A More Professional ME

Overload

Ray, Foreman for an electrical contractor in Battle Ground, WA, told Session 8B of Turbo's Leadership Development Lab (LDL):

"We all feel the day to day pressure of too much to do, and not enough time to get it done but now the process was really on. I had been struggling with the increased workload, countless items that needed to be completed each day. There never seems to be enough time to get everything on my to-do list done. Shortly after starting Turbo's Leadership Development Lab, I thought of ways I could improve my day to day work and become more efficient. One idea I had previously put into practice and had completely forgotten about a while before, was keeping a daily log of what I did on a daily basis.

It had not been as effective as I hoped it would be the first go round, so this time I tried a different approach. Each day, as it progressed, I would section every part in the log by the hour, be as detailed as I could, and log in the time I took on any and all tasks I had been working on. My notes were extensive; I tried the log for the first week and soon realized I was remembering people's names much more easily. Another week and I realized that my overall focus was much better (laser-like, actually.

My thoughts on how to get the job done were much more organized, bringing about increased efficiency on the overall project. This ledger, while feeling like it could be a complete waste of time, quickly became a means for a more efficient and professional ME. Not to mention, the things I was remembering that had been falling through the cracks. Now I had the ability to reference my previously lost information that had been completely fading into the woodwork due to the passage of time.

The lesson I learned from this experience is writing a log in my ledger book improves my efficiency, productivity, confidence and credibility.

The action I call you to take is to write down what you do daily. Be specific with all the details you will need for future reference.

The benefit you will gain is better recall when you reference past events and a overall more efficient job."

Ray's story emphasizes how keeping a time log helped him get more done, built his confidence, and added more efficiency to his routine. An added advantage you will gain from keeping a daily log is the documented record you may need in case of contract disputes over work order changes, added scope, and owner or general contractor imposed schedule delays.