It drives my boss crazy. Always has, always will. To that end, I offered him an annotated excerpt from a section of book written in 1994 by a favorite author encouraging him to take what he wanted and leave the rest. I was not asking absolution or forgiveness.<\/p>\n
Excerpted from The Pursuit of WOW!: Every Person’s Guide to Topsy-Turvy Times – 1994 A student in New Zealand recently wrote, asking me to reveal my I came up with five strategies:<\/p>\n 1. Focus and reject. 2. Use your day “right.” The fruitfulness of this period of creativity depends on how focused I am (see #1) and how rested I am.<\/p>\n On average, I\u2019d say these creative periods last for about four hours. It is that time I reserve for creative problem solving and figuring out which tasks are critical. My best time for interaction is in the afternoon and early evening. It is that time that I am best suited to personal interaction with others.<\/p>\n My best time for analytical work is late evening and into the night. It is my most productive time inasmuch as productivity has tangible results. It is then that I explain my analysis, do accounting, communicate personally, etc. I\u2019m not being creative during this period, I am really just formalizing and documenting the results of my early morning work, which through interaction with others, was tested and destroyed or confirmed and tweaked and thus is either ultimately abandoned or published.<\/code><\/p>\n 3. Rest and\/or frolic. 4. Pursue “mindless” interruptions. I can be unobtrusive from anywhere.<\/code><\/p>\n 5. Be true to yourself. But can you get away with strategies like mine? I can tell you I’ve been Who would have guessed I\u2019d get a call four years later, and be writing this tonight?<\/code><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It drives my boss crazy. Always has, always will. 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\nBy Tom Peters, the best selling business author of all time<\/p>\n
\ntime-management secrets. My first instinct was to ignore the request — the
\ntopic irks me. I get irritated when people pull out fat “organizer” kits.
\nTime-management “consultants” really bug me. My reaction is doubtless
\ndefensive. I have no time-management secrets. In fact, I consider myself a
\ncrappy time manager. Still, I like to respond to student requests. Besides, I
\nfigured I must have an implicit time-management model.
\n
\nI\u2019m a terrible time manager. I devote so much of my time to my work I am a source of great disappointment to many people, especially family members.<\/code><\/p>\n
\nOver the years, when something gets really serious, I “switch on” the issue at
\nhand and “switch off” everything else. To switch off is more important than to
\nswitch on. Mail, phone calls, dinner parties, the leaky barn roof — later,
\nace. Such intensity of focus involves risk — alienating superiors and
\nsubordinates alike, maybe even quitting a job. It means that “available
\nyou\/good ole Joe” ain’t available for the next month, the next year.<\/p>\nIt is what it is. Unless I am alerted by others to critical needs that require immediate attention, working remotely allows me to implicitly switch off outside distractions. When alerted, I reorganize my priorities and get where I need to be when I need to be there, or do what new things need to be done. Otherwise, my own agenda is carried out to the best of my then current capabilities (see #2-5 below).<\/code><\/p>\n
\nUnderstanding your metabolism is critical. I can work creatively from about 4
\nA.M. to 11 A.M. and work reasonably intelligently for another three hours.
\nAfter that, forget it. It took me decades to figure that out. But now I’m
\nreligious about paying attention to my inner clock.<\/p>\nMy most creative time begins whenever I wake from a restful sleep \u2013 note, duration of sleep and restfulness of sleep are not synonymous. To sleep, I must be exhausted, or at peace.<\/p>\n
\nWinston Churchill invariably took a long afternoon nap — even while he was
\nEngland’s prime minister during World War II. I like that idea, and practice a
\nvariant while working on books. I write from about 4 A.M. to 7:30 A.M., nap
\nuntil about 8:30, then go at it again. I’m always surprised at how refreshed I
\nfeel after an hour’s pillow time. Everyone goes through daily doldrums. Knock
\noff — nap, isometrics, meditation — and recharge. Beyond that, a couple of
\nweeks (or months) of rest and frolic in the midst of a daunting task is
\nenormously stimulating. (I try to take at least a few weeks off between drafts
\nof a book.) Woe betide the “pluggers” who pride themselves on never taking
\nbreaks: Dullness is their just dessert.<\/p>\nI sleep best when I\u2019m tired of thinking, am distressed or depressed or when I am at peace, whenever and whichever it is.<\/code><\/p>\n
\nStudies suggest the most effective bosses thrive on unscheduled interruptions;
\nthe least effective chiefs program their days down to the minute. Practical
\ntranslation: Allow for (plan for!) productive diversions. Take occasional
\noff-the-wall calls that just might provide a highly profitable insight: “I
\nthought you ought to know that your top-of-the-line product has a fatal flaw,
\nthough I’m sure your engineers must have told you.” Ho. Ho. Ho. No, they had
\nnot. I worry when the infotech gurus promise we’ll soon be able to get our
\nnews (papers, magazines, etc.) tailored to “detailed informational needs.”
\nYuck! I often find more useful information about “life” in Section D of USA
\nToday than in the Wall Street Journal. Most bursts of inspiration come from
\nthe quirky juxtaposition of information. The weekly TV ratings may suggest
\nmore about consumer trends than the $200,000 market research you just
\ncommissioned. A night at the opera may be more help with a personnel problem
\nthan three hours with a human resources staffer — or reading some damn
\nbestseller on e-m-p-o-w-e-r-m-e-n-t.
\n
\nI welcome and encourage people to call me anytime, answer emails throughout the day if I am working on my computer, and invite others to offer their insights or seek my advice. I play chess and scrabble online. It keeps my mind occupied when I just need to step away from \u201cbigger\u201d problems that I can\u2019t seem to focus on. Otherwise, unless I have something in particular to talk about, I\u2019d rather not intrude.<\/p>\n
\nWhile I hope this brief recitation helps stretch your imagination, it is not a
\nto-do list. We all have different rhythms. Your “time-management strategy”
\nmust fit you.<\/p>\nAmen.<\/code><\/p>\n
\npracticing these sometimes antisocial habits since I was a young Navy ensign
\nin Vietnam (my first real job). When faced with a challenge, like designing a
\nbridge to be built out of the scraps at hand, I’d sometimes disappear for
\nseveral days. In subsequent jobs, I’d evaporate for weeks and, in one case,
\nmonths. In the latter instance, I was subsequently fired. It was the biggest
\ncareer boost ever. (It gave me the space to focus on what was important.)<\/p>\n
\nWorking as I work also cost me this job, a job I loved, and did exceptionally well at, from 1995 through 2005. I resumed that position in 2009 and am still there. I haven't changed a bit.<\/p>\n