Cool Time: A Hands-on Plan for Managing Work and Balancing Time

273 Pages·2005·1.49 MB·English

by  Steve Prentice

Praise for Cool Time
“I am 139 pages into your book and your ideas have put into shape
what I’ve been trying to improve in my professional life, primarily the
organization of my day. My inbox has been empty all week because I
am organizing my tasks into workable time slots. My clients’ regular
call-backs are much quicker and there has been a direct increase in
prospective business for August because I’ve scheduled in keystone
prospecting time into my day between 1 and 2pm.... your ideas are
making an immediate impact on my daily life, thank you!”
— Ian Turgeon, Hotel Sales Manager, Fairmont Royal York, Toronto
“I took Cool Time home last weekend, and have instituted its prin-
ciples over the last week, and I LOVE IT! I would love to have Steve
Prentice on the show. Is he touring? I have roughly two dozen time
management books, and I hate them all. His is the only one I’ve ever
truly liked and believed in. It’s a godsend, and I MUST share it with
my viewers.”
— Bridget Weiss, TV Producer, Edmonton
“I very much enjoyed your session and found a number of diff erent
things that I feel I can utilize to help me get more effi cient and eff ec-
tive as both a worker and manager.
6 e process of blocking time in my calendar for keystone work
as well as the follow-up things (phone, email) really works well for
me and for the environment in which I work… I love the 55-minute
meeting concept and actually spoke to a direct report of mine and
asked her to utilize the concepts in a meeting we have coming up next
week.”
— Marina Papadimitrios, Manager, Supply Management, AstraZeneca
“I met Steve the weekend of the ‘Great Blackout of 2003.’ At that
time, all of us across North America were still shaking our heads, won-
dering how we could have been caught without lights or power and
with practically no back-up plan.
Steve appeared on my radio show and quickly taught us the Cool
Time principles. He was immediately fl ooded with calls. Listeners
wanted to talk to him because he brought such practical advice, com-
mon sense and a level head about him. Everything he said made sense!
It was an enlightening hour that I’ve never forgotten. Steve is now a
regular guest on my show.
Steve’s approach to crisis and everyday living is truly inspiring,
rewarding and exciting. Spending time with Steve and his Cool Time
concept is like getting permission to stop the stress.”
— Christina Cherneskey, Talk Show Host, News Talk 1010 CFRB, Toronto
“I have been applying the Cool Time principles for a month or so
now and have managed to ‘fi nd’ more time in my days for construc-
tive pursuits and less stress during the evenings. I have recommended
your book to my colleagues and associates whenever the challenges of
work-life balance or stress management arise.”
— Walter Robinson, Past Federal Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation
C O O L T I M E
A Hands-on Plan for Managing Work and Balancing Time
S T E V E P R E N T I C E
WILEY
John Wiley & Sons Canada,Ltd.
Copyright © 2005 by Steve Prentice
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may
be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or
mechanical without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any re-
quest for photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval
systems of any part of this book shall be directed in writing to 6 e Canadian
Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright
license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free 1-800-893-5777.
Care has been taken to trace ownership of copyright material contained in
this book. 6 e publisher will gladly receive any information that will enable
them to rectify any reference or credit line in subsequent editions.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Prentice, Steven
Cool Time: a hands-on plan for managing work and balancing time / Steve Prentice.
Includes index
ISBN-13 978-0-470-83673-6
ISBN-10 0-470-83673-3
1. Time management. I. Title.
HD69.T54P739 2005 650.1’1 C2005-902784-3
Production Credits:
Cover design and interior text design: Mike Chan
Printer: Printcrafters Inc.

John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
6045 Freemont Blvd.
Mississauga, Ontario
L5R 4J3
Printed in Canada
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
F O R : my Family
(cid:1)
t
H A N K S T O: Allison Block, Vanni Bronca,
Arnold Gosewich, Nelson Hudes, Dr. Jack Muskat,
Carol Oblak, France Raymond and Roz Usheroff
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QUICK REFERENCE
How to:
Always Have Time for Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Become More Productive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Control Your Entire Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Deal with Drop-in Visitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Delegate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Develop Permanent Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Eat Better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Escape Long Conversations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Estimate Task Durations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Find Anything in Under a Minute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Find Time for Breakfast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Get More Sleep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Get Some Privacy in a Cubicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Increase Your At-Work Stamina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Infl uence Your Boss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Keep To Do Lists Under Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Manage Crises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Manage Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Please Your Callers with Voicemail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Prioritize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Run Better and Shorter Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Say “No” to Additional Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Survive Your E-mail Inbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Survive the Weeks Before and After Your Vacation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Tell if You’re a Workaholic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Win More Time at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
vii
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CHAPTER 1: QUICK! LOOK OVER THERE! 3
Th
e 6 ree I’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Benjamin Franklin and Sesame Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Th
e Speed of Expectation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Th
e Era of Schadenfreude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Th
e 1939 World’s Fair, New York City . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
So Is 6 is Book for You? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
CHAPTER 2: YOU ARE HERE: The Human Body
and Time 13
6 e Flooded Basement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Rattlesnakes and Bees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6 e Conditioned Refl ex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Th
e Fear of the Unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Th
e Circadian “Rhythm Section” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
What Is It with Chocolate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8
Strike While the Coff ee Is Hot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Sleep, Perchance to Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Th
e Circular World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Osmosis and Football in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Water in the Bucket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
CHAPTER 3: INVENTORY AND ITS ROLE IN PREDICTING THE FUTURE
25
6 e Art of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
A Crash Course in Project Management . . . . . . . . . . . 26
A Wedding: Project Management with
Cake at the End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
What Does 6 at Have to Do with
Time Management? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8
Th
e Critical Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
What Does the Critical Path Have to Do with
Time Management? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 9
6 e Hoover Dam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Taking Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6 e Unbearable Lightness of Being Uncontrolled 32
Th
e Power of the Reserved Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
From Blocks to Bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Annual Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Th
e Benefi ts of Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
ix