Stop the faffing.

One of the constant challenges for the average manager is getting all the tasks that need doing complete. It isn't just a management challenge it hits home at every level; an oft stated concern is 'I just don't have enough time". In the dim and distant past I went on a time management course. One of the slightly facetious statements was "time management is easy; do less". It seemed ridiculous at the time because I wanted a time management course to provide me with more time to do things. Somehow I wanted it to extend the capacity through some preternatural ability to create time. The reality is that time management is essentially about the opposite. It is about finding the correct priority. It is not about creating more time to do things it is about doing the right things in the limited time available. All of this seems to be so self evident that it isn't worth writing. However I think the reality is that we all find periods in our career when we simply don't feel we have enough time. Possibly when the changes in the working landscape are so great that we are under extra pressure. At the moment I am noticing certain acts of prevarication that are reducing my capacity to deliver. Partly it is driven by bad prioritisation and acting upon the tasks that I am comfortable completing rather than those that are urgent or important. But there is also a level of 'faffing'; doing things that add no value other than to delay the commencement of an undesirable or difficult task. So my resolution is to stop the faffing and by doing so to magic up some real and genuine creative.