Something about myself about which I have become aware is an overly active ‘what’s next’ approach to living, and it’s driving me batty. In the excellent drama ‘West Wing, President Josiah Bartlett had a saying, which he repeatedly said during crisis meetings. They’d all be chatting away about a problem, then they’d solve it andContinue reading “Focus – NOT Mindfulness – is what you want.”
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You NEED Structure – to be Flexible.
“I don’t want to manage my time, I like to be spontaneous.” An amusing falsehood I often heard during the time management input I provided to my colleagues when I had that opportunity. Now, in their defence, the people who routinely made that statement were office-based: I can’t say I ever recall those responsible forContinue reading “You NEED Structure – to be Flexible.”
Better Teams are made from Better People
The police service prides itself on how its staff works in high-performing teams, but my own experience suggests that these teams are often a loose set of professional individuals with conflicting priorities who are occasionally brought together in a different order to deal with whatever comes along. Mostly very competent professionals, but the teams areContinue reading “Better Teams are made from Better People”
Don’t Get Comfortable….
One of the things I find most interesting about reading personal development books is the discovery of common themes with different terminologies. I sometimes wonder who invented the concept being explained, and who pinched it. I’d read something in a book and think how clever the author was, and then attend a seminar where aContinue reading “Don’t Get Comfortable….”
You lie because you’re busy. But you’re busy because you lie.
One of the biggest time-wasters I have ever experienced in policing – and as I write this I feel a compunction to confess that I have done it myself – is telling lies. Not perjury-type lies, though. The little white ones. The one where you tell the victim of a crime that something can’t orContinue reading “You lie because you’re busy. But you’re busy because you lie.”
Time Mismanagement – Involuntary?
You’re busy, right? But how much of it is your own fault? You may think that your workload is entirely influenced by circumstance, and therefore take the view that the level of tasks you are stuck with are entirely out of your control. You may recall, from your rookie years, the old ‘self-generated work’ approachContinue reading “Time Mismanagement – Involuntary?”
Dealing With The Dreaded CPS Memorandum….
Ah, the dreaded CPS memo. Often a long list of truly amorphous blobs of undoability (a term I have stolen, I confess). You’re busy, this document arrives in your in-tray and you immediately enter the depths of despair. You read it, and the following thoughts go through your head: I don’t have time. They don’tContinue reading “Dealing With The Dreaded CPS Memorandum….”
Are you a Morning Person?
I’ve often opined that all those Californian, rich(ish) personal development speakers and writers and their ‘Rise at 5AM and exercise’ freaks should come and live where I do in South Wales, where it’s easier to pick up the dog eggs in the garden at 6AM because they’re rock hard with ice. Where the idea ofContinue reading “Are you a Morning Person?”
To Err Is Human: To Admit It, Divine.
An article on taking responsibility as a time management tool.
On the 26th of March 1993, I learned a valuable lesson about punctuality. Viv Martella, a DC at Sun Hill, missed a briefing. Later that day, she approached a van to ask it to move out of the way, and got shot by the wobbers sat inside – the target of the op that wasContinue reading
Police Time Management 