On Lying
To Lie is to fly in the face of God
and to admit fear of Man.
Author Unknown
contributed by Melanie Colton, 1990
While standing in the hall of the offices of the Jorrie Furniture Co., at the Coliseum Rd. facility, one day in January 1969,
complaining to a pal about how I had relied upon another man to tell me the Truth
and how I had later discovered he had cheated me and the Company out of $19,000,
Sam Jorrie walked up behind me, overheard what I was saying and said:
Sam: “Son, do you play Poker?”
Me: “Yes, Pop, I do.”
Sam: “Do you play for big stakes or little stakes?”
Me: “No, no Dad … I only play for little stakes.”
Sam: “Do you play with Honest People or Crooked People?”
Me: “Oh No, Daddy, I only play with Honest people.”
Sam: “Then tell me Why you always “Cut the Cards” before you let the Other Guy Deal!”
LESSON
Sometimes it’s Better to Keep Honest People from becoming Dishonest
than to Rely on them to be Honest.
Robert Jorrie, 1975
Fool me Once,
Shame on You.
Fool me Twice,
Shame on Me.
an old South Texas Proverb
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood,
Leads on to Fortune.
Omitted,
All the voyages of our lives,
Are bound in shallows and misery.
On such a sea,
Are we now afloat
And we must take the current where it serves,
Else lose our Venture.
Brutus to Cassius, Masala and Lucillus
Wm. Shakespeare
Julius Caesar, Act IV, Scene III
Each of us has a fixed amount of time granted us at birth … and each of us will use up that entire allotment before we die.
While we can’t create any more time, WE CAN IMPROVE OUR USE OF THE TIME ALLOTED TO US, which ACTS LIKE WE MADE MORE TIME.
Your time belongs to YOU, AND YOU ALONE and the key to your managing your time better is only a matter of your Personal Attitude and the application of some of these techniques.
BUT YOU must control your time … and YOU must not PERMIT others to control it.
This doesn’t mean you can’t respond to the needs of others who need your time. Quite the contrary … Good Time Management lets you better serve both yourself … and others.
HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO BETTER MANAGE YOUR TIME
1. Know Your Obligations – Get a Handle on the Pending Tasks
A lot of unnecessary stress and inefficiency results from your not “having a handle” on what your time commitments are.
1.1 When you don’t know what your time constraints are, you may have:
1.1.1 a desperate feeling that there are so many things to do that you can’t remember them all;
1.1.2 a feeling that you are “Under the Gun” to perform;
1.1.3 a feeling that there “just isn’t enough time to do everything” (at least not on schedule and not well enough)
all of which occurs before you’ve stopped to assess the situation.
After all, part of that desperate feeling is, that you feel like you just can’t even afford the “luxury” of stopping to “take stock”.
Nonsense! Things won’t EVER improve UNTIL YOU TAKE PERSONAL CONTROL of your time. How can you do your work if you don’t have an accurate understanding of what you have to do?
1.2 Reconcile yourself to the fact it will take some of your time every day to get, and stay, organized.
There is no human or computer driven system that can take you completely off this “hook”.
YOU must do it! And the time you spend managing your time will be the Most Productive Time you’ll EVER spend.
2. Organize your Work Space
Clear your desk for action and keep it clear! Your mind will begin to clear in the process.
2.1 Secretaries should keep the frequently used forms, pen refills and other supplies and tools handy … ALL the time.
2.2 Use “In” and “Out” baskets: Your secretary takes everything from the “Out” basket, and you take it from the “In” basket.
Your mutual objective is to keep the baskets nearly empty and to keep sending work to the other person.
2.3 Start each day with, and maintain, a physically neat and organized office and an organized paper handling system.
There should be a place for everything and everything should be kept in its place.
3. Organize your Files
3.1 “File” unnecessary stuff in the wastebasket! Clear out the “dead wood”.
3.2 Organize your files and materials in a simple, coherent fashion.
3.2.1 Put all files together by TYPE. And Don’t mix file types.
3.2.2 If the files are complex and not just a place to store a bunch of papers, have a system of organization within each file and stick to the system.
YOU CAN’T USE, WHAT YOU CAN’T FIND.
3.3 The alphabet works lousy for filing! Use the Dewey Decimal System … No one can file alphabetically with any degree of accuracy … and remember that a file which is “just a little bit out of the proper alphabetical sequence” is just as “lost” as if it were on Mars.
3.4 Make a Rule that files belong ONLY in your hand or on your desk; in your secretary’s hand or on her desk, in your briefcase, or in their proper filing cabinet.
NEVER permit anyone to put a file in a desk drawer and INSTANTLY FIRE the person that does so.
There is NEVER AN EXCUSE FOR A LOST FILE!
Make sure you and your secretary both understand your systems.
4. Use Tickler Systems and Use Calendars
Use a tickler system.
Use your calendar.
5. Use Systems and Procedures
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel. Use systems and procedures. If you have none, take the time to develop and write them the next time you do a task where written directions and forms would shorten that task in the future.
You are simply not capable of remembering every detail in a procedure, no matter what you think.
It is shortsighted … and stupid … to think there isn’t time for training or that your staff will maximize its potential by some sort of “magical osmosis”.
6. Make Notes and Write Lists of Things to Do
6.1 Keep a note pad on your desk, another in your pocket and another one in your car. Also on your bedside table. Keep one by every telephone.
Waking up to make a written reminder is a heavy weight removed from your mind and improves your sleep, remarkably.
A task which seems impossible while lying awake at night in bed will be simpler when seen on a list in the cool light of morning.
6.2 Write or dictate ideas and reminders, as they occur. You can never remember later what you should have done at the time you thought of it.
Update your lists … AT LEAST DAILY.
7. Get a Dictating Machine and Talk to It
Use machine dictation … or talk to your Voice Recognition Program on your computer. Shorthand wastes the stenographer’s time and isn’t faster.
Learn to dictate effectively. (See How to Get Better Letters)
8. Plan Solitary Work Periods – These Are Essential
Schedule solitary work periods and refuse to permit interruptions. This means NO PHONE CALLS and NO DROP IN VISITORS … Not even office colleagues. If they try to interrupt, tell them that they can talk to you later. They usually can.
You can’t perform promptly unless you stubbornly retain enough time to do the tasks.
Pay Attention to your own body rhythm … some people are “Night People” … some are “Morning People”.
9. Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan
Method is like packing things in a box;
a good packer will get in half as much more, as a bad one.
Cecil
10. Plan for Surprises
Always schedule time for the “unexpected” and a little additional time for the “unexpected, unexpected”.
11. Stop Daily and Re-Assess Where You Are Time-Wise
11.1 Review your files regularly. Nothing beats physically touching and looking at them!
11.2 Meet with your secretary daily to review your work progress on her work progress progress … and review the plan for the work to be done that day … work by her … and work by you.
11.3 Don’t EVER leave the office for the day without reorganizing your desk, auditing your time for the day and reviewing tomorrow’s agenda.
12. Learn When and How to Say “No” to Projects
Don’t be “the gal that can’t say No.” Learn to express appreciation along with a tactful “no” when necessary.
There are too many worthy causes … and you can’t give time to them all. Don’t even try. Limit yourself to a “Manageable Few” rather than do a mediocre job with many.
13. Don’t Procrastinate
Get started now! Use the 80/20 rule. You can do the great bulk of your work while others are still worrying about starting theirs.
Don’t be paralyzed by the fear that your action may be “imperfect”.
It is important to maintain high standards and important to do a good job the first time …
but if you don’t have the time to do it “right” the first time, how will you ever find the time to do it, again?
Perfection is “far too high” a standard … even if it were to be attainable, its emotional and financial costs are far too dear.
14. Persevere
Once you start a task, finish it. Interruptions cause more inefficiency than any other thing because the time spent “Starting Up or Getting Into” the project is considerable, but it yields little or no forward progress.
Delay is the Deadliest form of Denial.
C. Northcote Parkinson
The tasks to do immediately are the Minor Ones … otherwise, you’ll forget them.
The Major Ones are often better to defer.
They usually need more time for reflection. Besides, if you forget them, they’ll remind you.
Charles Wolf, Jr.
Rand Corporation
15. Keep Up with Your Work Load
Don’t EVER fall behind. Be Ready to “bear down” immediately when demands mount up. And do it that very night or weekend.
You’re at a disadvantage and will remain at that disadvantage until you dig out with extra effort.
Apply that extra effort right away before the hole gets deeper and the task demands more to get out, than you have to give.
16. Telephone Communicating with Others
Schedule regular periods (try 2 a day) for returning phone calls. People who call when you’re not accepting calls should be told when you’ll return the call. Keep your Promise.
16.1 Use the conference call feature on your telephone. It’s wasteful to make several calls when one will do, and conference calls do it better.
16.2 Your secretary can handle much routine telephone support … For example, arranging all manner of support projects and obtaining straightforward information.
17. Eliminate Squeaky Wheel Detours
Don’t EVER succumb to the Squeaky Wheel. Proper planning will prevent squeaky wheels. And if one squeaks anyway, it can usually wait until you complete what you are doing.
Remember its the “Start Up and Re-Start Up” time investment in picking up “where you left off” after an interruption that uses up so much time without any immediate progress to the goal of completion … so attending to a Squeaky Wheel is the Very Worst of All Worlds.
18. Be Wary of Stopping Everything for Drop-in Visitors
You aren’t “obligated” to see Drop In visitors in any way, if it conflicts with already scheduled time.
Don’t let Drop Ins steal from the amount of your time you committed to a task. Visitors are interested in their own problems and they just don’t care if you’re working on something else. YOUR problems are the problems that require your attention … not the problems of chatting visitors.
19. Delegate to Others
Your goal isn’t to work harder. It’s to spend your valuable time doing the things WHICH YOU DO BETTER than your staff … the tasks that demand YOUR special skills … and to delegate ALL the other things that others less expensive than you, can do just as well as you can.
Delegate effectively by arranging for each task to be done at the cheapest level person competent to perform it.
The decision to delegate has nothing to do with “fairness” … if the job is unpleasant and can be done by staff cheaper than you, delegate it. anyway … this is not a Democracy … it is a Benevolent Autocracy.
Delegation also means delegating the appropriate authority to act and spending the time necessary to clearly instruct and train the delegee.
And it also means that whenever that Delegee errs, you must accept their error and plainly understand that 100% of the fault was in your own inability to effectively instruct them as to what you want done.
20. Make Wise Use of Meetings, but Especially Watch Out for Big Group Meetings
Those responsible for calling a meeting are mainly responsible for its Success or Failure.
20.1 Big Group meetings are the BIGGEST time wasters.
20.2 Don’t ever have a meeting if there is a more efficient alternative. How about a conference call or written poll?
20.3 Never have a meeting without a predetermined purpose in a clearly stated, delivered ahead of time, written agenda.
20.4 Don’t have a meeting until there has been enough “spade work” to allow the participants to act decisively. Distribute reports and other data sufficiently in advance to allow participants to “get to the point” when they arrive.
20.5 Never schedule meetings in your private office. You can’t leave.
20.6 Try scheduling meetings during only half the day so the other half can be scheduled for other work.
20.7 Consider scheduling meetings near the end of the day when participants will be motivated to finish the job in order to leave.
20.8 Allow enough time for each conference and then forcefully but tactfully end it when continued talk won’t accomplish anything further. Getting up and walking to the door helps end things, politely.
20.9 Start and finish On Time. Participants will comport themselves to the leader’s habits. If the leader rarely starts on time, they will habitually come late, and this always makes the meetings longer since it can’t be conducted effectively without most of the participants.
20.10 State the purposes of the meeting at the beginning of the meeting and set a time limit. Remind the group of the purposes when they wander afield.
20.11 Don’t waste the participants time. Be informed, Be There On Time, Stick To The Issues, Do Your Business and Leave.
20.12 Follow the cardinal parliamentary precept that there can be no discussion unless and until there is a specific “Motion on the Floor.”
20.13 Employ full parliamentary procedure to handle controversial matters or intractable groups.
20.14 Learn to excuse yourself for another appointment, tactfully.
20.15 Dictate minutes immediately after meeting’s end while everything is still fresh.
20.16 Leave time between meetings to do the necessary administration (e.g., opening the files, planning, recording, delegating, calling, etc.)
rj
2001
Authors Note
This article is the result of the authors entire life work of independent planning, organizing, time conservation effort and the implementation of all of these time conservation techniques beginning in the 1960s … but this article also contains heavily edited, and in some cases, completely controverted portions of a subsequent article on the same topic entitled There is Enough Time by Ted E. Deaner published in Legal Economics in 1984, from which the title of this text was “stolen”. I did it, FIRST. rj
Robert Jorrie
Dost thou Love Life?
Then do not squander Time,
for that’s the stuff Life is made of.
Benjamin Franklin
Poor Richard’s Almanac
June, 1746
When, through some ebbing Tide of Circumstance,
Your Life seems parched and barren, like the sand;
This is your Assurance, if you Stand;
That soon a Tide of Blessings ensue.
Life’s sea has Depths of Good beyond your Knowing
Which Rise and Fall through Life’s Unmeasured
Power.
And what may now appear an Arid Hour,
Is but your Preparation for their Showing.
For Surging back, the Tide returns Once More
To Heights you may have Never Seen Before.
Max Dunaway
People who run late, tend to see this as a minor fault, explaining, “Yes, I am often late. It’s not a good thing.”
Yet when you ask the victims of other people’s tardiness their feelings about such habits, you will learn that the offense is rarely viewed as trivial:
“He thinks he’s so much more important than me, that it’s irrelevent if he’s late. Clearly, my time isn’t important to him.”
Is such a response excessive? As one who tries to be punctual, and who is very annoyed when kept waiting, I confess to having had angry thoughts about the recurrently tardy.* I once came across an anonymous quote that summarizes the ethical issue involved:
“A man who has taken your time, recognizes no debt,
yet it is the only debt he can never repay.”
Jewish teachings regard wasting another person’s time as a kind of stealing. Rabbi Abraham Twerski tells a characteristic story about Rabbi Abraham Karelitz (1878-1953), the great talmudic scholar known in Jewish life by the title of his book, Chazon Ish (The Vision of a Man). He “once assembled a minyan (quorum of ten) in his home for Mincha (the afternoon prayer service], and one of the people told him that he was due at an appointment shortly. The Chazon Ish sent him on his way stating that keeping the other person waiting was theft of time, and one cannot pray on stolen time.”
If the Chazon Ish understood Jewish ethics as forbidding one from fulfilling the commandment of prayer on “stolen time,” how much more would it condemn your keeping another waiting just because you chose to sleep late, took a telephone call even when you knew you were already running late, or overscheduled your day without taking into consideration the person who would be waiting for you. Similarly, Jewish ethics, to cite one common example, would mandate that doctors who are running late with their appointments ask their secretaries to call patients who have not yet arrived and warn them of the delay. You might think of yourself as essentially a good-natured person who “sometimes” runs a little late.
But from the perspective of Jewish ethics, routinely keeping other people waiting turns you into a thief.
The Book of Jewish Values …
A Day by Day Guide to Ethical Living
by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
____________________
*In kinder moments, I realize that there frequently are deep-rooted psychological reasons why some people run late; in other words, their behavior often is more self-destructive than aggressive.
Robert Jorrie
A time comes in your life when you finally get it … when in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out – ENOUGH! Enough fighting and crying or struggling to hold on.
And, like a child quieting down after a blind tantrum, your sobs begin to subside, you shudder once or twice, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes.
This is your awakening.
You realize it’s time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change … or for happiness, safety and security to come galloping over the next horizon.
You come to terms with the fact that neither of you is Prince Charming or Cinderella and that in the real world there aren’t always fairy tale endings (or beginnings for that matter) and that any guarantee of “happily ever after” must begin with you … and in the process, a sense of serenity is born of acceptance.
You awaken to the fact that you are not perfect and that not everyone will always love, appreciate or approve of who or what you are … and that’s OK.
They are entitled to their own views and opinions. And you learn the importance of loving and championing yourself … and in the process a sense of new found confidence is born of self-approval.
You stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you (or didn’t do for you) and you learn that the only thing you can really count on, is the unexpected.
You learn that people don’t always say what they mean or mean what they say and that not everyone will always be there for you and that it’s not always about you.
So, you learn to stand on your own and to take care of yourself … and in the process a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance.
You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept people as they are and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties, and in the process a sense of peace and contentment is born of forgiveness.
You realize that much of the way you view yourself, and the world around you, is as a result of all the messages and opinions that have been ingrained into your psyche.
And you begin to sift through all the junk you’ve been fed about how you should behave, how you should look, how much you should weigh, what you should wear, what you should do for a living, how much money you should make, what you should drive, how and where you should live, who you should marry, the importance of having and raising children, and what you owe your parents, family, and friends.
You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view. And you begin reassessing and redefining who you are and what you really stand for.
You learn the difference between wanting and needing and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you’ve outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with … and in the process you learn to go with your instincts.
You learn that it is truly in giving, that we receive.
And that there is power and glory in creating and contributing and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a “consumer” looking for your next fix.
You learn that principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a bygone era, but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build a life.
You learn that you don’t know everything, it’s not your job to save the world and that you can’t teach a pig to sing.
You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility and the importance of setting boundaries and learning to say “NO”.
You learn that the only cross to bear is the one you choose to carry and that martyrs get burned at the stake.
Then you learn about love. How to love, how much to give in love, when to stop giving and when to walk away. You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be.
You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes. And you learn that alone does not mean lonely. You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs.
You learn that feelings of entitlement are perfectly OK … and that it is your right to want things and to ask for the things you want … and that sometimes it is necessary to make demands.
You come to the realization that you deserve to be treated with love, kindness, sensitivity and respect and you won’t settle for less. And you learn that your body really is your temple.
And you begin to care for it and treat it with respect. You begin to eat a balanced diet, drink more water, and take more time to exercise. You learn that being tired fuels doubt, fear, and uncertainty and so you take more time to rest.
And, just as food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and to play. You learn that, for the most part, you get in life what you believe you deserve … and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
You learn that anything worth achieving is worth working for and that wishing for something to happen is different than working toward making it happen.
More importantly, you learn that in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance.
You also learn that no one can do it all alone … and that it’s OK to risk asking for help.
You learn the only thing you must truly fear is the greatest robber baron of all: FEAR itself.
You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know that whatever happens, you can handle it and that to give in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your own terms.
And you learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom.
You learn that life isn’t always fair, you don’t always get what you think you deserve and that sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people.
On these occasions you learn not to personalize things. You learn that God isn’t punishing you or failing to answer your prayers. It’s just life, happening.
And you learn to deal with evil in its most primal state – the ego. You learn that negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you and poison the universe that surrounds you.
You learn to admit when you are wrong and to build bridges instead of walls.
You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot shower.
Slowly, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself and you make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never, ever settle for less than your heart’s desire.
And you hang a wind chime outside your window, so you can listen to the wind.
And you make it a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful possibility.
Finally, with courage in your heart and God by your side, you take a stand, you take a deep breath, and you begin to design the life you want to live as best you can.
Author Unknown
People who Fail to Think,
Surrender Control of their own Self Destiny
to the Words, Cliches, Thoughts and Actions of Others.
or in other words
If you don’t think,
others do it for you
through their “palaver”
and their motives may not be good for you.
Robert Jorrie
8/90