Winter 2014
|
3
from the executive director
Time Waits
for No One.
Nearly everyone has heard some version
of the old saying (which actually pre-
dates modern English) “Time waits for no
one!” Ask those recounting the stories of
their lives or the raising of their children
and they will confirm the great value of this most precious and scarcest
resource. It’s the one resource of which no person can create more, stop its
depletion, or speed up its rate of use. We simply cannot control time, which
makes the term “Time Management” an oxymoron in itself. However, we
can be more efficient with the time we are given.
Surprise! Every professional that I know has more to do than they can
possibly get done. You are never alone in the overwhelming feeling that
you are drowning in the constant bombardment of things to do. Like many
others out there, I will not pretend to have perfected this allusive skill that
we call time management, but I have learned several valuable lessons over
the years that I want to share that could assist you in being more effective
and getting the right things done.
Peter Drucker in his book
The Effective Executive
(1967), put time
management at the top of his list of the habits of the mind that have to be
acquired to be an effective executive (or knowledge worker). He wrote that
they “do not start with their tasks. They start with their time.” He went on to
explain that “they start by finding out where their time actually goes. Then
they attempt to manage their time and to cut back unproductive demands on
their time (time wasters).” Finally, he concluded that “they consolidate their
‘discretionary’ time into the largest possible continuing units.”
Perhaps the greatest lesson that I have worked to implement from Drucker
was the need to work on important tasks in greater than 60 minute segments.
He explained that the professional “needs to be able to dispose of time in
fairly large chunks. To have small dribs and drabs of time at his disposal
will not be sufficient even if the total is an impressive number of hours.”
Has it been difficult to cut out 3 or 4 of these “chunks” each work day? Yes!
But I can testify that my most productive and beneficial days to NCRWA
contain these large chunks of time.
For years, I have worked from a master to-do list and have used various
strategies to prioritize the items on this list, never really sticking with
a single strategy. That was until last year when I attended a conference
session by Mike Collins, author of
The Perfect Workday
(2009). Following
the session, I was able to immediately put several of his simple strategies
into place beginning with changes to my to-do list. The following were my
NCRWA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President:
Neil Carpenter,
Maggie Valley Sanitary District
Sr. Vice President:
Barry Sutton,
Eastern Pines Water Corporation
Vice President:
Keith Hoilman,
Town of Newland
Secretary:
Dean Gaster,
City of Dunn
Treasurer:
Ron McGrady, UMC,
Mulberry – Fairplains Water Corp.
Past President:
Macon Robertson,
Warren County Water Department
Director:
John Gregory,
Pasquotank County Water
Director:
Wilmer Melton,
City of Kannapolis
Director:
Jay Gibson,
Town of Franklin
Director:
Rod Watts,
Energy United Water Corporation
Director:
Joey Threewitts,
Wayne Water Districts
Director:
Lisa Smith-Perri,
West Carteret Water Corporation
Director:
Sam Call,
Town of Wilkesboro
Director:
Kenny Keel, PE,
Town of Hillsborough
Director:
Todd Taylor, PE,
Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA)
NCRWA STAFF
Executive Director:
Daniel Wilson, PE, UMC,
336-731-6963,
Technical Assistance Division Leader:
Al Slover, UMC,
919-812-5115,
Circuit Rider:
Keith Buff, UMC,
336-309-9363,
Circuit Rider:
Mike Hill, UMC,
919-812-6088,
Circuit Rider:
Becky Turner,
919-812-5744,
Circuit Rider:
Marty Wilson, UMC,
919-745-7968,
Training Division Leader:
Alan Oldham, UMC,
919-812-4513,
Water Training & Technical Assistance:
Lowell Gunter,
919-812-0568,
Wastewater Training & Technical Assistance:
Dwight Lancaster, UMC,
919-812-2717,
Wastewater Training & Technical Assistance:
Fred Summers, UMC,
919-812-5119,
Backflow & Cross Connection Training Specialist:
Ronnie West,
919-812-2940,
Training Specialist:
Mandy Hall,
919-812-1191,
Training Specialist
Joe Holden, 336.337.0697,
Groundwater/Source Water Protection Division Leader:
Keith Starner, PG,
919-812-2008,
Source Water Protection Specialist:
Debbie Maner,
919-812-5500,
Technical Assistance & Training Specialist:
Brian Grogan, UMC,
336-309-6529,
Finance & Human Resources Manager:
Sharon Lookabill,
336-731-6963,
Member Services Manager:
Amy Everett,
336-731-6963,
Member Services Coordinator:
Jamie Walker,
336-731-6963,
The Tarheel Pipeline® is the official publication of North Carolina Rural WaterAssociation, Inc.
®
(NCRWA) and is published quarterly for distribution to members of theAssociation as well as other
representatives of rural and municipal water and wastewater systems. The publisher reserves the right to
reject or edit any submittals received for publication. Statements of fact and opinion are the responsibility
of the authors alone and do not imply an opinion or recommendation on the part of NCRWA. Mention of
trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsements or recommendation for use.
