The On-Time, On-Target Manager: How a "Last-Minute Manager" Conquered Procrastination
By Ken Blanchard and Steve Gottry
4/5
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About this ebook
The author of the phenomenal New York Times bestselling classic The One-Minute® Manager explores one of the most common and insidious problems plaguing the workplace—procrastination.
In every workplace, in every industry, lurks a diabolical career killer. Procrastination. In this latest addition to his bestselling series, Ken Blanchard tackles this problem head on, offering practical strategies any professional can immediately put into practice to improve his or her performance. In The On-Time Manager, he stells the story of Bob, a typical middle manager who tends to puts things off until the last minute. As a result, he misses deadlines because his lack of focus causes him to accomplish all the meaningless tasks before he can get to the important things. Like many professionals, Bob rationalizes, justifies, and tries to explain. With his trademark clarity and vision, Blanchard shows how Bob learns to overcome his problem transforming himself from a Last-Minute manager into a productive On-Time manager.
Ken Blanchard
Ken Blanchard, PhD, is one of the most influential leadership experts in the world. He has co-authored 60 books, including Raving Fans and Gung Ho! (with Sheldon Bowles). His groundbreaking works have been translated into over 40 languages and their combined sales total more than 21 million copies. In 2005 he was inducted into Amazon's Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time. The recipient of numerous leadership awards and honors, he is cofounder with his wife, Margie, of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, a leading international training and consulting firm.
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Reviews for The On-Time, On-Target Manager
22 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I thought this book was spot on and very realivant.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the best books to beat procrastination and get your priorities right in my opinion, anything more that I say could spoil the book for you and I don't wanna do that so please read it for yourself and read it with patience. I'm holding back praise so that I don't give out spoilers, I can't recommend this book more, everyone should read it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I will say that the beauty of one minute series is: It is precise and effecive. It has given me a re-found enthusiasm to get my priorities right and work in a commited manner. I will be an On-Time, On-Target manager of my life. Highly recommended for everyone!
Book preview
The On-Time, On-Target Manager - Ken Blanchard
The
On-Time,
On-Target
Manager
How a Last-Minute Manager
Conquered Procrastination
Ken Blanchard
Steve Gottry
To all who want to take charge of
their lives and become everything
they want to be
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
One/Late for a Very Important Date
Two/Changes Ahead
Three/The First P
Four/The First Test
Five/Denial
Six/The Second P
Seven/The Bill of Rights
Eight/Deep in Thought
Nine/Whose Alphabet Is It, Anyway?
Ten/Another Night of Thought
Eleven/Not More of This!
Twelve/On-Time, On-Target
Thirteen/The Perfect Solution
Epilogue: A Personal Note from the Authors
You Can Make a Difference…
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Credits
Also by Ken Blanchard
Copyright
About the Publisher
Foreword
Just as sports teams have winning seasons and losing seasons, so do organizations of every kind.
And just as any sports team can experience setbacks and injuries, so can any business. Often, the most devastating cause of these is procrastination. A member of your team who is habitually late can cause tremendous harm to other players. It could be in the form of added stress for everyone, financial loss, or even failure of the enterprise. Thankfully, there is a solution to this problem—and you are holding it in your hands!
Ken Blanchard and Steve Gottry have knocked it out of the park with The On-Time, On-Target Manager. This book not only offers a rock solid plan to help procrastinators get on track, but it also provides a foundation for making day-to-day decisions based on the highest moral and ethical standards.
It’s only natural for sports fans to hope that their favorite team will have a winning season each year. Similarly, shareholders, employees, and customers expect that their company or nonprofit is going to prosper and grow year after year.
Yet both of these expectations are unrealistic—even if top-quality leadership is in place. Having a great manager of, say, a baseball club does not necessarily guarantee a winning record or a play-off berth. Too many other factors come into play. The short list would include the strength of the competition, the nature of the schedule, and injuries to players.
Strong competition is a major factor in any sport. A baseball team that has hitters such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays, Henry (Hank) Aaron, Stan Musial, Reggie Jackson, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, or Barry Bonds is likely to enjoy success. A team that has pitching strength—with the likes of Cy Young, Nolan Ryan, Don Sutton, Bert Blyleven, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, or Curt Schilling—is going to win games. They have a competitive edge. That makes it tough for the home team. Add a tough schedule in a tough division, and things become even more challenging. Mix in injuries to key players, and many of the fans are going to be unhappy with the way the season will likely play out.
I’m sure you can easily see the parallels in the world of business, education, and nonprofit organizations.
Competition will always be keen. Your pitchers
—salespeople—are going to be pitching against some of the best in the business. Some heavy hitter out there is going to do everything possible to out-design your products, undercut your prices, or perform better in terms of service. By putting Blanchard and Gottry’s on-time, on-target principles into practice, you and your team will be in a strong position to go for the win. No matter who you are or what you do, you will gain powerful insights from this quick-read book.
—Jerry Colangelo, chairman and CEO,
Arizona Diamondbacks and Phoenix Suns
Introduction
This book may not apply to you at all. But chances are, it applies to someone you know. A coworker. A direct report. Your boss. Possibly even your spouse or one of your kids.
This book is about a diabolical career killer that is lurking out there every day. In fact, it’s far worse than a career killer. It destroys organizations, marriages, families, relationships, fortunes…even entire lives.
It’s called procrastination.
In just five letters, it’s known as delay.
It’s when you put off doing something until later. But, as we said, this may not apply to you.
The rest of us, though, have battled with this insidious enemy at one time or another. When we were in high school or college, we waited until the last minute to write an important paper or study for a final exam. Then we stayed up all night to do our duty—and we barely functioned the next day.
On the job, we sometimes even miss important deadlines as the result of procrastination. Or we accomplish all of the meaningless tasks before we get to the important things.
In our homes, we’re often too busy or too tired to read stories to our children. It won’t hurt anything if I wait until a better time,
we tell ourselves. Then, when they’re in college, we wonder why the better time
never materialized.
We rationalize, justify, and explain. As a result, our jobs, spouses, children, and health all suffer. All because we put it off
or do the leastest
first and the most important last—if at all.
Although this may not apply to you, you should be aware that procrastination is far more universal than you might imagine. It isn’t a condition that pops up out of the blue, either. It has roots that run deep and must be understood.
People often procrastinate because they don’t have a clear picture of what’s important. And knowing what’s important involves knowing where they’ve been, where they are now, and where they are headed.
They procrastinate because they don’t understand that delaying action can lead to poor decisions and poor performance—and separate them from good results.
They procrastinate because, while they are interested in getting certain things done, they lack a commitment to broader goals, higher ideals, more important tasks, and other people. There is an enormous difference between being interested in something and being committed to it. Consider the matter of exercise. Interested people will make all sorts of excuses as to why today
isn’t the right day to work out. I’m tired, it’s raining, I have too much going on in my life right now, missing one day (or week or month) won’t hurt.
In contrast, the committed people don’t know about excuses: they only know about results. This is something I’m going to do for myself. If it’s too hot or it’s raining, I’ll do a speed-walk in a shopping mall.
It all comes down to three concise