Gwin Scott

Observations of In-Efficiency

Over the last few months, ive seen firsthand or heard of others experience specific inefficiencies that have occured that represent a broad scope of situations. The bottom line is that it is a waste of time and counter productive to our daily tasks. Im talking about some pretty basic areas, but over time they add up and can be somewhat annoying. Much of it is in reference to meetings/email and customer service oriented areas that easily could be improved...and whoever the front line points of contact are, i think there needs to be greater awareness that this is occuring ie:

--Meeting in person when an email vote would be acceptable (1 hr of waste)

--Meetings that occur with no agenda or no objective or that go on too long. Also people that are looking for advice and insights and then dont follow up at all when offered ie 'Im lkg for a job, can you introduce me to someone at fedex or that does x and y' (3-4 hrs of lost time)

--One of our EM partners goes to the DR's office every 2 mos or so and they always ask him the same 15 questions which he responds 'the same as last time or that hasnt changed'...so in an act of small courage, he leaves the room and tells the person administering to get his file...bf he sees the DR...so he can make a few phone calls. His message was, that my time is valuable and dont waste even 30 min on something you already have in a file. Good on him.

--A friend asked the post office to forward his mail on a certain date and it took 2-3x for them to get it right which bc of his travel schedules his mail built up in his box and when he returned it started getting forwarded. (minor inconvenience)

--Credit card company--I reactivated a visa card recently and for some reason bc of security issues i assume it took about 4-5 days for any transactions to be accepted, when they told me that the card was activated. After calling them 2 more times they again said that the card was good and on the 3rd attempt, it was finally accepted. also in speaking with that cust svce rep about adding my wife to the acct and to send an extra card...that never occured and i had to call again which they said that for some reason, it never got sent. (1 hr over 3-4 calls of being on hold/on the phone waiting)

Sometimes we dont have full control over these situations and certains things are always going to happen, but in trying to be more selective and offer suggestions, can only improve the productivity levels as it is hard to get time back once it is gone!

It's about the Journey

Timothy Ferriss's book, The 4-Hour Workweek  http://search.half.ebay.com/the-4-hour-work-week_W0QQmZbooks has gotten a lot of press lately, in particular an article in the ny times this past sunday. being a former silicon valleyer, i can see where this topic of working too much and shifting priorities has gotten all the hype it has, as there are so many entrepreneurs who are out there grinding it out 24x7. I like m. andreessen's term, 'productivity porn' as that sums it all up pretty accurately esp in this world of blackberries, blogging, texting, emailing, multitasking, etc---all to maximizing one's personal productivity levels.

But really it should be all about the journey and not a sprint. sure most are all infatuated with wealth creation as fast as possible. we should be enjoying it all along the way and not burning it out until an objective is met. i really like ferriss's "mixing it up" attitude and experimentation with horseback archery, kickboxing, and doing the tango....and traveling the world. all work and no play makes for dullness and a loss of perspective.

Some of this book reminds me of my time at Turner Broadcasting, where Ted (esp in the early days of the company) had this mentality of getting away. fortunately his mgmt team was top notch, filled with a lot of mavericks themselves, but Ted would venture off for weeks at a time to sail, literally in races around the world...while at the same time trying to launch cable channels. so he did learn to outsource tasks, as he had no choice.

many of us prob need to be more external and personal in our efforts, inst of resorting solely to a computer to get things accomplished and to communicate.  working 4 hrs/week wont work, but showing more balance both in a business and personal world is what i got out of it...

Swimming the 'ole miss'

Ive been wanting to do this for a long while and it is time----swimming across the mississippi river. my inspiration got re-ignited with the latest issue of outside magazine, where a high school acquaintance (hampton sides) wrote about his experiences on the river which is a great story, as per this podcast . http://outside.away.com/mediaplayer/application.html?uniqueid=a07032&page=popup.  Ive got this great guide that is going to lead the trip, john ruskey  http://www.island63.com/about.cfm who is from the article.

why do you might ask i would want to do something like this?  being from memphis, you cant escape the river. 'it is obvious and it is just there'. as john ruskey says, it should be written in the constitution that everyone should swim across 'the beast' and that it must be part of your soul. i guess too i just like a good challenge, so im going to rally 4-5 others to come along and either swim it or even sit in the canoe. im hoping to make it work in oct/nov.

interested?

   

Prioritizing hours in a week

This Sat am my wife and i were discussing how much time we spend during the week on certain tasks and where there might be additions (or deductions) or shifts in those priorities. im generally very flexible and try to avoid constant routine or a regular schedule, as i like more diversity during the course of the week, yet not losing focus on the important stuff. here is my hr breakdown on a personal basis vs work-oriented:

168--hrs in the week

56--sleep

52--work

14--wifetime

12--eating

8--reading/paper/trades/books

6--internet/email--pers/bus

4--social/friends/nhood

4--watching tv/news/movies

4--working out

2.5--driving

2--shower/in the bathroom

1.5--church

1--on phone

1--yard/outside cleaning/house

i realize this is a working and ever-changing analysis, as 3 yrs ago this would have been more heavily weighted on travel with no wifetime. i would like to reduce a few of these categories that err on enhanced productivity, but it is pretty well balanced. id also like to do a rough outline of hrs spent during the work day, but that tends to change daily during the week on a consistent basis like most of us.

ever thought about this?  how does your time add up?