Page 143 - Time Management

Mancini09.qxd 1/16/2003 4:53 PM Page 128
Time Management
128
Dangers of Multitasking
Four warnings about multitasking:
1. Never allow multitasking to distract you. Sure, it
might seem like a good idea to go through your mail while talking
on the phone. Almost surely, though, you’ll miss something—
maybe important points the caller is making.
2. Never allow multitasking to become dangerous. Having rolls and
coffee as you drive in traffic while talking on the cell phone is
potentially disastrous.
3. Never allow multitasking to become obsessive. The feeling that you
must always overlap several tasks simply fuels your compulsions.
And many tasks will suffer without your full concentration.
4. Never allow multitasking to intrude on others. Be considerate when
using those phones on aircraft seat backs or your cell phone in
public places.They’re a wonderful convenience, but the person sit-
ting next to you probably doesn’t want to hear your conversation.

until some other technology does it better, print media dissemi-
nate information like no other media.
Those polled in the study must at least, in part, have been
grumbling about information overload, not the act of reading
itself. Review the strategies given in Chapter 7, in the sidebars
on pages 82 and 84. They’ll remind you how skimming, high-
lighting, underlining, and the rip-and-read tactic can help you
better manage your many reports, letters, articles, tasks, and
other written materials.

Time Leak #6: Long-Winded People

This should possibly have been placed higher in our survey.
(The number-one time waster—socializing— probably siphoned
off some votes.) There are several procedures to use with “talk-
ers” (a few of which we’ve already examined) that are both
diplomatic and artful.

On the Phone
• Call long-winded people when you know they’ll be in a
hurry (e.g., before lunch).