Climbing out of the Tar Pits: Time Management

In ancient times, there were tar pits scattered around the world. In fact in Southern California, where I live, there is a group of them in La Brea that is still a popular tourist attraction. The tar pits were the bane of prehistoric man and animals. You see they are like quicksand only deadlier. If you get caught in one there is no way you can get out.

Today we do not have to worry about the tar pits... or do we? Today's tar pits are harder to spot and less deadly but they can still ruin your life, business and career just as easily. E-mail, cell phones and PDA's will all lead you into today's modern tar pits and suck you under if you allow them to. They can't be escaped and they will bury you if you allow it. Recently I was sucked into the tar pits because of my own success. Any offer of work that was offered to me was accepted and I would work to squeeze it into my crowded 20 hour days. As such my customers suffered and my name was tarnished. What I would like to talk about now is my climb out of the tar pits and getting back in control.

In today's always-connected world you can't get away from work, customers and associates. They always know how to get a hold of you. Several months ago, I was sick with the flu and went to work anyway. Not only is this risking my own health but it risks those of my co-workers. It is usually considered thoughtless and in poor form. So why would I do this? Simple, I knew that if I stayed home sick I would end up talking on the phone for 8 hours which would prevent me from resting anyway. If I am going to be working, I might as well do it where all my needed tools are.

"The trick to climbing out of the tar pits is controlling the points of contact people have with you and controlling it efficiently. To do that you must manage all points of contact with finesse and intelligence."

When you feel overwhelmed with everything, this means you are getting sucked into the tar pits. Natures way of handling this is to make you lethargic and therefore you withdraw. You have to withdraw to succeed in this case. If you push through eventually you will simply not care anymore and nothing productive will happen. So the first step is to withdraw turn off your Cell phone, ICQ and stop responding to your e-mail, but only for a short time. If you withdraw for too long you will cease to exist and the tar pits will have won.

Having been in the tar pits just recently, I know how difficult it is to get out. While in the tar pits, I was only reaching about 25 percent of my potential and not progressing on any front that I wished. However since starting my climb out, I am working more and experiencing more fullness in my life. Here is my journey out of the tar pits.

With e-mail, phone calls, private messages, reports, documentation and development work, I was overwhelmed. I would put off answering emails until the last possible moment. Projects started to pile up and I continued to feel I needed more work. This is because I wasn't getting anything worthwhile done. The very first thing I did was withdraw from society for a day to organize and get back in control of at least one monster, E-Mail.