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Got a Billion Things on Your To-Do List Today?

     Does it seem to you that, just perhaps, we are working fast enough already? What’s with this drive for business communication to become faster and faster? Every day we are bombarded with overnight document deliveries, faxes, e-mails, and AOL Instant Messages.

     As if this isn’t enough, the journal Nature reports that Intel researchers have developed a device that converts data into light. They say they can now transmit one billion bits of data in one second. How much information is in a billion bits? A lot. Just to give you some idea of how many a billion is: A billion seconds ago it was 1972. Approximately one billion minutes ago, Jesus was alive. A billion hours ago, our ancestors were living in the stone age.

     So what impact does all this have on our work day? According to psychologist and executive coach Donna Genett, "The ability to communicate faster makes our jobs easier in many ways, but it also makes our jobs more difficult—and more stressful."

     Genett says being able to communicate quickly adds to the expectation that we should to get more done in less time. "There’s a subtle, psychological pressure inherent in the ability to pass information around quicker that makes us think everything should be done quicker. And, with the belief that everything can be done quicker, comes the idea that we should be able to do more in any given time period. These perceptions create stress which takes its toll on everything from our efficiency at work to our enjoyment of our off hours."

     So what’s to be done? "Recognizing that this is happening is the first step, but the real solution is to get a hold on your workload by seeing to it work you do and work you delegate to others is done right the first time. There’s an old saying, ‘There’s never time to do it right the first time, but there’s always time to do it over.’"

     According to Genett, author of the book If You Want It Done Right, You Don’t Have to Do It Yourself!: The Power of Effective Delegation, much of what isn’t done right the first time is due to careless or incomplete delegation. "If the person being delegated to doesn’t thoroughly understand the assigned project, the manner in which it is to be completed, and in what time frame, mistakes are bound to happen. That’s why effective delegation is so important—both to the person delegating and to the delegatee."

     "Think about it, if just twenty percent of what you and your staff do needs to be redone," says Genett "you are wasting one whole day a week. Imagine what you could get accomplished with an extra day every single week of the year!"

Maybe a billion things.


Donna M. Genett, Ph.D., is president of GenCorp Consulting, and author of If You Want It Done Right, You Don’t Have to Do It Yourself! The Power of Effective Delegation (Quill Driver Books, 800-497-4909, www.WantItDoneRight.com)