Chairman’s Chit Chat September 2023
Are you an organised person? To my shame, I have to admit that I am not terribly organised. I just seem to happily bumble along aimlessly.
When I set off for the allotment, I almost always have a list of jobs I need to do in my mind and the order in which they should be done.
Does this happen? No, of course it doesn’t. The trouble is, I am too easily distracted. I invariably spot another job that needs doing and, instead of sticking to my original plan, I go “off piste” and start to tackle the new task. This often means that I do not get the essential jobs completed first – or at all!
Not long after I moved to York in 1991 to become a member of the Sales Function of Nestlé Rowntree (formally Rowntree Mackintosh, when I joined the company in 1972), all the managers were put on a training programme called a “Personal Efficiency Programme.” This was before desktop computers and mobile phones. You can tell how long ago it was – along with two other managers I shared the secretarial services of a young lady from the typing pool. Anyway, this programme (PEP for short) was run by a fearsome woman named Mrs. Davies, who used to stalk the offices rooting out inefficiencies and instilling organised behaviour into any miscreants. The only thing I remember about this episode is that Mrs. D. recommended we keep a “Week To View” A4 desk diary and we were encouraged to draw a line down the centre of each page. The left-hand side was to be used for appointments and meetings and the right-hand side for a “to do” list – a recommendation I took on board and still use to this day, although I am not sure it makes me any more organised.
During a radio interview a while ago, I heard that brilliant raconteur Gyles Brandreth talking about “to do” lists. He gave a wonderful piece of advice – “write ‘make a to do list’ at the top of the page, then immediately cross it out. You will feel instantly buoyed up because you have achieved something!”
Going back to essential jobs, it is all too easy to do the simple, trouble-free things first and put off the more difficult, troublesome and stressful ones. But take heed of the wisdom of the great American writer, Mark Twain, who is credited with saying: “If it is your job to eat a live frog, it is best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it is your job to eat two live frogs, it is best to eat the biggest one first.” Now that is something to ponder.
Does it really matter that I am not the most organised person in the world? I don’t think it does – and I am certainly not about to begin eating live frogs, no matter what their size, in the morning or at any other time of the day.
