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Vol. 6 No. 1, January/February 2004
Copyright 2004 by Wolf J. Rinke
mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com
http://www.WolfRinke.com
IN THIS ISSUE
1. NEWS YOU CAN USE
2. TIME MANAGEMENT--PART III
3. HEAR WOLF "HOWL"--I MEAN SPEAK
4. HUMOR BREAK
5. ABOUT THE EDITOR
6. PRIVACY STATEMENT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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INSIGHT BREAK
"Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what
dies inside of us while we live."
--Norman Cousin
Source: Make It a Winning Life, Perpetual desk calendar, Jan. 8
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1. NEWS YOU CAN USE
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YOUR PERSONALITY IMPACTS ON YOUR HEALTH
In a carefully controlled UCLA study scientists found that shy men have
much less resistance to the AIDS virus than their extroverted counterparts.
The study also found that once these shy men contracted the AIDS virus
they benefited far less from treatments with antiretroviral drugs. How
much less? According to Steve Cole of the AIDS Institute the viral load
in shy men dropped only 20 fold after an 18 months treatment with antiretroviral
drugs. The same treatment in extroverted men led to a 162 fold drop.
The reason, shy people are more readily stressed especially in unfamiliar
situations such as making contact with people they don't know. Scientist
speculate that the stress response results in the release of the neurotransmitter
norepinephrine which depresses the bodies immune system which in turn
weakens our ability to deal with illnesses and disease.
ACTION STEPS:
If you are shy, teach yourself to be more extroverted by talking to
at least one person you don't know at every meeting or social event
you attend. Get the conversation going by using open-ended questions
such as: What brings you to this meeting? How do you know the host?
or Where are you from? Keep asking open-ended questions until you find
commonalities that will provide you with additional talking points and
make you more comfortable around people you don't know.
Source: S. Vedantam, Stress Found to Weaken Resistance to Illness, The
Washington Post, 22/12/03; p. A12.
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2. TIME MANAGEMENT--Part III by Wolf J. Rinke, PhD, CSP
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In a previous issue of this eNewsletter (5-5) (see www.WolfRinke.com)
you had an opportunity to find out how effective you are at utilizing
your second most precious resource--your time, and how to get the most
out of every 24 hours. In this issue you will be able to learn the magic
of goal setting and discover powerful steps that will enable you to
make lots more discretionary time. In other words a perfect way to start
out a wonderful new year--2004.
The Power of Goals and Priorities
Goals can serve as a driving force in your life. Basically, a person
without a goal is like a ship without a rudder. Likewise, an organization
without clearly defined goals, stated in a prioritized fashion, is an
organization that will not be successful. The irony is that many of
us work in organizations that have very elaborate goals and objectives--in
many cases we are the ones who developed them--yet most of us do not
have similar goals for our personal lives and careers. Because effective
goal setting is critical, I would like to briefly share with you a bit
of management folklore that has come to be called the $25,000 idea.
A SIMPLE TOOL TO PRIORITIZE YOUR LIFE
Alec Mackenzie in The Time Trap, as far as I can tell, first told the
story. Folklore has it that an efficiency consultant by the name of
Ivy Lee was meeting with the president of a large steel mill. The president,
one Charles Schwab, was interested to find out how he could increase
performance. Lee was telling Schwab how he could provide him with advice
to better manage the company. Schwab, however, was not interested because
he did not want more knowledge. Instead, he wanted to find out how to
get more done within available time, and he was willing to pay anything
within reason for such advice. Lee said that he could help him increase
his efficiency by at least 50% provided he could have about 20 minutes
of his time.
After Schwab consented, Lee gave him a blank piece of paper and told
him to write down the six most important things he wanted to accomplish
tomorrow. Schwab thought about it and completed the task in about three
minutes. Then Lee instructed him to order these things from most important
to least important. That too took very little time. Now the executive
was instructed to keep the list until the following morning, at which
time he was asked to look at the first item and to start working on
it until it was completed. After that he was told to work on task number
two and so on until the end of the day. Lee further advised Schwab not
to worry about those tasks that he could not get done, since it didn't
matter because they would not have gotten done anyway. Then Schwab was
asked to repeat this process every working day. Lee then told him to
try this system as long as he likes. Lee also asked Schwab to have his
employees try this system and, if it worked, to send him a check for
whatever the idea was worth to him and the company.
After several months Lee received a check for $25,000 and a letter
in which Schwab said that this was one of the most profitable ideas
that he had ever been taught by anyone. It is further reputed that the
consistent application of this strategy helped to turn this small steel
mill into a former giant--Bethlehem Steel. The moral of this story relates
to what it takes to "eat an elephant."
HOW TO EAT AN ELEPHANT
"If you want to eat an elephant, you have to take one bite at a
time." I'm sure that your job is just like that proverbial elephant,
and if you want to master it--instead of it mastering you--you have
to have goals, prioritize them and take each one in turn, just like
Lee said. These two strategies are effective because they not only provide
you with a sense of direction, but they also provide you with a focus.
Many managers tend to diminish their effectiveness because they come
to work without a vision or focus. They are there to work on the irrelevant
many, never asking themselves, "What is the one thing that makes
a difference to this organization that I will accomplish today?"
That is the question that I ask myself every day. (Well, if you insist,
almost every day.) First thing in the morning, I write this task down,
along with the many other things that have to be done that day. During
the course of the day, especially after I have been interrupted, I look
back at my list to make sure that I have not lulled myself away from
the critical item or items that are at the top of the list. That takes
a lot of willpower because, as you well know, it is so much more comfortable
to work on the irrelevant many. My strategy is to be tenacious about
the top items on the list to the point that most of the time--to the
chagrin of Marcela, my wife and business partner--I won't call it a
day until they are done. However, I am much more flexible about the
less important items and often carry them forward to the next day, or
better yet throw them away.
ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING
Which strategy you use to stretch your time rubber band is not important,
provided it "forces" you to work on the critical few and it
disciplines you to finish one task before starting another. You see,
how many projects you start doesn't count; the number you finish, even
if it is only one important one, does! In fact, being busy or working
long hours doesn't count either; results, especially the Winning Results
Areas (WRAs), do! So visualize your prioritized goals, and work them
tenaciously until they are done. Never worry about all the things you
are not doing, or all the things you were unable to accomplish yesterday,
because yesterday is gone and all the fretting in the world won't make
it come back.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE THREE-MINUTE RULE
What I described in these three Time Management articles is the system
I use to stretch my time rubber band. It works for me. Use these strategies
as guidelines and set up a system for time management that will work
for you. I said "guidelines" because of a recent experience
with one of my clients. He had just finished reading a current time
management book and was trying to abide by the rules the author had
prescribed. Proud of his success, he was telling me how he had just
told someone who had called him that he would get the answer and call
back so that he could continue working on a major project. Because I
was in the process of writing this article, I asked him about the question
and found out that it was a fairly simple one that probably could have
been answered in a matter of minutes, while the other party remained
on the line. When I asked my client why he had not taken care of it
right away, he said something to the effect of wanting to chunk his
time, so that he could concentrate on the major activities at hand.
Well, in this case the operation was a success but the patient died.
By the time he would finally be able to reconnect with the caller who
had an easy-to-answer question (you know how long it can take to play
telephone tag), my client would have used up far more time than he saved
by chunking his time. In other words, the literal application of a theory
seldom works unless you tailor it to yourself and to the situation,
and then superimpose some common sense. To help my client, I shared
the three-minute rule with him: do anything that can be done in less
than three minutes right then and there. Let's face it; you've been
interrupted already, anyway. So get it over with. You will find that
even though it may violate one of the other rules you were taught, it
will save you lots of time in the long run. The moral of this story
is that you must always look at the bottom line and ask which, all things
considered, is the most cost-effective strategy in the long run. Happy
stretching!
For in-depth help, get yourself a copy of "Time Management: How
to Stretch the Time Rubber Band" by yours truly. For those of you
who need continuing professional education units, it is approved for
4 CPEUs. Details at www.WolfRinke.com/cecredits.html.
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3. HEAR WOLF HOWL--I MEAN SPEAK
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Here is a list of full day seminars that I will be presenting in 2004
that maybe open to you, especially if your company is a member of the
Institute of Management Studies (IMS). Contact the Chairperson for additional
information.
Increasing Your Personal Effectiveness
6/24 Hartford, CT, George Avril, imsct@att.net
7/20 Philadelphia, Joe Paesani, Philadelphia@ims-online.com
Winning Management: Building a Peak Performance Workplace
5/6, London, UK, Mike Matthews, ims@events01.golbalnet.co.uk
5/7, Manchester, UK, Gareth Morris, imsmanuk@aol.com
5/10 Scotland, Graeme Crawford, crawfassocs@BTinternet.com
5/11 Amsterdam, Giep Franzen, Amsterdam@ims-online.com
6/3 New York, Mark Antonucci, mantonu@aol.com
10/1 Minneapolis, James Arnold, jkarnold@imsminneapolis.com
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4. HUMOR BREAK
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Recently I saw the following sign at BWI airport: "When escalator
is out of service, please use stairs." I may be over-analyzing
this, but it seems to me that when an escalator is out of service, it
is stairs!
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For FREE articles, inspirational messages and money saving offers on
books, audio and videotapes that will help you live a happier, healthier
and wealthier life visit our website or call 800-828-WOLF (USA); 410-531-9280.
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5. ABOUT THE EDITOR
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Dr. Wolf J. Rinke, CSP is an internationally recognized motivational
and management keynote speaker and seminar leader who delivers customized
presentations that combine story telling, humor and motivation with
specific "how to" action strategies that participants can
apply immediately to improve their personal and professional lives.
You can preview a live demo at www.WolfRinke.com. He is also a highly
effective management consultant, executive coach and author of 12 books
including: "Make It a Winning Life: Success Strategies for Life,
Love and Business" available at www.WolfRinke.com
To take advantage of Dr. Rinke's services visit our website or call
800-828-9653 or mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com
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6. PRIVACY STATEMENTS AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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We will not make your name or e-mail address available to anyone. Period!
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