Tag Archives: time management

Complaints and Time Management. And eye-pokery.

Time management applied to complaints? Nonsense! Or is it? When I was a uniform PC during the Jurassic Era, I was ‘proud’ to be top of the force for the number of complaints I received in one month (or quarter, I may have been less productive….). I was also pleased that my own relief sergeantContinue reading “Complaints and Time Management. And eye-pokery.”

You HAVE to Let It Lie.

This might not seem to be about policing, but bear with me because it really is. I am executing a will. It is an easy will, but despite being a qualified legal executive (which was handy in police work, believe it or not) I have found the process to be somewhat wearing. Just as youContinue reading “You HAVE to Let It Lie.”

Focus – NOT Mindfulness – is what you want.

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.”

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….”