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….”
Tag Archives: Avon and Somerset Police
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
You may think you’re a Widget-Cranker. You’re not.
And you aren’t (necessarily) an executive, with a secretary – sorry, personal assistant – to manage your tasks and appointments. You fall somewhere in between, and if you compare yourself to other professional service providers you’ll find that you can easily match your working style to other professionals whose work requires constantly managing appointments, tasks,Continue reading “You may think you’re a Widget-Cranker. You’re not.”
Overcoming Procrastination
Why do you procrastinate? Four reasons. And their cures.
Like it or not, investigators are Project Managers.
Are you investigating anything? If you’re a police officer or a civilian investigator then the answer is, “Of course I am, what else do you think I do all day?”. And what is an investigation? It is a project. A project, as defined by the Project Management Institute, is a ‘temporary endeavour with a startContinue reading “Like it or not, investigators are Project Managers.”
Police Time Management 