From the course: Time Management Tips

Take responsibility for finding answers

From the course: Time Management Tips

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Take responsibility for finding answers

- Ever been in a situation where you have a burning question? Something you really need help with and you reach out to a coworker, you leave a message with them, but they don't respond. So, you're sitting there for hours and while you're waiting for them to get back to you, you find an answer to your problem. Then they finally return your message and they say, "I'm sorry, I got busy." And you say, "Oh, no worries. I solved it on my own." Sound familiar? This illustrates an important principle of productivity which is taking responsibility for finding answers to your own problems. This isn't to say that other people don't have value and it's especially not to say that hiring experts or delegating to others is not useful, but there's a window of opportunity that exists at the beginning of every problem and you should use that window to try your best to solve it on your own. Why? Because it empowers you to become a better problem-solver which is one of the skills expected of you in your job and second, it will reduce the number of switches that take place in your days and the days of others. As you remove random questions that you could of answered on your own. Where should you start? Start with yourself. By this, I mean just step away from everything for a moment. Step away from the computer, sit in a chair, go to a quiet place and just think. Even if you do it for just five to 10 minutes, you may find what I have found. We are moving so fast that we are not aware of the wisdom that we already possess and if you find meditation or prayer is helpful for you to find answers, then use that as well. But the point is that when you're given the space to use the tools that you already have, you can often discover the answer on your own. Next, you can turn to the internet, specifically search engines. Become adept at asking questions that get you answers on the internet. I've found that most technical computer problems that I have can be solved by a search or two, or three. It may take a few rewordings of my question to get the answer to pop up, but when it does, I have a wealth of information from other people who have already spent hours and hours thinking about this particular problem. On a side note, I don't recommend going onto social media and asking random questions such as, which vacuum cleaner would you recommend I buy? This becomes an invitation for you to constantly switch tasks in and out of social media while you wait for answers. Also, candidly, I've heard many people complain about how interruptive and distracting it is when friends, family, coworkers, use social media for this purpose. Then after you've tried to solve the problem on your own and use the internet, reach out to a professional. This includes using a coworker. At this point, the conversation will be more productive because you'll be able to say, "Here's what I've tried so far "and I haven't been able to find the answer. "Can you help me?" This demonstrates to them that you value their perspective but you also value their time enough to attempt solving the problem on your own.

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