On May 17th, the Founder of Presenting Powerfully, Debbie Lundberg, was the featured speaker for the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce Competitive Edge Series. Debbie is a life and business coach assisting business leaders in excelling at speech and communication. She gives keynotes, delivers teaming events, and well as offers one-on-one training for individuals and teams looking to improve their communication skills.
Debbie believes there are four reason why things do not get done in the workplace. An individual does not know, does not know how, does not have the capacity or does not want to. By addressing these issues and getting rid of time drainers: (Poor) Prioritization, Interruptions, Procrastination, Scheduling and Communications, we can start managing our time effectively.
Debbie asserted that we must select an organization process that works for us. We must list our tasks in order of importance at the beginning of the day. By creating a to do list and transferring that immediately into a calendar in specific time slots, we will be able to accomplish more without the stress of trying to organize our tasks throughout the day.
A big factor in time management is letting go of perfectionism. Perfectionism is the biggest cause of procrastination. If someone suffers with perfectionism, they may put off a task because they do not have all the time and energy they feel necessary to devote to get the job done to the best of their ability. There is not enough time in the day to tackle all of the projects that come up with 100% effort.
A pet peeve Debbie has is when people tell her they are too busy to get something done. They are too busy to take your phone call, or when you see them the first thing out of their mouths is I am so tired because I’m just so busy. What this means potentially is that we are not asserting enough control over our schedules and we are wearing ourselves down. Replace “I don’t have time” with “That’s not a fit for today…how about tomorrow?”, or simply ask “When would you like this completed?”, and take control of your schedule.
A couple other tips, Debbie says to stay away from “How are you” unless you are ready to hear how they really are. She says call before you are late to a meeting and apologize only once. Set meeting agendas and say no thank you instead of beating around the bush.
Debbie’s website is full of amazing “Lundbergisms” and “Un-slobified” tips that tackle issues in communication today. Be sure to catch the next Competitive Edge at the Tampa Chamber!
