to having enough time and energy is to say “yes”’ to what we want to BE and “no” to things trying to get on our to-do list that don’t fit with our to-BE list.  Saying yes and saying no is what gives us back the passion, power, and energy to live the lives we dream of.
    

• We are time rich when we spend time on things that really matter to us but to live by your priorities (your to-BE list) takes daily and constant focus.

We’re all given the same 24 hours each day, seven days a week.  How can we manage our time differently to effectively deal with our plate that’s become a platter and is overflowing?  The relevant question to ask is not, “What will I do?” but rather “Who will I become?”

For the full text article, go to ...
http://www.inventuregroup.com/documents/Volume_9_Issue_3.pdf

Drucker on Leadership

From an October 2004 interview, here are some of Peter Drucker’s thoughts on leadership that relate to this months focus on developing a to-BE list and prioritizing our activities accordingly ... 

• Successful leaders don’t start out asking, “What do I want to do?”  They ask, “What needs to be done?”  Then they ask, “Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?”  They don’t tackle things they aren’t good at and they aren’t afraid of strength in others.  Build on your own strengths and find strong people to do the other necessary tasks.
    

• Leaders communicate so that people around them know what they are trying to do.  They are purpose-driven -- yes, mission-driven.  They know how to establish a mission and they know how to say no.  The pressure on leaders to do 984 different things is unbearable, so the effective ones learn how to say no and stick with it.  Too many leaders try to do a little bit of 25 things and get nothing done.
    

• Regarding your organization, ask yourself the question, “What needs to be done?”  Develop your priorities and don’t have more than two.  I don’t know anybody who can do three things at the same time and do them well.  Make sure the people with whom you work understand your priorities.  Where organizations fall down is when they have to guess at what the boss is working on, and they invariably guess wrong.
    

• Let’s discuss what not to do.  Don’t try to be somebody else.  Don’t take on things you don’t believe in and that you yourself are not good at.  Effective leaders match the objective needs of their company with their subjective competencies.

*Bonus Content:  In the current Information Age it’s difficult to say “no” to things and information that meets our fancy.  And in some ways, we crave each new thing with the hope that it will somehow set us free.  Consequently, we are literally dying from over consumption in one form or another.  For some practical advice on how to cope, check out the Dec. 13 edition of Steve Davis’ Master Facilitator’s Journal at http://home.ezezine.com/47_5/47_5-2005.12.13.01.28.archive.html

Next Month

To be a great leader, become a person who leaves your footprints in your areas of passion.  Have you found a match between what’s in your heart and your work situation?

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