Take Control: Four Steps to
Successful Self-Management
By Sharie Sipowicz

In my conversations with detailers, managers, and employees around the country, one consistent thing comes up: the lack of time management skills. It’s not that detail business owners or their managers don’t know how to use their time properly; it’s that they have never had any training on how to organize their many daily activities.

Talking with customers, writing up sales invoices, checking on the status of vehicles in the shop, picking up supplies, quality control inspections, answering the phone, and detailing — it’s an almost impossible job if you have no control over the management of your time.

These are a few of the statements that have been overheard:

• “I have no time to follow up with my customers.”
• “I can’t get all the work done.”
• “I can’t find the time to do the quality control walk-a-rounds when the vehicle is done.”

These are messages that detail business owners and/or their managers are feeding their minds with every day — if not consciously, at least subconsciously. The more often you state your lack of time management abilities, the more solidified the results become in your life.

LOOKING WITHIN

Why don’t you have enough time? Is it because you have too much to do? Is it because you’ve never been told how to organize your day? Or is it because all the timesaving mechanisms actually reduce your time?

The real “answer” is that any control over time has to begin from within you. Therefore, time management is not the issue. “Self management” is where you need to begin. If you can’t manage yourself within the time available, you’ll be forever lost in the jungle of control.

Re-read the three statements I quoted at the beginning of this article. Do you notice each one begins with the first- person pronoun, “I?” That means “I” am in control, and when you tell yourself and others that you “can’t” do something, you are saying you are either giving up or have no control.

The only asset you have is your time. You have 24 hours a day to use or to lose. You have total control over what you do in relation to the time available. As a matter of fact, you have an abundance of time if you choose to believe you do.

START NOW

So how do you go about becoming a better time/self manager?

Step One
Begin by making positive affirmations. Say:

• “I do have time to make follow up calls.”
• “I always find a way to get everything done.”
• “I show my concern for customers by thoroughly checking their vehicles.”

By thinking positively, your mind begins to cause you to act the way you truly want to.

Step Two
Write down everything in a day planner, including those things you used to think you couldn’t do, such as phone follow-ups. Find a time to do it and stick with it.

Step Three
Take one part of your life and commit to making just one change. Never try to change more than 10 percent of anything at one time; otherwise you end up doing nothing at all. Remember how to take a 1,000-mile journey? That’s right, one step at a time. Tell someone else what you are going to do. The easiest person to break a commitment to is you. Tell your manager or your employees what changes you are going to make. Once you’ve done that you have someone to be accountable to, and you’re bound to begin the change. Once you’ve made it, you’ll realize how easy it is to make more changes.

Step Four
Make the decision to make the change right now or else you’ll continue the habit of procrastinating. What is the definition of “insanity?” Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting.

Are you happy with “what you’ve been getting” and your current use of your time? If not, nothing will change unless you do. Begin changing today!

Here’s a quote that might help to begin the process:

“On the deserts of business we find the bleached bones of many unfortunate souls who were on the brink of success but, sat down to wait, and while waiting they withered and died.”

Sharie Sipowicz is aftermarket sales manager with Detail Plus Car Appearance Systems Inc. She has been involved in the detail industry for over 20 years, both as a vendor of products and equipment and as a hands-on operator in a retail detail environment. You can contact Sharie at sharie@detailplus.com.