Owning your own company has a lot of advantages, work where you want to, who you work with, and who you want to employ. Being in IT for the past couple years you learn a lot about how people operate when they are left alone to complete a job that they are paid to do per job, and how someone works when they are employed with a salary.
Looking back at the exercise that demonstrated how and where a production line can bottle up it made me reflect on my work habits and those of people I have worked with. Once you are able to expand a operation on your own and hire someone to “help” you increase productivity you have to know the job that you are going to hand off front and back.
This is the only way that I can ever feel comfortable handing a job off. You have to understand how much time it takes to complete each task, and at what point do you stop wanting to even do your job. That way you will know what the “breaking point” is for anyone else.
I didn’t just learn this form people that I mentored before opening my own consulting company, but from past employers. Managers of current retail locations either had a lot of experience before they became a manager or worked for the company . To own a Mc Donald’s a requirement is that you had to be a employee for some time before they will allow you to invest your two million dollars to open your own location.
I never thought about all of this comparing the idea that all of my bosses most likely done the task that is being assigned to me. I think that this might be why some employees are so concentrated on why they believe that they
Compare this idea to what happened in class when the teacher was kicking worker number twos chair. There are always going to be bad bosses by all means. So no one take offence from this post if you have a bad boss. It really is your ability to tune certain people out when you are accomplishing your work. This will allow you to controlee your stress levels. Which is an important part of any job because some people are always going to be in your face about a dead line from the start.
This is exactly why I think the prof was yelling out constantly how many minutes we had left to build our towers in the second exercise late that very day. She was just trying to see if anyone would get nervous constantly knowing how much time they had left and would knock their tower down because of it. We are always going to have high stress situations so knowing your tasks and allocating time for time management is very important. The question I have for everyone out there is do you properly organize your time? If so what do you do to accomplish this?
This post reminded me of a time in my career where i dealt with a boss who liked to micromanage. I was working at a upscale restaurant and my manager would analyze and criticize everything I did. I agree with Clayton however, that I needed to tune him out sometimes in order to do what I had to do. In that job, and essentially every job I’ve had, I’ve had to organize my time by finding routines. Ex. Check messages, count inventory, change layouts…etc. I think by creating routines you figure out what works for you and you can show others (employees, managers) that you are doing your job effectively and in your own way.
Well to be honest no I don’t organize my time in the way that I can consume every minute without wasting any. But I think the busier you are the better you can organize your work/life schedule. For example I recently started a new job, going to school and working makes me organize my day in the way that I can fit everything in without wasting any time. At work I know I’m going to be busy every minute of it and at home I know I will have to plan accordingly so I don’t miss anything important. I would agree with you being your own boss is great in terms of having all the time however you are more likely to put more hours a week then a regular 9-5 job out there.
Way to go Maria, congrats on your new job.
You also bring up a relevant point, I do work a lot. Most days I am up by 530am and I don’t get to bed until around 11 – 12pm (keep in mind that this includes 20 credit hours here at DePaul). This is because most people that own their own company have no one to blame for something going wrong besides themselves, and that is why most will work until everything is complete.
Things tend to change when your reputation is at stake and not some company you “worked at once”. This is because your reputation has to be the hardest thing to re-build in the business world. Thank you for your comment Maria and good luck with the new job.
Hey Vince I am glad that you were able to relate to my post.
In regards to your previous boss, people that are going to be negative all the time and over analyze situations constantly will always be around. It is important to take the constructive criticism when you are in the hot seat. Then brush it off and find a way to motivate yourself to perform at a higher level to stay off their radar.
Personally I am not a fan of having negative people around me like that so I am not sure how long I would be able to take that. I will assume that this is why he ended up as your previous employer vs. your current one.
Everyone will have different views on what they believe is the “proper” way to organize their time. I would just suggest they you tailor your routine or method to your needs and standards. We all operate in many different ways and at different cylinders. My method to my madness is very concise when it comes organizing my time. I have a list (mostly a mental list) of to do’s like most people. However, unlike most people I don’t spend too much time figuring out which task i’m going to do first, I just start. Now, I know there will be some tasks that would naturally take precedence over others but its key for me to just start one and keep gong until I have nothing else to do on my list or agenda.
You brought up some really good points however, I disagree with the chair kicking part. It is important to control stress levels however, when your manager is on your case about completing a task, chances are you may go wrong or make a mistake. Sometimes, it is important to just be given a deadline instead of having someone remind you every minute of that deadline.
To answer your question, yes I have actually started organizing my time much better since I started working. I believe the busier one gets, the more important time management becomes for him/her. I have actually stopped procrastinating since I started working and going to school full-time. The reason behind this is that it was easier to handle the stress of leaving work for last minute when my schedule was not that hectic. Now, I feel like I can’t afford the stress which is why I stay more organized.
Last quarter I took 5 classes and worked 4 days a week as an intern. This in turn forced me to efficiently organize my time. In addition, I tend to set deadlines for myself and create to-do lists in an attempt to stay on schedule.
I never really considered that most of my previous employers and managers were once in my shoes, such as having to count inventory, wait tables or ring up items at Dominick’s. I agree that everyone needs to learn how to control their stress levels and that knowing how to keep the levels low, one will be able to concentrate on working hard and succeeding in the job.
I loved your article because I enjoy reading about new ways to efficiently use and manage time. I believe time is so important and unfortunately most people and companies loose track of time and deadlines. People loose jobs and company’s go out of business because due to lack of time management and punctuality. I too, always reference back to some of my amazing, efficient, and promising managers in times of tension and work overload. I than try to reevaluate the situation and bring back my concentration. One thing that has helped me over the years and what I have been told is to always make a “to do list” the night before no matter how big or small the task is. Whether its for work or personal, a systematic to do list has been key to my success.