An organizational classic comes into play in Power Pointer No. 23, in which you are encouraged to "utilize 'to-do' lists to keep you on track and guide you through today, this week, and this year." The trouble with to-do lists is that what you do most is add and edit your to-do's. This chore becomes even more onerous if you are one of those folks who is a slave to their electronic devices, and must spend endless hours making sure the to-do list on your cell phone is synchronized to your desktop, your laptop, your notebook, and your Dick Tracey two-way wrist radio. I say -- save yourself and your typing fingers a lot of hard work and heartbreak. Tell your to-do lists toodleloo.
Utilizing a machine-gun barrage of bullet points in your documents must be another Power Pointer, because the seminar brochure is riddled with them. Just reading the marketing material makes me feel like I'm under siege. Yet, I must admit I'm not sure I want to live unless I can to know the "5 warning signs of danger-point procrastination."
Heck, I had always thought that there was only one danger -- that you'd eventually give up procrastinating and actually do something.
Another irresistible lesson to be learned is how to deal with "desk-cloggers." The only desk-cloggers I know are your telephone and your computer. And come to think of it, when you get rid of these, you pretty much get rid of all the other time-wasters, like telephone calls and e-mails.
Having successfully unclogged my desk, I suppose this is the last time I'll be hearing from the folks at Fred Pryor, unless they also happen to promote their seminars using well-organized carrier pigeons. So, I guess I'll never know "an effective 5-step formula" for getting control of "the most complex, mind-boggling problems."
If you're wasting time trying to solve the complex, mind-boggling problem of why in the world you were hired in the first place, here's an effective 1-step formula that provides an answer to every business question. Just say "I have no idea; you really should ask Fred Pryor."
