Mens Paternity Leave

College Writing English 111 Fall 2012 Essay #3: Writing Strategy Prompts Evaluation Using the techniques of social satire modeled in â€Å"A Word from My Anti-Phone Soapbox† (pg. 131), assess a public policy, social movement, or cultural trend you believe deserves serious and detailed criticism. But don’t write a paper simply describing your target as dangerous, pathetic, or unsuccessful. Instead, make people laugh at your target while also offering a plausible alternative. Causal Analysis After examining the way Charles Paul Freund deals with jeans (pg. 70), identify a comparable trend you have noticed or a change in society or culture that deserves scrutiny. It might relate to technology, entertainment, political preference, fashion, popularity of careers, or other areas. Write an analysis of the phenomenon, considering either causes or potential consequences of this new mania. Then illustrate the trend with images that suggest its cultural reach or significance. Spen d some time in the opening of your paper describing the trend and establishing that it is consequential.Rhetorical Analysis Using Seth Stevenson’s â€Å"Ad Report Card Can Cougars Sell Cough Drops? † on pg. 253 as a model, write your own critical analysis of a single ad or full ad campaign you find worthy of attention. Choose a fresh campaign, one that hasn’t yet received much commentary. Literary Analysis In â€Å"Insanity: Two Women† (pg. 231), Kanaka Sathasivan does a close, almost line-by-line analysis of Emily Dickinson’s â€Å"I felt a Funeral in my Brain†; then she compares the themes and strategies of the poem to those she finds n Charlotte Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper. † For a project of your own, do either a close reading of a favorite short poem or song or a comparison of two works from different genres of media. For the close reading, tease out all the meanings and strategies you can uncover and show readers how the text works. For the comparison, be sure to being with works that interest you because of some important similarity: They may share a theme or plot or even be the same work in two different media—The Prince of Persia video game and movie, for instance.

Cold War2 essays

Cold War2 essays The Cold War never presented any real threat on America. It was nothing more than the propaganda of two battling super powers. The two super powers involved in the Cold War were The United States of America and The Soviet Union. The two countries were constantly battling over who is the most powerful on the planet. The supposed threats were mere techniques of propaganda used to scare the other countries public into believing they were more powerful. Over and over again the U.S would flex its muscles and then The Soviet Union would flex its muscles until eventually one country couldnt. The Cold War lasted a very long time and it was fought through battles such as the Korean War and Vietnam. Each battle split the country and the U.S would take a side and The Soviet Union would take a side and they would use the country as a battle ground. This was the only actual fighting that occurred. The Cuban missile crisis was an important event that took place during the cold war. In the Cuban missile crisis, America was fearing that The Soviet Union had certain missile instalations in Cuba . The U.S found out about these missile installments from satellite imagery that showed the missiles being transported to Cuba and show the missile sites inside Cuba. "With Castro's approval, the Soviet Union began building secret missile bases in Cuba. On October 16, President Kennedy was shown photographs of the missile installations in Cuba." (Rawnsley, 7) On the surface one would get scared by something like this and that is exactly what The Soviet Union wanted to happen. The whole Cold war was propaganda so by scaring the U.S into thinking they had missiles in Cuba gave them the edge on the war. If The Soviet Union wanted to bomb the U.S they could have easily snuck the missiles in and hidden them. They knew about the satellites and purposely exposed the missiles. "A naval blocka de was imposedosed on Cuba to stop the cons...

Elizabeth Arden, Cosmetics and Beauty Executive

Elizabeth Arden, Cosmetics and Beauty Executive Elizabeth Arden (born Florence Nightingale Graham; December 31, 1884–October 18, 1966) was the  founder, owner, and operator of Elizabeth Arden, Inc., a cosmetics and beauty corporation.  She  used modern mass marketing techniques to bring her cosmetic products to the public and also opened and operated a chain of beauty salons and beauty spas. Her cosmetics and beauty products brand continues today.   Fast Facts: Elizabeth Arden Known For:  Cosmetic business executiveAlso Known As:  Florence Nightingale GrahamBorn:  December 31, 1884 in Woodbridge,  Ontario, CanadaParents: William and Susan GrahamDied:  October 18, 1966 in New York CityEducation: Nursing schoolAwards and Honors:  Là ©gion dHonneurSpouses: Thomas Jenkins Lewis, Prince Michael EvlanoffNotable Quote: To be beautiful and natural is the birthright of every woman.   Early Life Elizabeth Arden was born  as  the fifth of five children in the outskirts of Toronto,  Ontario. Her father was a Scottish grocer and her mother was English and died when Arden was just 6 years old. Her birth name was Florence Nightingale Graham- named, as many of her age were, for Britains famous nursing pioneer.  The family was poor, and she often worked odd jobs to add to family income.  She began training as a nurse but abandoned that path. She then worked briefly as a secretary. Living in New York In 1908 at the age of 24 she moved to New York, where her brother had already moved. She went to work first as a helper to a beautician and then, in 1910, she opened a beauty salon on Fifth Avenue with a partner, Elizabeth Hubbard. In 1914 when her partnership broke up, she opened a Red Door beauty salon of her own and changed her name to Elizabeth Arden, expanding her business under that name. (The name was adapted from Elizabeth Hubbard, her first partner, and Enoch Arden, the title of a Tennyson poem.) Her Business Expands Arden began to formulate, manufacture, and sell her own cosmetic products. She was a pioneer in the marketing of beauty products, since makeup had been associated with prostitutes and lower class women until this era. Her marketing brought makeup to respectable women. She went to France in 1914 to learn beauty practices where cosmetics were already widely adopted and in 1922, she opened her first salon in France, thus moving into the European market. She later opened salons across Europe and in  South America  and Australia. Marriage Elizabeth Arden married in 1918. Her husband Thomas Jenkins Lewis was an American banker, and through him she gained American citizenship. Lewis served as her business manager until their divorce in 1935. She never permitted her husband to own stock in her enterprise, and so after the divorce, he went to work for the rival firm owned by Helena Rubinstein. Spas In 1934, Elizabeth Arden converted her summer home in Maine into the Maine Chance Beauty Spa, and then expanded her line of luxury spas nationally and internationally.  These were the first destination spas of their kind. Politics and World War II Arden was a dedicated suffragette, marching for womens rights in 1912. She supplied the marchers with red lipstick as a sign of solidarity. During World War II, Ardens company came out with a bold red lipstick color to coordinate with womens military uniforms. Elizabeth Arden was a staunch conservative and supporter of the Republican Party. In 1941, the FBI investigated allegations that Elizabeth Arden salons in Europe were being opened as cover for Nazi operations. Later Life In 1942 Elizabeth Arden married again, this time to the Russian Prince Michael Evlonoff, but this marriage lasted only until 1944.  She did not remarry and had no children. In 1943, Arden expanded her business into fashion, partnering with famous designers. Elizabeth Ardens business eventually included more than 100 salons across the world. Her company manufactured more than 300 cosmetic products. Elizabeth Arden products sold for a premium price as she maintained an image of exclusivity and quality. Arden was a prominent racehorse owner, a male-dominated field, and her thoroughbred won the 1947 Kentucky Derby. Death Elizabeth Arden died on October 18, 1966, in New York. She was buried in a cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, as Elizabeth N. Graham.  She had kept her age a secret for many years, but on death, it was revealed to be 88. Legacy In her salons and through her marketing campaigns, Elizabeth Arden stressed instructing women on how to apply makeup. She pioneered such concepts as a scientific formulation of cosmetics, beauty makeovers, travel-size cosmetics, and coordinating colors of eye, lip, and facial makeup. Elizabeth Arden was largely responsible for making cosmetics appropriate- even necessary- for middle- and upper-class women. Women known to use her cosmetics included Queen Elizabeth II, Marilyn Monroe, and Jacqueline Kennedy. The French government honored Arden with the  Là ©gion dHonneur  in 1962. Sources Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. â€Å"Elizabeth Arden.† Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, Inc.Peiss, Kathy  Hope in a Jar: The Making of Americas Beauty Culture. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.Woodhead, Lindy. War Paint: Madame Helena Rubinstein and Miss Elizabeth Arden: Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry. Weidenfeld Nicolson, 2003.

Project Procurement Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Project Procurement Management - Essay Example s or resources required for the execution of a particular project should clearly outline his or her requirements in order to ensure that they meet the standard expectations. According to Fleming (2003), the project manager has a responsibility to ensure that all project activities are coordinated according to schedule and are in compliance with the desired outcomes. In this particular case, it can be seen that Gus reneged his responsibility of ensuring that Bob develops software that is compatible with the in-house database which he developed. Whilst he is happy about the software, he assumed that Bob will guess the correct application that is compatible with the database, which is not the case. Therefore, Bob has no problem and he is entitled to all his payment for the development of the software. In this case, Gus should have acted responsibly for the betterment of the organization and the following measures could have been taken. According to Burke (2007), the success of the project is mainly determined by the commitment of the project manager to ensure that all steps involved in the project are carefully implemented. In order to avoid this situation, both the buyer and the seller must clearly understand the terms of the contract, which is legally binding. According to Gibson (1988), there should be the agreement based on mutual understanding in any given contract, and this principle should always be upheld so as to avoid a situation like the one presented in the case study given above. In brief, it can be noted that there is a need for the project manager to constantly monitor all the developments in a project. Another effective way of doing this is to ensure that there is constant feedback from all parties involved in order to create mutual understanding among

Abraham, the Greatest of Israel's Patriarchs Essay

Abraham, the Greatest of Israel's Patriarchs - Essay Example This has been the life that Abraham went through and has been considered for centuries, as the greatest among the patriarchs. Considered the â€Å"Father of faith† by the New Testament heroes, Abram, whose name was later changed to Abraham as a part of God’s covenant with him, did not just represent a life that received the promises of his God, but also, showed how he may have struggled to develop the faith that he is now known for. Abraham’s weaknesses as shown in the narration of his life in the book of Genesis are almost minimized by the completion of his faith as he obeyed God. However, what probably brought more fame and appreciation to this patriarch not only among the Jews but among other nations as well, is not just his moments of achievements but also his first steps when he was asked to leave his hometown and obey the God who has not been introduced to him in his place. Ur, the homeland of Terah, Abraham’s father (Genesis 11:31), is a place where polytheism is practiced and so it could be safely considered that Abraham was raised in such beliefs (Vos). However, when he heard the voice of God, without a doubt, he took his first step to the place God promised for him without even knowing where it is located or what lifestyle and economic status they might have there. The call of Abraham could be considered something great because with all the weaknesses Abraham showed afterwards, God still raised him to become the ancestor of Israel. He was not a perfect choice if one would look at the standards of a perfect God, yet, his weaknesses were overlooked and his strengths were rather magnified and nurture in the process. Faith and obedience were the basic ingredients Abraham possessed, and these qualities were needed for the task God had in store for the person He wanted to have a covenant with, and the great patriarch showed these through his obedience without question. However, the same faith that he had was still to be put to te st in the many circumstances he had to undergo within twenty-five years before he will finally get the point of God’s covenant with him. When he was seventy-five years old, Abraham was called from Haran to Canaan and although at that age, he and his wife, who was ten years younger, did not yet have a child; God promised Abraham to make him into a great nation and he believed Him (Genesis 12). It was only faith that would make an old man with a wife who was on the post-menopausal stage, believe God to make Abraham’s descendants numerous as the stars or countless as the sand. Abraham was the first among the patriarchs with whom God covenanted with and his descendants always referred to him whenever they claim the promises of God, reminding Him of his covenant with Abraham. For the creator of all things in heaven and on earth to make a covenant with His creation, there must be something great in the human being to have attracted the eyes of God and Abraham had such qualit ies. Although Abraham was not perfect in all his ways rather, he was a picture of great faith when God speaks to him about His covenant but, in times of trials, he showed little faith. For instance, during a time of famine that he and his wife had to go to Egypt for some time so that they will not perish because of all the hardships the famine brought, he feared for his life and asked for Sarah’s protection. He knew that his wife was very beautiful and that the Egyptians can kill him for her sake. He then asks his wife to tell the Egyptians that she is his sister so that he would be treated well instead. Sure enough, he was given many gifts because of Sarah, however, God inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household so they

Nursing Advanced Practice Role Paper -. Florida's Certified registered Research

Nursing Advanced Practice Role -. Florida's Certified registered nurse anesthetists - Research Paper Example Currently there are more than 3,400 CRNAs in the state of Florida and they are the only nurses who are credentialed to provide anesthesia services (Florida Coalition of Advanced Practice Nurses, 2008). In most rural hospitals of Florida, the CRNAs are the sole anesthesia providers. Nationally, the CRNAs are known to deliver 30 million anesthetics each year (American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, 2008). Significant Contributions of CRNAs: The CRNAs have made incredible contributions to nursing and nursing practice. The CRNA’s education and practice has evolved in recent years to fill the growing need surgeons had for anesthetists. Unlike the regular registered nurses, CRNAs function with a high degree of autonomy. The CRNAs provide anesthetic services in surgical, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. As pioneers in the field of anesthesia, the CRNAs are committed to ensure high standards, based on evidence based practices (Northam, 2009). They provide high quality servic es, which are comparable to those provided by their physician counterparts (Florida Coalition of Advanced Practice Nurses, 2008). The CRNAs have made significant contributions in rural healthcare. ... Barriers Confronted: External Barriers: 1. HMOs, Medicaid and many insurance plans do not provide direct payment for the services of ARNPs as they do for their physician counterparts. In fact they do not even contract with the ARNPs directly (Florida Coalition of Advanced Practice Nurses, 2008). 2. ARNPs are denied medical staff privileges in many hospitals and other medical care facilities (Florida Coalition of Advanced Practice Nurses, 2008). 3. When compared to their physician counterparts, ARNPs are subject to strict malpractice insurance requirements (Phillips, 2005). 4. The ARNPs in Florida can prescribe a wide range of medications. However, unlike the ARNPs in other states, the ARNPs in Florida are not permitted to prescribe controlled substances (Phillips, 2005). Internal Barriers: 1. In the state of Florida, CRNAs are required to work under direct supervision of a medical physician, an osteopathic physician or a dentist (Florida Coalition of Advanced Practice Nurses, 2008). They are required to work within the framework of the protocols which identify the medical acts that can be performed and the conditions under which they can be performed. This greatly limits their ability to function independently. 2. APNs generally have inadequate administrative support and are pressed for time as they try to balance clinical and non-clinical activities (Irvine et al, 2000). This is frequently reported as a major barrier to participating in education, research and leadership activities (Sidani et al., 2000). Benefits to nursing and constituents: The increasing demand for APNs has boosted student enrollment into entry-level baccalaureate programs in nursing by 5.7% (AACN, 2011). The scope

Time Management Essay Example for Free

Time Management Essay INTRODUCTION This chapter will begin with a de? nition of time management, and will then discuss common time management problems, and invite you to identify your own issues. It then moves on to examine possible solutions and the guiding principles of time management. To check your understanding there will be a number of scenarios and exercises to practise time management skills, followed by a personal contract aimed at improving your own approach to time management. WHAT IS TIME MANAGEMENT? Time management involves making the best use of time, and getting more done in the time available. It means not wasting time on irrelevant things, instead focusing on important parts of the job. Ultimately this means working calmly and effectively, avoiding the panic and anxiety of the last-minute rush. In the western world, time is treated as a valuable resource which people spend. Most managers claim that they do not have enough time. Often this is blamed on the organisation and colleagues for making too many demands. However, we all have at least some control over how we spend our time. We can and do make choices. Recognising this is the ? rst step on the path to effective time management. DEFINITION OF TIME MANAGEMENT. Time management means taking more control over how we spend our time and making sensible decisions about the way we use it. 29 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Personal Effectiveness If good time management is about taking control, it involves ? nding those areas where you do have control, and also ? nding those where you think you don’t, but really you do. For example you may have far too many things to do and this makes you feel helpless, but maybe you have the option of renegotiating some parts of your work, or even delegating some activities. There may still be some areas where you don’t have control – for example if a key part of the job is to be available at a certain time to provide advice to others, you cannot just decide to be absent. Or you may have a coursework assignment to submit – some deadlines are not renegotiable. In these areas it is more sensible not to waste time railing against these commitments; instead concentrate on ? nding those areas you do have the power to change, and make the changes that will help you to become more effective. Exercises 2. 1 and 2. 2 should start to help you identify those problem areas and areas where you would like to make changes. PREPARATION FOR CHANGE Before reading further in this chapter it is helpful for you to have an idea of how effective you are as a time manager. Re? ecting on your own time bandits and traps will make this chapter more useful and relevant to you. Begin by brainstorming three barriers that you think prevent you from being effective at work, or at study, as indicated in Exercise 2. 1. Now go on to Exercise 2. 2 and rate your effectiveness using the list provided. This list has been developed by distilling some of the common problems that have been identi?ed by several hundred staff and students in workshops held over the last ? ve years at Imperial College. Further exercises and selfevaluation checks are provided on the website. The accuracy of this tool depends on you being honest with yourself, so make sure you rate yourself according to how you actually behave, not how you would like to be. Once you have done Exercise 2. 2 you can return to Exercise 2. 1 and see if the barriers you ? rst identi? ed relate to those issues you have rated 3 in Exercise 2. 2, and if necessary add to, or amend, your answers to Exercise 2. 1. EXERCISE 2. 1 BARRIERS TO BEING EFFECTIVE What are the three main barriers you have that prevent you being effective? 30 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Time management EXERCISE 2. 2 PROBLEMS DIAGNOSING YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT Note: assess your behaviour as it is not as you would like it to be Go through the list of time management problems below and rate each one with relation to its frequency as a problem for you and also its severity using the following ratings: 0 this problem does not relate to me 1 this problem partly relates to me, relates some of the time 2 this is a regular problem for me 3 this is a major problem for me, it severely hampers my effectiveness A. Prioritisation and scheduling 1. I am not sure what tasks I have to do each day, I don’t make a to-do list. 2. When I have ? nished one job I just go on to the next without checking on my priorities. 3. I don’t work out which tasks have the biggest gain for me. 4. I have dif? culty in setting priorities. 5. I have dif? culty in keeping to priorities or a schedule I have set. 6. I am a perfectionist and even if I have several tasks to do I allow myself to spend ages on one task to get it right, which can cause problems in completing my work. 7. I often do trivial tasks at my high-energy time of day. 8. I don’t stop to think when my best time of day is for working. B. Persistence, procrastination and focus 9. I ? it from task to task, starting a lot of things but not always ? nishing them. 10. I feel very intimidated by large important tasks, and don’t break them down into smaller ones. 11. I put off dif? cult tasks until the last possible moment. 12. I procrastinate, prevaricate and can’t decide what to do, nor make decisions. 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3. 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 31 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www.cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Personal Effectiveness 13. I put thing off until the last minute and then I have to work in a rush and panic. 14. I allow myself to be interrupted from my work, for example by the phone, talking to others, distractions, new e-mails coming in. 15. I spend ages on the telephone, sur? ng the net, or answering e-mails. 16. Once I get started, I cannot stop a task, even if it is taking far too much time and there are other pressing things to do. 17. I don’t have any protected time in the day when I can get on with my priorities. C. Role de? nition 18. I am not sure what my key objectives are. 19. I am unclear of my role de? nitions and lines of responsibility. 20. I’m not sure how long certain tasks take so ? nd it hard to allocate the appropriate time to them. 21. I try and do everything myself, and do not consider whether it would be better to delegate tasks, or ask for more help and support. D. Work environment and organisation 22. My workspace is a mess, I can never ? nd anything at work, and papers pile up around me without being ? led. 23. I don’t know what to do with paper – I just leave it hanging around. 24. I don’t have anywhere where I can work uninterrupted. 25. My work environment is noisy and distracting, and I don’t ? nd ways to deal with this. 26. If I ? nd myself with free time in the day, for example when commuting, waiting for an appointment, I don’t have things with me to do. 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 32 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Time management E. Study skills 27. I take ages to read anything, and ? nd it hard to remember what I have read. 28. I’m not sure how to go about academic or work related reading. F. Assertiveness 29. I ? nd it very hard to say ‘no’ to other people. 30. I feel guilty if I am getting on with my own agenda and not focusing on helping others. 31. I spend most of my time doing things for other people, and hardly any time getting on with my own agenda. G. Anxiety, stress and emotion 32. I worry a lot and regularly suffer from work related anxiety and stress. 33. I don’t feel very con? dent so I often worry that I’m not doing well or going about my work in the right way. 34. I never have fun at work, I don’t enjoy my work. 35. I get very bored at work and this slows me down or allows me to get sidetracked. 36. I ? nd it hard to concentrate. H. Life balance 37. I don’t have time for exercise, health, leisure, family, I just work all the time. 38. I get very tired and exhausted at work. Scoring 0–38 Averaging 0s and 1s You are an excellent time manager 39–76 Averaging 1s and 2s You have some areas to work on but overall you are an effective time manager 77–114 Averaging 2s and 3s You have a big problem with time management and need to take action now to get yourself more in control of your time (but don’t worry – that is what this chapter aims to do) 33 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3. 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 Personal Effectiveness Below are some common examples of time management problems. EXAMPLE 2. 1 PROBLEMS EXAMPLES OF TIME MANAGEMENT Work -related ‘I work on a project to implement IT in my organisation, but I report to two bosses, the head of the IT Department, and the Project Leader – their demands of me are diverse and sometimes con? icting and very confusing, as a result I get in a mess. ’ ‘I work in an open-plan of? ce. I constantly get distracted by people talking on the phone, chatting across desks, stopping to talk to me. I just cannot concentrate on my work, and I end up frittering my time on super? cial tasks whilst at work, and then working well into the night at home to catch up with the tougher parts of my work. ’ ‘I am a design engineer and each part of the work I do seems to take at least three times longer than we estimate it will take, meaning that I spend a lot of time explaining why the work is late and reorganising schedules and activities. This impacts negatively on people further down the development process. ’ ‘I set myself priorities but because I also work as a support service for other people in the organisation, I get inundated by e-mails and requests from others. I spend all my time meeting other people’s demands and my priorities go out of the window! ’ ‘Last year I spent ages developing a balanced scorecard system for the organisation to performance manage the managerial team, then a new director was appointed and he pulled the plug on months of work and asked me to set up a totally different scheme. It seems like much of my work is a waste of time. Study -related ‘I am engaged in a part-time professional development programme ‘Into Leadership’ where I am attending day release modules, writing coursework assignments both individually and with a group, and am trying to juggle this in between a busy work schedule in my role in the Laboratories of a Government Department. I feel so panicked with all I have to do I end up feeling paralysed. ‘I don’t seem to be able to get going early enough on my distance learning course assignments and so I often end up staying up into the early hours to get it in the following morning. The work is rushed and mediocre as a result, and I am then tired for days after. ’ ‘I have young children and I ? nd it impossible to get on with my studying at home. As a result I feel incompetent when it comes to discussing case studies in course discussion because I haven’t the faintest idea what they are about as I haven’t read them in advance. WHERE DOES ALL MY TIME GO? – THE TIME BANDITS AND TRAPS A time bandit is a work practice, attitude or behaviour that leads to ineffective working practices or your time getting stolen or expropriated away from your core priorities and frittered on less important activities. 34 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co.uk/bookstore. Time management Epicurus and the pleasure principle Think about your own time management bandits and traps, do you see any patterns? One common pattern is to put the fun, exciting, interesting, easy things ? rst, and put off doing the boring, dull, dif? cult tasks until later. It is a kind of pleasure principle – going for the short-term gains, surrendering to wants and desires as they arise – immediately. Epicurus, the philosopher who is attributed with setting up the foundations for a pleasure principle, believed in following desires. However, he is often mistakenly thought to have been a slave to avarice and pleasure, indulging himself in whatever desire arose at a given moment. This is not actually true. Epicurus followed a simple life, one of healthy food, friendship and good company, freedom and thought, not an undisciplined response to every whim and fancy. In relation to your own work or study, following the Epicurian principle will lead you to doing things you enjoy instead of focusing on your priorities. It is a mistake to think that taking the easy route will improve things in the long run. In reality, giving in to the pleasure principle in the short term results in a mess later on, because over time what happens is the accumulation of a whole mountain of tasks that have been ignored. This can lead to misery, anxiety and depression. A lot of thought and planning went into Epicurus’s way of life, and creating time for a balanced, enjoyable life takes planning and selfdiscipline. The last-minute rush and adrenaline junky Some people like to live fast and furiously, and so working in a calm systematic way can seem very boring. Waiting for a burst of energy, or the adrenaline rush that comes with the fear of a deadline looming can become a way of life, but does usually mean that when the job actually gets done, it is done in a haphazard panicky way, leaving the person exhausted after late-night working and long hours in order to ? nish it on time. In the long run health can be affected, as the ? ght or ? ight impulse that triggers adrenaline is intended for moments of danger, not a lifetime of stress. Hamlet: the procrastinator ‘To be or not to be . . . ’ – ‘should I start this paper or go and deal with those statistics, I don’t know! ’ It isn’t noble to play Hamlet unless you are Lawrence Olivier! If it can’t be faced now, it might be worse later! What is more, as well as getting nothing done, the agony is repeated over and over again, and usually by tomorrow there is no change except the increased anxiety of another day gone by without completing the task. There are different reasons for procrastination and prevarication: not having the energy (which is represented by the adrenaline junky above), not having a starting point or the right information (but will you have the information tomorrow?), or being indecisive over what exactly to get on and do. All that happens is that work piles up. It’s all too much However, for some people, being busy is a way of life. They may ask themselves: – Where does all my time go? – Why are there not enough hours in the day? Typically these people then fool themselves with the thought ‘Well, this is just a busy period, once I’ve got this assignment or deadline over then life will be easier and I can relax’. This is ? ne if true, but often one deadline out of the way can just open someone up to a new 35 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Personal Effectiveness deadline, as they rush from one hectic task to the next. Sometimes this is self-generated: they can’t help but take on more and more and more. Another way they fool themselves is to say ‘I’m a no-limit person. I can keep on taking on more and more and more’. No one is superman or superwoman, there are only 1,440 minutes in a day, 1,000 when we deduct sleeping, washing, dressing, eating, etc, etc, etc. In our lives we probably spend six months waiting for red traf? c lights to change, two years looking for things, 24 years asleep . . .. There is only so much time left, and time is not in? nitely elastic, we do have limits. After all, no one ever said on their deathbed: I wish I’d spent more time at the of? ce! The headless chicken: action without thought There may be other reasons for taking on too much work, being too busy or feeling driven. Some people may be working hard but without having clear priorities, and without planning. Spending much too much time on things that are not at all important. Giving the illusion of working hard but not working productively. The butter? y: ? itting from task to task Helen arrives at work, puts her coat on the door peg, sits down and turns on the computer. She intends to spend the morning writing the proposal for the new performance appraisal system – a very important part of her job. But ? rst she listens to her telephone messages and realises Gerald wants her to produce some ? gures for a meeting the following week. She accesses her computer to pull out the ? gures, and notices she has 21 e-mails, and begins trawling through these. The ? rst few she just looks at and leaves open to come back to later, the sixth one asks her to give some dates for a meeting and she opens her diary to look at dates, and sees that for one of the dates she has a presentation to give on that day. Oh she must remember to take the ? les home for preparing the presentation so she can do it at the weekend. She gets up and opens her ? ling cabinet to retrieve them . . Oh dear, she is feeling rather giddy, .. . . she hasn’t got anything done and she has been at work an hour already . . .. Oh she feels so confused, she thinks . . . I’d better go and get a coffee .. .. One result of not planning or sticking to priorities can be the ‘butter? y’. This is someone who ? its from task to task in a downward spiral of panic and anxiety, getting in a mess, never getting the boost and closure of completion. Many managers have to be butter? ies, for example Mintzberg (1973) and Kotter (1982) showed that managers spend nine minutes or less on 50 per cent of their activities, are subject to constant interruptions and that management is a very fragmented activity. Good time management brings order to this fragmentation, rather than exacerbates it. Interruptions, interruptions There are two types of interruptions: interruptions from others that distract us from our work, and ‘self’ interruptions, ways in which we distract ourselves from our intended activities. What is your working environment like – quiet and easy to concentrate in, or noisy and busy? Some people work in open-plan of? ce environments where they cannot help but get drawn into conversations with others. Think how you manage your interruptions, what happens if you are concentrating on something really important and somebody starts casually chatting to you as they pass your desk or door? 36 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co.uk/bookstore. Time management The proliferation of communication technologies has meant there are a myriad of ways in which we can be interrupted at any time of day. The ding of a new e-mail arriving in the computer, the ringing telephone, the mobile phone, just ensure you are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Take the telephone – this is designed for people to contact you when it is convenient for them, not necessarily for you. Some people spend a long time on the phone, not getting to the point, getting sidetracked into idle talk. How long are your phone calls, could they be shorter? E-mail is also a tempter. In some roles people are receiving 50–100 e-mails a day and if every time one arrives on the computer they stopped what they were doing to look at it, it would never be possible to concentrate. The escapologist: IT and other escapes However, it isn’t just the requirements of others that interrupt us – we also interrupt ourselves. For example, maybe by not being able to resist sur? ng the Net for another couple of hours, just having a look at a couple more search paths for a holiday or outing. Some are self-interrupters, maybe ? nding it dif? cult to concentrate they just have to go off for another coffee or go and chat to someone else, because they can’t quite get down to it. This can be even worse at home – when you spot the washing or ironing or vacuuming out of the corner of your eye. It is amazing how you can suddenly feel the urge to do a bit of gardening or even jobs you normally hate like cleaning the cooker suddenly seem compelling when you are trying to get down to work on a challenging report. The doormat: yes, yes, yes. One problem can be unassertiveness, or unwillingness to say ‘no’: This may be because of low internal self-esteem, wanting to ‘please others’ in order to feel good, or even being too scared to say no. Ironically always saying ‘yes’ may just mean a person is taken for granted, not necessarily respected and liked. In the end, they can cause more problems for other people, because they become ill or are too busy to do everything to which they have committed, which can be very irritating for others. Presenteeism Sam was always ? rst into the of? ce every day and last to leave in the evening. Everyone commented on how committed he was, what a hardworking member of staff. One day Sarah wondered what Sam was actually working on all day at the computer screen, she wandered up to his desk and looked over his shoulder, and found he was playing solitaire! Being at a desk doesn’t mean the same as working – it is passing time instead of spending time. Sometimes the most effective people are those you don’t see, maybe they ? nd somewhere quiet to work where they don’t get interrupted. Effective people don’t necessarily need to impress on others how hard they work – their output is more important than the appearance of work. Some of? ce environments, however, encourage presenteeism – focusing performance evaluation on time spent at the desk, clockwatching, rather than on the quality of work. Wasted spaces It has been calculated that people lose up to 20 per cent of their time waiting. All that time spent sitting on the train into work, or waiting for the printer to ? nish, or a lecture or meeting to start are wasted periods that could have been used to complete a small task, or even begin a bigger one. Do you sit and stare realising you don’t have any work at hand for such 37 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Personal Effectiveness occasions, or does it even occur to you in the ? rst place to ? ll these spaces? Sometimes a commuter journey is the ideal space in which to plan the day, write out a schedule, or maybe even concentrate on reading an article or report. Finishing a small task, such as ? lling in a form, or even beginning a larger task can be slotted into these moments. Perfectionist The perfectionist pays attention to detail, agonises over every decision, every word in a report. They must get it right. But what is the point if it is too late, or they have ignored several other things – is it all really necessary? Not all tasks have to be done to the same high standard: writing a routine e-mail for example – does it really matter if the grammar is correct? Paper mountains Some people allow a mountain of paper to pile up on their desk, around their ? oor – a trail of paper that doesn’t allow them to be able to ? nd anything they need. They can waste lots of time trying to ?nd things, and the paper mountain doesn’t make for good of? ce sculpture, it festers and exudes stress and incompetence. I’m in a meeting! Consider the costs of 10 people in a one-hour meeting at ? 50 per hour each plus all the overheads and opportunity costs, the time spent travelling, preparation – is it worth it? Worse still are those meetings where people are unprepared, there is no agenda; the chair allows the discussion on trivial items to go on for ages without coming to any decisions. Heather was chairing a students union General Purposes Committee meeting. The meeting discussed for an hour the subject of what colour the new minibus should be – the Labour Society rep suggested red, the Conservative Group rep blue, the Liberal democrat member orange, and the chap from the Greens said they shouldn’t have a minibus at all! Eventually the meeting ran out of time and the main item on the agenda – what to do about the student debt situation never got discussed! Poorly run meetings are not only a waste of time, but also very demoralising. D-I-Y enthusiast. The D-I-Y enthusiast thinks they can do everything themselves, never giving a thought to delegation or sharing the work with others. Moreover, when they get into trouble, they don’t go and ask for help, they soldier on miserably, not getting anywhere except lost and desperate. If you have too much to do, or are stuck, do you look to see how the work can be allocated differently, do you call in for help or the support of others? Why oh why do D-I-Y? Refusing to ask for help may be due to lack of assertiveness, but it may also be arrogance – the belief that no one can do it as well, so it is better done singlehanded. Other people will never learn the skills if they are not given a chance to start. Delegation is not just a downward action, it can also move upwards, for example where something really isn’t a person’s job maybe they need to refer it back. THE CONSEQUENCES Poor time management is one of the greatest sources of managerial stress. It leads to feelings of incompetence and anxiety. The debilitating symptoms and consequences of stress 38 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Time management are discussed more fully in Chapter 9. It also leads to crisis management – where someone responds to whoever is pushing hardest or shouting the loudest. The working environment is likely to be cluttered, with piles of papers on the desk which heaves with awful tasks represented by bits of paper and post-its that decompose or fall off onto the ? oor. It doesn’t just inconvenience the person creating this muddle – it inconveniences others who have to wait for work that is late, or shoddy work that has been done in a rushed way, or invitations that haven’t been responded to. Poor time managers may also feel indispensable; so they can’t take a holiday or a break, because no one can manage without them. Given the choice it is unlikely you would decide to work in this way. But you are always given the choice, and the trick is to take back control and make choices that will make you better time managers. But why don’t you do that already? It is because poor time management is a habit. ARISTOTLE AND THE HABIT OF THE GOOD LIFE It is quite likely that in identifying your own time bandits, you already had an idea what they were. You may even have a good idea of what you should be doing differently. This chapter is not about knowing what to do, it is about putting thought into action, and this requires behavioural change which is a bit trickier to effect. Aristotle talked about the habit of the good life. The good life is not an abstract idea, it is a habit that is nurtured and acted upon over a period of time. Time management is a habit. It is likely you are accustomed to your habits, may even be comfortable with the way you do things, and they won’t be easy to change, because that requires effort and persistence. Therefore it won’t be enough if this chapter merely identi? es for you what you should be doing differently. You have to break a habit, create a habit, and persevere to maintain it. Below are some good habits, but for them to work and guarantee you more time, you will need to put them into practice. When we start something new, it is easier to take one step at a time, building up competence and new habits gradually. The personal contract at the end of this chapter will enable you to plan your behaviour change. Glance at this contract now, and you will see it requires you to identify three changes you intend to make, and to put the ? rst step into practice in the following week. As you read through the good habits think which one would be most relevant for you to start with, which will give you the biggest gain, and which relates most closely to the problems you identi?