Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
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THE EDUCATED RETAILERS' GUIDE ing out. You won't get in shape by worrying about being overweight, and you won't improve your relationship to time by lamenting how little of it you have. On any given day, there are always hundreds of good reasons not to work out or focus on time management, even though we know it's good for us. The work we invest in exercise usually results in increased energy going forward, better grounding and lower stress, and the same is true for time. Put in some time and effort up front and, pretty soon, you'll bring better energy and efficiency to almost everything else you do. And, whether it's hitting TIME MANAGEMENT: IN/ON/SELF I f you are a manager and having a hard time figuring out an effective way to invest your time each week, I refer you to some tips first published in "Be the Beekeeper" in the September 2009 issue of Specialty Food Magazine. (You can find a copy in the News & Trends section of specialtyfood.com, under Magazine Archive.) Take this little exercise: On average, roughly what percentage of time are you spending each week: t XPSLJOH JO ZPVS EFQBSUNFOU t XPSLJOH PO ZPVS EFQBSUNFOU t XPSLJOH PO ZPVSTFMG There are no correct answers to these questions. The key is simply to find the allocation that works best for you. Keep in mind, though, that most of us tend to short ourselves in the equation; the amount of time we devote to working on ourselves is often small. That said, the self-growth and reflection we put off—or outright ignore—may just have the biggest benefit and influence on everything else we spend time on, because it helps us center ourselves so that we can more positively affect other aspects of our work and lives. The key for me is that, as much as possible, I try to do all three—in, on and on myself—at the same time. If I'm working in the business, I also want to be thinking about systemic ways to improve it. Working on the business doesn't mean that I can't be greeting coworkers or customers as they come by, or picking up trash while I'm talking about long-term visions and strategic plans. And in anything I'm doing, I can be working on managing myself, trying to coach and coax myself into having more meaningful interactions, challenging myself to be a better listener, working to learn new ways of working or being in the world, or becoming more sensitive to those around me. From an organizational standpoint, I try to manage where my time is going to bring the biggest return for the group. Am I spending NZ UJNF PO UIJOHT UIBU BSF HPJOH UP NBLF B EJGGFSFODF .BLJOH UJNF GPS UIJOHT UIBU HFU CPUUPN MJOF SFTVMUT XIBUFWFS UIPTF CPUUPN MJOFT NBZ CF *G * N TUBOEJOH OFYU UP B OFX TUBGG NFNCFS * USZ UP NBLF TVSF UP MFBSO TPNFUIJOH BCPVU IFS MJGF PS UFBDI TPNFUIJOH UIBU XJMM IFMQ her succeed. If I'm walking past a customer, I check to see if he's being helped. If I'm waiting in line I say hi to someone I care about via phone, email or text rather than just stand there, frustrated. When I'm going to interview a job candidate that will report to a manager in our organization, I'll frequently suggest that the two of us interview the candidate together: I can get to know the candidate and be able to coach the manager on her interviewing skills at the same time. These are just some of my tips for time management. As you become more aware of how you're spending your in-on–self time, you'll become more skilled at allocating it for maximum impact and benefit. 46 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com the gym or spending time on time, once you get used to it, it's highly unlikely you'll go back to the haphazard ways of old. One of the most effective ways that I've learned to focus on time is reflection. Taking a few minutes to look back on what has hap- pened in the past day, week or month, to assess what your actions have attained, how they correlated with your intentions and how you felt about the whole thing, can be a great help. If you don't know what's worked well and what's been less than ideal in the way you've managed your time to date, it's tough to make valuable improve- © 2012 DAN PAGE C/O THEISPOT.COM