Today on a train I invented a new time-management technique for the busy person - the To-Don't list.
This is simply an antidote to the ToDo list, and should be thought about, compiled and held somewhere close to hand.
It can then be pulled out and consulted when you realise that you've just thought of something which will one day be labelled as a "....a really, really good idea at the time". Beware of these moments, and learn to recognise them in advance. I suggest that Forehindsight is a skill well worth cultivating.
Each will have their own ToDon't list, but I have my top five ToDon'ts, garnered from bitter experience. Not necessarily my own bitter experience incidentally, but definitely someone's. (You know who you are).
So, my Top-5 ToDon'ts are :
1) Stick two fingers up to the policeman with the radar gun AND CAMERA on the A456.
2) Say an obscene comment out very loud at a wedding, in that moment of silent anticipation immediately prior to the Best Man starting his speech.
3) Draft an angry e-mail full of sweary words and personal insultry, then accidentally send it before vetting. Shift S and Ctrl S are uneasy bedfellows.
4) Throw a toy Corgi car at your brother, hard, and realise only after letting go that he is sitting in front of a plate glass window and ducking fast.
5) Tell anyone about the SPI, or Southwell Pizza Incident. Ever.
I look forward to hearing your suggestions.
Continuing the email theme- never fire off a sarcastic or grumpy email without checking to see who is in the 'to' or 'cc' section and never 'reply all'
ReplyDeleteIf you are in a high powered meeting. Don't go to the loo only to discover that your nose hair has decided to come out as a moustache. on no account must you then use the scissors on your swiss army knife to trim it back out of sight. At this point it is crucial that in your haste you don't cut the bit between your nostrils as this results in you returning to the meeting muttering about nose bleeds and trying to win the business with two bits of toilet paper wafting every time you say 'professional'
ReplyDeleteJust in case you were tempted.
Don't forget to switch your phone off when meeting a Board member of a major multi-national.
ReplyDeleteEspecially don't pick a novelty extract from Monty Python and the Holy Grail where Arthur(King of the Britons) meets the Enchanter as your text noise.
It is vital at this point not to have somebody send you a text at quiet moment so that as the rooms falls silent John Cleese (for it is he) utters the words:
(sfx wind howling) "There are some who call me...Tim." In a dis-embodied and inexplicable way the room.
Do not under any circumstances do this if the Board member of that major multi-national is also known as Tim.