Time Management Bulletin #3

Is the Internet making us stupid?
We tend to ridicule those who print articles from the web instead of reading them in electronic format where they may be accompanied by links to supporting information, images and videos. But according to Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows:  What the Internet is Doing to our Brains (Norton, 2010), studies by psychologists, neurologists and educators find that when we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning.
Links are particularly distracting, and studies show that jumping between digital documents impedes understanding. Comprehension declines whether or not people actually click on them.
According to Carr’s book, the depth of our intelligence hinges on our ability to transfer information from working memory (short-term memory) to long-term memory. But a bottleneck is created since working memory can only hold a relatively small amount at a time.
When we are swamped with information, links, images, and advertising, the information spills over, so to speak, and doesn’t make it into our long-term storage. It’s like watering a house plant by continuing to pour on more water without giving it a chance to soak in.
But when we read books for instance, we transfer information a little at a time into long-term memory and form associations essential to the creation of knowledge and wisdom.

Principles of delegation
Don’t always delegate to your best people. Use delegation to strengthen weaker employees.
Never delegate what you can eliminate. Only delegate important, challenging tasks to your staff.
Follow-up; but don’t hover over. Encourage initiative and creativity.
Evaluate results, and allow flexibility in methods.
Delegate; don’t abdicate. Remain a resource and keep them on course.
Praise in public; criticize constructively in private.
 
Quotes from the eBook, “Time to be Productive,” by Harold L Taylor
“Time management is not doing more things in less time; it’s doing more important things in the time that we have.”
“I feel we are accomplishing little more than we have always accomplished. We’re just doing it at a higher speed. The time saved is being used up by interruptions and trivial activities.”
“All successful business owners need to get out of their day-to-day busyness and make time for long-range planning.”